The answer to this delimma is that Baby Boomers are partially responsible for the problems America faces and can easily be the majority of the solution. For example, America's Top CEO's earned $5.4 billion last year. 400 or the Fortune 500 CEOs are Baby Boomers. Approximately 70% of the members of Congress are Baby Boomers. Of course, since Boomers represent one of every three adults in America and range in age from 45 to 62, the preceeding facts shouldn't surprise anyone.

In C. Rich's blog dated December 31, 2008, Mr. Rich states: "The baby boomers are the most self absorbed, dysfunctional group of malcontents that have ever been created in the history of the United States of America. These bozos have almost destroyed the entire world, America, the family, marriage and just about any institution they got there hands on. As Obama screamed at the Democratic convention at the Republicans, "Enough!"  This battle cry comes from the generation that had to clean up the mess of this depraved group of people. "Enough!""

Guess what Mr. Rich, Barack Obama is a Baby Boomer. This is where the solution comes into play. Sure, Baby Boomers protested against war, fought for racial and gender equality, rebelled against the military-industrial complex and did a lot to change America for the better back in the sixties and seventies. But it seems most Boomers left their activist nature at college, joined the work force, raised families, created a comfortable lifestyle for themselves and disappeared into normal society. The rest became disillusioned and gave up the fight. A lot of them became the people they distrusted and protested against.

Can they be re-engaged? Will they rejoin the fight to change America? I am convinced they can rise to the challenge with the proper motivation and leadership. A quote from Dr. Greg Ketchum in David Mills' book, 10,000 days goes straight to the point: "I think a lot of the ideals we had in the '60s and '70s were youth based. We were naive in how we could make things happen...Now I think we have enough years on us and maturity. It's natural to get to the unfinished business." And given the problems facing America, we don't have time to waste.

Boomers have the numbers, as well as the financial and political power to take on these issues.  "The next ten years are going to be very defining for America," said David Gergen, White House adviser and Professor of Public Service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government,  "The big question about Baby Boomer Generation is, is it going to grow up in time and get serious about facing up to the challenges that are going to be here for our children and grandchildren, or are we going to slide by and leave them with a really big mess."

Boomer-Insight.com already provides a platform for your voice to be heard. Are you ready to get this movement started? Don't you think we have waited long enough? Let's get with the program. We have no time to waste.

  

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I happened upon an article on the EdmundSun.com website written by Nick Massey discussing Harley Davidson motorcycles, lingerie, Baby Boomers, their progeny - Echo Boomers - and market demographics. I was amazed that the writer was able to talk about Harley motorcycles and lingerie in an investment column. The point of the column was that the American motorcycle manufacturer's target market, Baby Boomer men between 45 and 55, would be diminishing significantly in the next few years and would put the company's future at risk. He concluded that younger motorcycle buyers wouldn't or couldn't pony up the $20,000 for a well equipped hog.

 

By the same token, the children of Baby Boomers, Echo Boomers (mainly Gen Xers) would most likely increase sales for the purveyors of lingerie like Victoria's Secret, Provocateur, Ann Summers and other lingerie retailers. Following in their parents footsteps, Echo Boomers would be entering into courtship, marriage, children, divorce, new courtship, second marriage, and maybe second divorce. He believes that should keep the Echo Boomers buying more and more lingerie. What a jaded view of American life. I can't say that his assumptions are incorrect, but what does it say about American society?

 

The final question is: Just because a lot of Boomers will be hitting their sixties in the next few years, why would that keep them from continuing to buy Harley Davidson motorcycles? And by the same token, who says they aren't still buying lingerie? A reader of the blog I wrote titled Baby Boomers Don't Think they are Old chimed in and said,  "No, I think baby boomers think they are ageless. Even though the number is getting higher they still think young and act young. Most are doing everything they can to stay fit and look younger. The gym has never been so crowded and the plastic surgeons have never been busier. We have so much to help us stay younger. Personally I think age is in you head, and of course how you feel."

 

Mac's blog can be read at www.Boomer-Inight.com under MacM's blog and at www.Blogger.com under Mac@Boomer Insight.

