Carry on Boomers
No one likes to be labeled. While in high school each of us suffered under some ridiculous stereotype that we could not wait to escape. It usually sounded something like; jock, nerd, prissy, and so on. At the time, it felt like it was going to go on forever. Thankfully, these labels did not follow us into adulthood.
There is a group, however, that has always been categorized. We affectionately call them ‘baby boomers’. These are the individuals born between the year 1946 and 1964. According to History.com , at almost exactly nine months after World War II ended, “the cry of the baby was heard across the land,” as historian Landon Jones later described the trend. More babies were born in 1946 than ever before: 3.4 million, 20 percent more than in 1945. This was the beginning of the so-called “baby boom.” In 1947, another 3.8 million babies were born; 3.9 million were born in 1952; and more than 4 million were born every year from 1954 until 1964, when the boom finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million “baby boomers” in the United States. They made up almost 40 percent of the nation’s population. And the world has never been the same.
This generation is the inventor of the artificial heart and the USB port. We owe them credit for the implantable insulin pump(hyperlink to this) and the portable dialysis machine(hyperlink to this). This is a generation of great people that created life changing inventions; like the World Wide Web Apple Corporation and the microwave oven. Who is to say, but this may be the most amazing generation our country has ever seen.
Each day, 10,000 boomers turn 65, which equal a quarter million a month and this is a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years. Our country is not alone in this greying of the population. Japan, Germany, France, UK, Canada and Poland lead us in over age 65 percentages
How will the world change with this older demographic leading the way? According to US New and World Report, “the poverty rate for people age 65 and older is lower than any other age group. And the percentage of people 65 an older who own their own home has remained steady since before the great recession at 81 percent, while the percentage of people under 35 owning their own home has dropped from 43 percent in 2006 to about 37 percent today.” The US Census Bureau says, “that it won’t be until the year 2056 that those ages 65 and older will outnumber those under the age of 18 in the United States.”
The Baby Boomer Generation witnessed and participated in some of the greatest social changes in the country’s history during the 1960s and 1970s with the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Movement. This generation experienced dramatic shifts in educational, economic and social opportunities. There is little this group has not seen, lived through and triumphed. They are wiser, stronger and larger than any generation before them. The world anxiously awaits their next, bold and wise move. Carry on Boomers, Carry on!
