Busted boomers

"The baby boomer generation is making its mark again, this time inside Iowa's prison system. The number of Iowa convicts age 51 and older has increased more than sixfold over the past 20 years and will undoubtedly continue to grow in the coming decades, a researcher told the Iowa Board of Corrections today." "Baby Boomers Filling Iowa Prisons" Des Moines Register

In Canada: unchecked immigration may imperil Boomer healthcare

"In addition to creating poverty, mismanaged immigration is weakening our public health-care and education systems. By 2020, the huge baby boomer cohort of Canadians will be entering its stage of heaviest reliance on the health-care system. The boomers will not tolerate interminable waits for hip replacements and cancer treatment." "When Immigration Goes Awry" Toronto Star

Was the baby boom a hoax?

"Obviously, the Baby Boom was an irrefutable demographic fact. But as a political matter, was it ever really the generational movement that endless commentary has imposed upon it? Or was it just simulated to look that way, like the moon landing? As a late model Boomer, I should know the answer, but I don't. I'm too conflicted by my membership in an even iffier generation, the Baby Bust. We were born between 1958 and 1964, missed out on the idealism of the '60s, and went straight to the disillusionment of the '70s. Our cohort has produced Jeffrey Dahmer, David Koresh, and Timothy McVeigh – and we're still in our 40s." "Not a Boom, But a Whimper" Slate.com

At least they'll get their benefits...

"For a country that has equated growth with prosperity throughout much of its history, 300 million is prompting soul-searching about everything from energy use and sprawl, to the consumption of natural resources and border control. The Census Bureau's population clock meter will hit the momentous number 300 million barely a month before midterm elections in which illegal immigration is a volatile issue. It also comes at a time when financing of Social Security and Medicare is in jeopardy. As 79 million baby boomers are heading into retirement and live living longer, there are fewer working-age people to support the benefits with their payroll taxes. Some argue that immigrants help fund the system and fill jobs. Others counter that the estimated 12 million immigrants here illegally further strain the social safety net and take jobs away from Americans." "400M Americans predicted by 2041" Tucson Citizen

In Canada: freeze-dried Boomers?

"Zero population growth types would undoubtedly have concerns, particularly if boomers turn to cryonics en masse. But, imagine waking up in 3006? It's for that reason, some people think cryonocists like Charles Grodzicki are brave. Case in point: if a Vancouver funeral director doesn't come on board, he's even contemplating moving back to Toronto. How would the Toronto tourism and real estate industries react to that trend? Imagine the ads geared to North American boomers itching to re-locate to Vancouver's otherwise temperate shores: 'Forget Vancouver. Toronto is the place to die.'" "Fighting for the Right to Be Frozen" The Tyee

Bush birthday overshadowed by failure

"Spiralling costs of a college education and even basic health insurance coupled with worries over pension provision, conspire to leave many middle-class Americans concerned that their children will have a tougher life than they do themselves. This is almost unique in American history and strikes a blow against America's very idea of itself. Millions of Americans in places such as Akron, Ohio or Milwaukee, Wisconsin, find themselves running faster and harder just to remain still. For many ordinary Americans, this is exemplified by rising petrol prices which have become a painful and literal reminder of the cost of the Bush years. No wonder 66 per cent of voters, according to Time magazine, believe the country is heading in the wrong direction." "A Happy Birthday, Mr. President?" The Scotsman (Scotland)

Reflections on the "Boomer Century"

"...No matter how much they have, they can’t ever seem to get enough. This quest for satisfaction has at times led to nadirs of narcissism and greed. As a generation the boomers have always seemed to want it all: cheap energy, consumer plenty, low taxes, loads of government entitlements, ageless beauty, and an ever-rising standard of living. They inherited a nation flush with resources and will bequeath their children a country mired in debt." "Boomer Century" American Heritage

Boomer journalism: happy reading for the self-absorbed

"[W]hen faced with the terrifying specter of one’s suddenly all-too-real mortality, one can take take solace only in the fact that Cher’s still kickin’." "President Turns 60, Baby Boomers Still Writing About Baby Boomers" Wonkette

In Canada: rejecting the Boomer label

"...By the time we got out of college, the mood had changed. The global economy was deep into recession, a new cynicism was in the air and we Shadows were ill-prepared for it. Love was suddenly no longer the answer: Sexual experimentation meant death, divorce was commonplace and believer holdouts in the possibilities of social change were saps. Bored with reading The Whole Earth Catalogue and growing sprouts, the boomers decided to cash out, trading in their Birkenstocks for BMWs. Need I go on?... "The Shadow Generation" Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada)

In the UK: on day of remembrance, a Boomer regrets

"I grew up as one of the Sixties baby-boomers, a smug, self-satisfied generation who thought ourselves above the brutalities of war - and didn't think about those who fought to give us that luxury. The oldies with their long-ago stories. Who needed them? I didn't ask my grandfather about his memories. And he did not talk about them." "I Had To Be Here for My Pals" Sunday Mirror (UK)