 

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Welcome to socialism! Bailouts here, recovery plans there, not to mention national healthcare. I hear this mantra from a number of my more conservative friends, but I am not buying into it for one minute. Our free enterprise/free market system has sustained some serious injuries, but I don't believe for a minute that we can't fix our economic system and restore America back to its position as the leader of the free world. I personally believe national healthcare will inable our major corporations to become more competitive in world markets. Its impact on reducing the cost of producing our goods and services will far outweigh the cost to taxpayers.

Bailouts and recovery plans are only part of the solution. Redirecting our economy is the other half of the equation. America has led the world technologically for sometime. Our ability to innovate in every business sector is well known. The problems we face today have more to do with taking our technological developments and handing them over to foriegn partners to do the final prototyping and manufacturing. Thinking we can be the overseers of world production and keep all the proceeds here in the U.S is and has always been a flawed concept. Our corporate leaders have looked so closely at the bottom line, they have missed the detrimental effects of turning over our production to other nations. Think about what it has done to our balance of trade. Our intellectual property has been wholesaled to the countries with the lowest cost manufacturers. It has put so many Americans out of work that we can no longer sustain our own economy. Add to that the Wall Street Greed mongers who have bastardized stock values gambling America's wealth on bad investments. But, that's only one part of the problem.

The second part of our woes have to do with forward thinking or the lack thereof. What are the industries of the future? I believe they will all have something to do with sustainability and energy independence. Whether it is designing alternative energy vehicles or entire transportation systems, we have the engineering and manufacturing capacities to take on these new industries. After all, who invented integrated circuits and perfected the design and manufacture of computer chips? Who lead the race into space? Solutions to global warming and gaining energy independence will be big business in the coming years. Building electrical grids that can manage diverse alternative energy sources will be big business. Rebuilding our infrastructure should take this into account and the government should provide incentives and tax relief for these twenty first century enterprises that revolutionize these industries. Redirecting the thrust of our technologies in directions that will benefit our country and our planet will help define our new economy. But it won't happen unless there is a groundswell of support for such social, corporate and political innovation.

The Baby Boomer generation represents one out of every three adults in America, controls 70% of the wealth in this country, and represents the majority of America's business and government leaders. They need to step up and help America secure its future in the coming years. The rest of us need to see to it that these leaders don't continue down the same old path. If they can't take us in a direction that will secure our future, then let them know the next time you go to polls to vote. A lot of people place the blame squarely on the Boomer generation. It's up to us to to remove that stigma by seeing to it that the leaders we vote into power do the right things. 

 

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Bailouts haven't done much to help our faltering economy, so how could technology save the economy? What would you do with $100 billion? Spend it wisely we hope. That is what President Obama and the U.S. Congress are hoping. That's the amount in the stimulus package devoted to discovery, development and implementation of technologies in energy, healthcare, a smart grid, broadband and R&D.  

The short answer to the question is yes, technology can and should save our economy. In the short term, most experts believe that this infusion of capital into the various technology sectors will produce 3 million new jobs over the next two years. And most economists also agree that 80-90% of new economic growth comes from advancements in science and technology.

The breakdown of allocated dollars is as follows: Energy - Renewable energy incentives will be $200 billion which are primarily tax credits to individuals, companies, utilities and research. $16.8 billion will be given out in grants for energy efficiency and renewable-energy research. Health-care - total allotment for this sector is $19.6 billion. Most of this money will go to health-care providers who upgrade, standardize and utilize electronic record keeping systems.  Smart Grid - The government has allotted $11.0 billion for this sector. You might be amazed at just how much electricity is lost during transmission. Research and Development -- $19 billion, with the majority of the funding going to the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, NASA and Department of Defense.  Miscellaneous Funding  -- $8.4 billion going to loan guarantees for renewable energies and transmission technologies.

So what would be the downside of the government's new stimulus package? First, let me say that there is a lot more upside than downside with this plan. And yes, $101.9 billion is a lot of money regardless of how it is spent. There are a few areas where the money might not be going to the right sectors. But that is a very small part of the total package. For example, investments in extending broadband into rural areas and some of the proposed renewable energy projects might take too long to get a reasonable return on the investment. 

