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BBHQ Boomer Essays: |
| Our Boomer-In-Charge here at BBHQ, Hershel Chicowitz, writes frequently about current events... from a boomer perspective. He is sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, sometimes a little of each. We hope you get a kick out of our Boomer Essays. |
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[Editor's note: This is the first in a series of essays we will offer this year on boomer
retirement. Some of this is based on fact; some on anecdotal evidence;
and some on just plain gut-feeling. We believe it is important to discuss
the boomer retirement issue in a different light than that presented by
the mainstream press.]
Though the mainstream media is predicting the imminent collapse of society as the first boomers turn 60 this year, I see it completely differently. When have boomers ever gone "gentle into that good night"? I see boomers, metaphorically, taking to the streets, banging pots and pans, chanting defiantly, "Hell no, we won't go!" And that, my friends, is a good thing.
It's Armageddon! It's a catastrophe! It's the end of the world! We're doomed! We're all gonna die! We're all gonna die! To which I reply: Balderdash!
 Just the Facts, Ma'am Let's take a look at some facts: The oldest boomers, those born in 1946, will turn 60 in 2006. But there are not 75 million of them. There are only about 3.4 million of them. And they are turning 60. Not 65; not 62; 60. The last time I checked, Social Security retirement benefits do not kick in until age 62 -- at the earliest. For most boomers, it will be age 66. The "standard" retirement age has been 65 -- not 62, and not 60. So the advent of the oldest boomers turning 60 this year is... pretty much nothing. Here's another fact: 2.8 million pre-boomers, those born in 1945, turned 60 in 2005. Did the world come to an end? Did you feel the earth shake? It was pretty much a non-event, wasn't it? Then, why would you expect 2006 to be any different? So once again, the press has tried to scare you into believing that nothing is something big and disastrous. "Fool me once...." huh? The first boomers will not turn 65 until 2011. Fact. Another fact: in the next decade, only 18 million boomers will reach the standard retirement age of 65. That's 18 million; not 75 million.
The Standard "Retirement Age" When the Social Security system began, the government experts (now there's an oxymoron for you, huh?) decided that retirement benefits would kick in at age 65. After all, those decrepit, obsolete, crippled old folks deserved a year or two on easy street, didn't they? Yes, a year or two. Life expectancy in the 1930s was only about 66 years. By the time most folks had lived that long, they were old and not necessarily in the best of shape. Their get up and go had gotten up and gone. But even back then, a lot of people did not retire at age 65. Thank goodness, there was (and still is) no federal law mandating retirement at age 65 -- or any age. (After all; this is not France, you know.) Many people continued to work well into their 70s -- some, even beyond that. For many people, 65 was just a number, and had nothing to do with their usefulness. Now, let's fast-forward to 2011. The first boomers will turn 65 in 2011. Are they going to act like their parents and grandparents? Of course not. They never have; they never will. Though many boomers have let their bodies go to pot (literally and figuratively), the vast majority of boomers will still be healthy, active, functional, and useful at age 65. Will all 3.4 million of them retire in 2011? I strongly doubt it. Surveys, including ours here at BBHQ, indicate that between a third and two-thirds of boomers expect to retire at age 65. But I believe that as that day comes closer, fewer and fewer of them will choose to bail out just because of a number on a calendar. I believe that when they hit 65, most of them will think, "Hey; I still feel like I am 40. I am in much better physical shape than my parents were at this age. And I'm a lot wiser than I was when I was 40. I'm making a good salary; I'm socking a lot of it away now that my kids are on their own. Why should I quit now? Frankly, I'd like to sock away a lot more while I still can. I have my eyes on some neat stuff that I want. Why, I'm getting full medical benefits here; I get 4 weeks vacation every year. Why would I give this up?" And so they won't. And that's a good thing -- a very good thing.
