Experts troubled by rise in boomer suicides

Suicide among baby boomers has run ahead of the national rate at every stage of their lives, and experts are worried that suicide among the elderly, already high, may double in the next 20 years. They warn that despite many advances in understanding and responding to suicide risk factors among Americans of all ages, the nation's youth-oriented culture, lingering stigmas toward mental illness and the medical system itself leave aging boomers in greater danger. "Boomers Lead in Suicide Rates" Scripps News

Boomer "hypocrisy" and retirement spending

These public failings are also mirrored privately. I know many bright, politically engaged boomers who can summon vast concern or outrage about global warming, corporate corruption, foreign policy and much more - but somehow, their own Social Security and Medicare benefits rarely come up for criticism. Our children will not be so blinded to this hypocrisy. We have managed to take successful programs - Social Security and Medicare - and turn them into huge problems by our self-centered inattention. Baby boomers seem eager to "reinvent retirement" in all ways except those that might threaten their pocketbooks. "Boomers Stay Selfish and Silent" St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

(Late) Middle Age Wasteland

They are perhaps best known for their youthful indulgence in an exotic menu of illicit substances such as Acapulco Gold, windowpane acid, mescaline and Quaaludes. Now, experts warn, the 78 million-strong baby-boomer generation is bringing its propensity to use pills and pot to its senior years. In what researchers call the tip of an ominous trend, boomers are responsible for a spike in drug and alcohol abuse that is expected to mushroom in coming years. "I think it's a silent, unappreciated problem that has the potential to tarnish the baby boomers' golden years," said Dr. Bruce Henricks, medical director of the Mutual of Omaha insurance company. "Drug Culture Follows Many Boomers Into Old Age" Times Record (Texas) Looks like "peer pressure" run amok---nothing a few D.A.R.E. cops couldn't straighten out...