Extending fiber optic cable to rural areas might not be the best use of stimulus monies. A small portion of the stimulus plan calls for extending broadband reach to underserved areas and some experts believe that is not a good idea. It would have been a good idea 5 or 6 years ago. Of those who don't currently have broadband today, less than 5% say they would like to have it, but that leaves over 95% who say they don't want it, either because they don't feel they need it or because it would be too expensive at the current pricing.

In the area of renewable energy, some worry that there are some areas of renewable energy that will never be cost effective. Remember ethanol? The government has spent millions helping growers, refiners and producers in the ethanol sector, yet it still requires more energy to produce than it saves. Others worry that the smart grid might run high power transmission lines to remote solar installations and wind farms that produce energy that is too expensive to compete with more traditional sources like coal or natural gas. The price of oil and natural gass will determine just how competitive renewable energy is in the future.

In the coming years, I believe that the technological advancements in generating these renewable energy sources will make them competitive. One of the major benefits of the stimulus plan is that it will protect these renewable energy companies from coming completely unraveled due to market forces in the faltering economy. The advancements in this field need to be pursued even if they aren't financially feasible today.

Company executives in the renewable energy fields, like solar, wind and biofuels point out that they have been hanging on by a thread just to stay in business. Yes, there are some areas that might never come to fruition because of the cost of production. But if we don't help them through the next few years, then the U.S. could very possibly remain dependent on foreign oil until the Middle Eastern oil companies pump out their last barrels of crude.

Bottom line. If the bulk of these funds are used wisely and America is able to begin creating more green jobs and move towards a renewable energy economy, then this money will have been well spent. We certainly need to come up with a plan that will help our citizens go back to work, particularly in the manufacturing sectors. If the stimulus package accomplishes that and moves us in the direction of energy independence, then all these billions of taxpayer dollars will have accomplished the stated goals of the stimulus package. If not, then you best fire up your human powered pedal generators. You will need them soon to light your homes and power your laptops and TV's.

Do you have an opinion? Are you a Baby Boomer? If so, why not consider joining our web community at www.boomer-insight.com. It takes less than a minute to sign up and you can participate in our polls, forums and discussions on important issues facing America like stimulus packages and renewable energy funding. Our goal is to attract enough members so we can affect policy decisions in Washington in a positive manner. We are open 24/7. Thanks for your support.

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I believe they can. I suspect most of you reading this can't see the connection between the three. I also believe that Web 3.0 hasn't necessarily been defined to everyone's satisfaction yet. That's okay; I have been known to hypothesize with less objective information and data in the past. I'll give it my best shot.

We will start this exercise in reverse order. Web 3.0 has been defined as social media taken to the next level. It has been described as the semantic web with intelligence and learning capabilities; where web sites understand the relationships and ascertain differences in the data they mine. In other words Web 3.0 will allow web browser and various web sites to understand your preferences in everything from news to entertainment to products and present those to you in a format that enhance your experience online. 

I remember watching John Scully, the former CEO of Apple, give a presentation on the future of computing back in the mid eighties. In his presentation, he showed a video of a professor in the future using his Apple notebook computer, aka Knowledge Navigator. The notebook was not dissimilar from today's notebooks with one exception. His personal assistant was imbedded in the computer. This mythical avatar using a woman's voice informed the professor with the details of his schedule for that day, took telephone calls, made appointments, made flight reservations, reminded the professor of his mother's birthday and even ordered flowers for the professor's mother without being prompted to do so. Bottom line, the computer contained an artificial intelligence component, knew what his preferences were and carried out routine tasks for the good professor. 

Social media has provided a platform for people to congregate, discuss social issues, review music, television, books, as well as write about their daily activities, their likes and dislikes and discuss anything else that is on their mind. The primary advantage that social media has offered is bringing people from different geographic areas together to talk about anything they want to discuss. It has removed the barriers of social interaction and allowed millions of people to communicate with each other.

I am sure that a lot of you would agree that it can be a major waste of time and stifle productivity of those people out in the workforce who prefer to jibber jabber instead of doing their actual work. That said, social media also provides an excellent platform for advertisers to reach their audience and/or sell their merchandise online.

Of course, Baby Boomers are a pet project of mine since I operate a web community, www.boomer-insight.com, which caters to Boomers. What does any of this have to do with saving the economy?  Baby Boomers represent one out of three adults in America. They control 70% of the wealth in this country and spend $2 trillion annually on consumer goods and services, which is $400 billion more than any other generation group. According to a McKinsey Quarterly, Boomers will account for 40% of the spending by 2015.