Hell No; Please Don't Go! The mainstream press would have you believe that when 75 million boomers retire this year, it will create a drain on our social services that will cause catastrophic results. I believe that if 75 million boomers retired today (or in 2011), it would cause catastrophic results, but for a different reason. I do not have accurate statistics on how many boomers are still in the job market, getting up and going to work every day. Certainly not 75 million. Some have died; a few are unemployed; yes, some have already retired; and some followed in their mother's footsteps and took on the hardest job of all: staying home and raising kids. But let's say that there are 50 million boomers still working for a living. That's close enough for my purposes. I do know that the entire U.S. workforce consists of about 150 million people. Let's side with the press for a moment and suppose that one day, all 50 million working boomers got up and decided to retire. Fifty million people leaving the job market, all in the same day. Or, let's make it a bit more realistic, all in the same year. The number of people employed in the U.S. drops from 150 million to 100 million -- in one year. Now, which do you suppose would be more cataclysmic, 50 million more people eligible for Social Security, or a loss of one-third of the work force? I should remind you that the boomers, because of their age and experience, are among the best and most valuable in our work force. That's not bragging; we're no smarter than our kids. (Though I suspect we can spell, read, write and compute better than most of them -- that's not my point here.) Simply because of our experience and judgment, we are the most valuable of the 150 million workers in the country. What do you suppose the reaction of the rest of the business world if one day (or one year) we all decided to quit? Well, they'd be beggin' us to come back, wouldn't they? They'd offer all kinds of incentives to keep us from retiring, wouldn't they? Because the simple truth is that the business world could not survive if we all retired one year. Now, my point here is not to tout our value or brag about how important we are. We are important primarily because of our numbers, that's all. My point is to counter the scare tactics of the press and shed some light and realism into the situation. We're not going to retire this year; and we are not going to retire in 2011. The boomers are not going to "go gentle onto that good night." And if they began to do so in large numbers, our society would provide incentives to keep them from disrupting things. That just makes sense. Besides, if we all did retire tomorrow, what the heck would we do? We'll discuss that in the next thrill-packed episode of this series. Stay tuned. Don't touch that dial!
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The next essay in our series on boomer retirement is here.
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Personal Stories of the Chicowitz: Life is Good! A Tale of Two Toes Exploring My Roots: A Chicowitz History A Trip to the Dentist The Chicowitz Gets Dumped - Again! Just Shoot Me! He Sleeps with the Fishes My Little Girl, Princess Why am I Still Single? The Plastic Surgery Saga Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House... Not! Our House - Part 2 Our House - Part 3: Reclaiming the Past Middle Age and the Mazdamobile Down for the Count That Dirty Dancing Contemplations on the Hereafter Tool Time with the Chicowitz The Chicowitz Goes Country Born to be Screwed Mr. Brownthumb The Mixer - A Singles Story Crab Cakes Midlife Crisis: In December, Traditions of Christmas: Teach, Preach & Nag: Travels with Princess: A View from Hurricane Alley: Election 2004: Election 2006: Election 2008: |
A Boomer Remembers...: The Cuban Missile Crisis High School Sweetheart I Remember the 50s The 60s: Life was Sweeter The New American Dream Another Side of the Greatest Generation Where has all the Music Gone? Memories of the Sock Hop Remembering the Chairman of the Board Restless in Seattle The New Math We Are Not One Boomer "And Here's to You, Joe DiMaggio" The Days of Summers Past The Seeds of Character A Letter to a Teacher I Want a Clark Bar! When Music was Fun Decoration Day - The Measure of Sacrifice 11/22/63: We Remember Flashback: The Y2K Hysteria When the Music had Words Ronald Reagan: Hard-Wired Decency The Great Carsoni Love Songs of the Chicowitz Do You Remember These? V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N -- We're on Vacation! A Watergate Success Story Straight Talk on Social Issues: Freedom: Mostly, Just Silly Stuff: The Terrorist Attack of 2001: The Chicowitz on Iraq: |
If you like what we're doing here at BBHQ, please help us by buying stuff through our link to Amazon.com:
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"The 5000 Year Leap," by
W. Cleon Skousen. The title does not
adequately identify the content, though the concept of the 5,000 year
leap is astounding. The subtitle, Principles of Freedom 101, is
much more applicable to the subject. This book carefully and clearly
summarizes the thinking of the brilliant founding fathers of our country,
the ideas behind the "miracle that changed the world."
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