beyond age rage: how the boomers and seniors are solving the war of the generations
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The headlines are getting more frequent — the language, more inflammatory. A war between the generations. The greedy boomers refusing to get out of the way. The hapless millennials struggling to find a footing. A crisis in pensions. A crisis in jobs. A crisis in health care ... But is that the true story? In this provocative new book, David Cravit, author of The New Old, dissects the apparent war — and comes to some surprising conclusions. "Some would have it that we're on the brink of a 'War of the Generations.' They read about soaring health-care costs and prepare to enlist. Well, I wish everyone would just calm down! Before we're dragged into some unnecessary nastiness, I advise us all to read David's book to get a better sense of how we're all in this together." —MOSES ZNAIMER, Founder and CEO, ZoomerMedia Limited, Toronto, Ontario "A must read for academics, business executives, political pundits, policy wonks — for anyone concerned about the future social health and economic viability of Western nations." —BRENT GREEN, author of Marketing to Leading-edge Baby Boomers and Generation Reinvention, Denver, Colorado http://davidcravit.com/TRANSCRIPT
What’s going on here?
Some are calling it a ‘war of the generations’
And it’s true…if you believe the media
The war against the young
Margaret Wente, Globe & Mail, February 2, 2012
War of the generations
Training, October 10 , 2011
War of the generations
Alan Mattich, Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2012
The war between the generations
Mary Ann Sieghart, The Independent, February 7, 2011
Voter generation gap pits old against young
Reuters, October 9, 2008
Will the deficit battle pit old
against young?
Mark Miller, Retirement Revisited, November 22, 2011
Are Baby Boomers the greediest generation?
Janet Novack, Forbes, November 12, 2010
The boomers agree: the lazy millennialswant to be jobless
Maria Bustillos, The Awl, July 8, 2010
Millennialsgeneration Y-so-lazy?
Alliance for an Idiot-Free America, February 12, 2012
The war against the young
Walter Russell Mea, Via Meadia, September 16, 2011
OK, OK.You get it.
But is it, in fact, true?
A new book argues that it’s time to
take a second look.
So let’s try to move from rhetoric…
…to reality.
Yes, there certainly are some competing interests.
FACT: More and more boomers are
not retiring at 65.Reason? They can’t afford to.
FACT: Only 20% of boomers have
savings of $250,000 or more.Almost a third have less than $100,000.
FACT: The percentage of people 55+
who are still workingis the highest it’s been
in 50 years.
FACT: Youth unemployment is sky high.
Just under 14% in Canada.Almost 16% in the USA.
Over 30% in parts of Europe!
FACT: The millennials are seriously in debt.
Outstanding student loans in the USA approach $1 trillion.
That’s more than all the credit card debt
in the country!
FACT: Boomers and seniors dominate
the ballot box. They account for almost 60%
of all votes cast in federal elections.
So much for the “youth vote.”
Add everything together, and you might argue that, yes, there really is a ‘war of the generations.’
The boomers and seniors have the numbers and the political clout.
They are not stepping out of the way.In a tough economy, they are
crowding out the millennials –crowding them out of the job marketand out of the political arena where public spending decision are made.
So why isn’t this a ‘war’?
For one simple reason…
The Boomers and seniors are rescuing the millennials…
even as they are competing with them.
FACT: 6 out of 10 Canadian boomers and
seniors are providing significant financial help
to adult children or grandchildren.
FACT: A survey in the USA found that
80% of boomer womenare paying more bills for adult children
than their parents paid for them.
FACT: The number of adult children
living at homeis the highest it’s been in
over 50 years.
FACT: When the boomers were 25-29, only 12% of them lived at home.
For the millennials today, it’s 30%.
FACT: There’s been a sharp increase
in the number of multi-generational households.
“Grandfamilies” could be an important new trend in home design.
FACT: The boomers reinvented aging.
Now they’re reinventing parenting.
This is just one of the huge implications of the apparent
‘war of the generations’.
www.davidcravit.com