This leads me to connect the dots. The biggest issue with advertising on social networks and social media has to do with the fact that these sites are not a predictive marketplace with regard to demographics and the ability to target specific groups who engage in social networking.  The demographics and interests of these social networkers is all over the map. Once the social networks employ more sophisticated algorithms to identify their target market segments by age, gender, interests, preferences and other specific data within these divergent groups, then social media will become the darlings of the major advertisers.

Social media can provide immense audiences for these ads, but they will have to be target specific. Of course, in the past, the Madison Avenue types have targeted the 18-49 age group demographic. Hopefully they will wake up, smell the cappuccino and crack the code of who has the spending power in America. Once they do that, then they can target the correct market segments within the Baby Boomer demographic and move America's economy back in the right direction.

Finally, I will throw in one more shameless plug for my web community, www.boomer-insight.com. If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined, please consider it. It takes less than a minute to sign up. You can participate in polls, forums and discussions on the most pressing issues facing America and issues specific to Baby Boomers. If you want to air you grievances on any subject, feel free to unburden yourself. We want to take advantage of your wisdom, knowledge and life experiences. Thanks for your support.

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Now that Newsweek has declared that the Recession is Over in their latest issue, we should be able to get the economy jump started and America will be back on its way to prosperity right? Not so fast, Virginia.

The Newsweek article is based on the comments of a number of economists that said that according to the latest economic indicators the economy had stopped contracting. So they are basically saying the since the economy is no longer shrinking, we can assume the recession is over. That is all well and good, but when can we expect to see economic growth start back up in America? Unfortunately, when you look at the demographic factors, the chance of economic growth doesn't look all that promising in the near future.

That is where the Generational Demographics begin to kick into play. The economic downturn which was basically the result of both deregulation of the securities and financial services industry 10 or so years back, along with excessive greed on the part of both Wall Street and the banking industry. The resulting downturn has put a significant damper on the free spending habits of the Baby Boomer generation. They have seen the devaluation of their most valuable assets like their homes', their 401K's and stock portfolios. Add to that the fact that their gainful employment, if they are still employed, is anything but guaranteed in the coming years, and it is easy to understand why they have reigned in their free spending habits of the past.

Since a large proportion of the Boomers have been in their prime with regard to earnings and consumption for the last 18 years, most prognosticators predicted that the Boomers would continue accumulating wealth and buying whatever they wanted until they got close to retirement. The majority of Boomers would retire in the next 10 years or so. Since the Boomer generation covers an 18 year span, a lot of the leading edge Boomers have already retired and the trailing edge Boomers won't retire before 2025. But, once they retire, most of them will move into the thrift mode and not spend their money so freely.

Over the last 15 years or so, most Boomers were only concerned with ensuring that their savings, investments and 401K's were growing at a rate that would satisfy their retirement needs. With the decline in value of their primary retirement funds and home values, they are now focusing on shoring up those accounts and not spending their disposable income on anything but the most basic necessities.

This is certainly a major set back for our economy since Baby Boomers were responsible for more than 75% of the GDP growth in America between 1995 and 2005. Last year, Boomers spent approximately $2 trillion on products and services. That amounts to some $400 billion more than any other generation group. With that kind of drop in consumption, the economy can not continue to grow as fast as it had in the previous 20 years without another generation to take up the slack. Gen Xer's represent a slightly smaller population group and haven't reached their peak earning potential. They won't be able to power up America's next economic growth spurt all by themselves.

But in reality, that is not the biggest issue here. The real problem is not who will replace the Boomers as the next wave of free spending consumers. The problem is that the economic downturn has caused the Boomers to rethink their strategies with regard to saving and spending to such an extent that when the economic recovery begins, the Boomers' consumption will not ramp back up to where it was before the downturn. The Boomers are too concerned about their ability to retire and enjoy the lifestyle they had envisioned prior to the economic downturn.

