Boomers

The Wall Street Journal reports that baby boomers have not emerged from the fetal position they assumed in 2008, when they found their homes and their retirement funds suddenly to be worth half as much. We boomers stopped spending — we haven't opened our wallets since — and because boomers represent such a huge chunk of the American population, that's bad news for an economy powered by consumer spending. Our plans for retirement were already in trouble because we hadn't saved enough during our working lives, and the stock market collapse made the future that much more troubling.

The trustees of the Social Security Administration really started something with their recent warning that the system could run out of money in 2029, seven years earlier than projected only a year ago. For fortysomething Baby Boomers, loudly worried about their Golden Years, this sounds a warning for their middle-Seventies. For twentysomething Baby Busters, this enlarges alarums that there may be nothing left at the trough when they retire. As for real single-digit Babies, we're talking about their whole financial future.

The same generation that gave us granola, the running boom and Viagra is now focusing its fitness concerns on a new region - the brain. As the first of the baby boomers celebrate their 60th birthdays, many are starting to worry about preserving not only their physical health but their mental agility, too. "We're seeing a sort of memory-fitness movement," says Dr. Gary Small, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Center on Aging and...

Driving home the other day, listening to the radio I heard a reference to the "key demographic marketing group, the 25 through 52s."Hmm, I thought, not bad.Ten minutes later I heard reference to the same group, only now it was "the 25 through 54s."Even better: The "key group" had matured two more years in 600 seconds. The baby boom -- epicenter of popular culture all these years -- is aging fast.We see that phenomenon reflected in coming movies, which tend to stress family values, togetherness, less risque (and risky)

Were you born Jan. 1, 1946? If so, we'd like to hear from you for a possible story in the Modern Life section. E-mail sun.features@ baltsun.com, with "boomers" in the subject field of the message, or call Linell Smith, 410-332-6484.

BOSTON -- In retrospect, it was the perfect way to begin the Year the Baby Boomers Turned 60. After all, the audience for the Rolling Stones concert was divided roughly into two demographics: One generation (mine) was awe-struck that anyone our age could rock and roll for two straight hours without Advil or a stretcher. The younger generation couldn't believe they were even at a rock concert by a 62-year-old. We are less than two months into the era of aging baby boomers, an oxymoron if there ever was one. About 7,918 people turn 60 every day. This is a generation that spawned an industry of trend watchers and boomerologists.

The biggest U.S. financial crisis isn't the housing crunch. It's the government debt bomb being planted by baby boomers to explode in the faces of their children and grandchildren But presidential candidates and their media interlocutors (both groups largely populated by boomers) have said almost nothing about it. The country is headed toward terrible inflation, huge taxes and economic decline? Pfft. Let's talk about flag pins. So it's up to you, young people. The only hope is that you realize how badly you're getting ripped off and decide to do something about it. Two new dispatches - a book and a movie, both with Baltimore connections - are your manifestoes.

There is a boom in baby boomer joblessness. It has more than doubled, from 3.2 percent to 6.8 percent, since the recession began. Earlier this week, a CBS Evening News report focused on the plight of unemployed professionals ages 55 and older in the Charlotte, N.C. area. Even the most organized among them - like those who make looking for a job a full-time job - can't find work. One of the people interviewed has a Harvard MBA but no job. Another, a 56-year-old financial professional, works long days trying to place himself in a new job, with no luck so far. He told reporter Byron Pitts that he has resigned himself to working into his 70s. We hear this all the time, don't we?

NEW YORK -- An article of faith among Baby Boomers is that their generation has fallen behind. They're not doing as well as their parents did and will be forced to retire with less.But is that really true? A new study of comparative income and wealth suggests that it's not.Boomers are better off than they think, at least in the material sense. As a group, Boomers' standard of living is up, which means their retirement shouldn't be at risk.That conclusion comes from three economic demographers, led by Richard Easterlin of the University of Southern California.

The poor American Association of Retired Persons.Its political enemies are its future members. The AARP created the richest retirees in history by putting baby boomers and Gen-Xers in deep hock. Now the lobbying group is starting to realize which side of the aisle its next dose of Geritol is coming from."We must remember our obligations to future generations" when deciding how to spend the federal budget surplus, says John Rother, AARP's chief lobbyist. "American families are expected to save and spend wisely.