It is reminiscent of our parents and how they changed their saving and spending habits after the Great Depression of the thirties. So what can we do to get America back on track and restart our economic engine? A great many economists discount the Boomers' ability to kickstart the economy with new technologies like biotech, biomed, alternative energies, environmental remediation, alternative power plants, etc. They say the Boomers are past their prime and can't provide the innovation required to create these new business sectors. They don't believe the Gen'xers or Millennials can get it done either.

So, I guess we are doomed if some techno wizard doesn't step in and invent a whole new industry segment. It should be evident that the Boomers alone can't restart the economic engine. However, Americans have never stepped away from a challenge. It will have to be a multi-generational effort. If we put our considerable talents and expertise to work on meeting this challenge, maybe, just maybe we can return America to its leadership position in the world.

And if you are selling or marketing products to consumers, I would strongly suggest you segment your markets by generation and see to it that your value proposition zeros in on the exact needs of your target customers and the campaign optimizes your return. You also will need to ensure that your market share grows not only domestically, but internationally as well. The pie is smaller, so you will have to work smarter and harder to grow your business and grow America's GDP. Your country expects nothing less.

What's your take on this issue? Inquiring minds want to know. Comment on this blog or any one of our polling questions. Also check out the latest articles and content on our homepage. We are always looking for Baby Boomers with an opinion that don't mind speaking out and can successfully complete a sentence.

 

 

 

 

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In C. Rich's blog dated December 31, 2008, Mr. Rich states: "The baby boomers are the most self absorbed, dysfunctional group of malcontents that have ever been created in the history of the United States of America. These bozos have almost destroyed the entire world, America, the family, marriage and just about any institution they got there hands on. As Obama screamed at the Democratic convention at the Republicans, "Enough!"  This battle cry comes from the generation that had to clean up the mess of this depraved group of people. "Enough!""

And yes, it could be said that the Boomers are responsible for alot of the problems facing America today. After all 4 out of 5 CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations are Baby Boomers. Over 70% of the members of the house and senate in Washington are Baby Boomers. A large percentage of college professors, administrators and regents are Boomers. The majority of news writers, analysts, producers and on-air personalities are Boomers.

Guess what Mr. Rich, Barack Obama is a Baby Boomer. This is where the solution comes into play. Sure, Baby Boomers protested against war, fought for racial and gender equality, rebelled against the military-industrial complex and did a lot to change America for the better back in the sixties and seventies. But it seems most Boomers left their activist nature at college, joined the work force, raised families, created a comfortable lifestyle for themselves and disappeared into normal society. The rest became disillusioned and gave up the fight. A lot of them became the people they distrusted and protested against.

Can they be re-engaged? Will they rejoin the fight to change America? I am convinced they can rise to the challenge with the proper motivation and leadership. A quote from Dr. Greg Ketchum in David Mills' book, "10,000 days", goes straight to the point: "I think a lot of the ideals we had in the '60s and '70s were youth based. We were naive in how we could make things happen...Now I think we have enough years on us and maturity. It's natural to get to the unfinished business." And given the problems facing America, we don't have time to waste.

Boomers have the numbers, as well as the financial and political power to take on these issues.  "The next ten years are going to be very defining for America," said David Gergen, White House adviser and Professor of Public Service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government,  "The big question about the Baby Boomer Generation is, is it going to grow up in time and get serious about facing up to the challenges that are going to be here for our children and grandchildren, or are we going to slide by and leave them with a really big mess."

Chris Hughes, who helped create two of the most successful startups in modern history, Facebook and Barack Obama's internet campaign, took full advantage of the most powerful tool on the planet. Hughes cracked the code early on and engaged the power of the internet to mobilize everyday citizens and turn them into  agents of change. I believe Baby Boomers can be mobilized and they too can become agents of change in America. After all, Boomers have the numbers. One of every three adults is a Baby Boomer. Boomers control 70% of the wealth in this country. This generational group has the social and political power to change America back to the most respected and prosperous country on earth.

So how do we mobilize the Baby Boomers you might ask? It just so happens that my partners and I founded Boomer-Insight.com for just that purpose. Our vision and primary objective is to become the "Boomers Voice in America". All you have to do is re-engage by joining Boomer Insight and weigh in each day on the most pressing issues facing America by participating in our polls and discussuions on these issues. It takes less than a minute to join and you can become a member of the most powerful lobby in America. Visit us at www.boomer-insight.com. 

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