Move over, Boomer
Only 1,377 days to go...
“People love me. And you know what, I have been very successful. Everybody loves me.” ~Donald Trump
Years ago in the 1990s, I was on the board of trustees for my alma mater. At one of the meetings, there was a guest speaker who discussed generational marketing by sharing the landmark study Rocking the Ages: The Yankelovich Report of Generational Marketing.
The purpose of the discussion was instructional: how does one appeal to the different generations. The message I never forgot was this: peoples' beliefs and behavior are pretty much determined by generation -- not by their age.
"Understanding generational values and motivations has become essential because each generation is driven by unique ideas about the lifestyle to which it aspires. There are events that define a generation called 'markers.' Think of markers as the key set of collective experiences that shape a generation's values and attitudes. These set the tone for a generation, give it direction, provide it with whatever sense of cohesion it has…
For those born between 1925-1945, their lives were shaped by the Great Depression and the cataclysmic World War II. For those born between 1945 - 1965, their lives were shaped by unprecedented peace and property, etc.
Markers help us see why the past is not prologue. You make a mistake if you assume that just because your customers are turning a certain age they will behave in the same ways as those that turned that age before them… the habits acquired and formed early in life continue to shape behavior.
… a common mistake … is 'generational myopia,' or the shortsighted application of the values and attitudes of your own generation to the next…. Each generation is shaped by different markets: you must walk with them in their shoes, not walk on them in your shoes…”
For example, my parents’ beliefs were shaped by the Depression and WWII. These beliefs of duty, service, honor, frugalness, etc. stayed with them throughout their adulthood and influenced their behavior and purchasing decisions. Service and self-sacrifice was a big part of how they interacted with us and with the world.
Conversely, millennials lived through 9/11, remember when Amazon only sold books, and are also the first generation to know a childhood both with and without the internet. While Boomers may think Millennials are self-centered and impatient due to their excessive use of technology, this generation has proven to be incredibly community-oriented and environmentally conscious.
I was listening to Chris Christie talking on some news show sometime before Biden had dropped out of the race. He said the problem was that we were dealing with two Baby Boomers with big egos, who just couldn’t let go of power.
Hum. As a Boomer his comment gave me something to think about. I remembered the Yankelovich study.
According to Yankelovich:
"Born between 1946 and 1964, Baby Boomers are the most ... influential generation in America. Born to prosperity in a time of booming postwar economic expansion, Boomers enjoyed unprecedented employment and educational opportunities. They took this for granted, and the shared assumption of affluence shaped their values and embroiled in the tumult of events that filled the sixties and seventies... With little else to worry about, Boomers were able to be more self-absorbed, pursing personal goals and instant gratification… … Above all, Boomers didn't want to be hemmed in by the conformity the rules demanded. Boomers were "individuals," so individuality was lionized while conformity was eschewed."
I wonder what political figure that sounds like?
“The baby boomers are the most spoiled, most self-centered, most narcissistic generation the country's ever produced.” ~Steve Bannon
I have to admit that I miss the leadership of the Greatest Generation. All of them had served in WWII in some capacity - most as citizen-soldiers… service was one of their generational markers. And as flawed as they may have been, I think they genuinely tried to base their decisions on what they believed was in the best interest of the country.
John Kennedy inspired a generation to get involved and serve. He established the Peace Corps and promised to land an American on the Moon and return him safely to Earth.
George HW Bush managed the end of the Cold War with deft diplomacy. I sometimes wonder what would have happened, if he had won in 1992. Would Putin have taken over Russia? We’ll never know. Bush accepted and recognized that we needed to do something about the deficit so he did not veto the tax bill, even though it ended the possibility of winning a second term.
Jimmy Carter recognized our over-reliance on fossil fuels and actually moved us in the direction of solar energy. One can only wonder what might have happened if he had been re-elected instead of Ronald Reagan. Would we be looking at the climate issue in the same way today?
Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon which was political suicide at the time. But years later in 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded Gerald Ford the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, recognizing courage of this controversial decision. He implemented reforms to correct the transgressions of the Justice Department during the Watergate scandal.
Even Richard Nixon - as flawed as he was - showed leadership in signing the environmental protection legislation and opening up trade relations with China.
I must also admit, I haven’t been terribly impressed with the Boomer leadership to date. George W. Bush got us entangled in a mess in Iraq. Bill Clinton was impeached for his indiscretions with a 20-something intern. And it was (Silent Generation’s) Joe Biden and his ego that brought us another term of you-know-who, and we all know what a debacle #FOTUS has been.
Some believe that the Boomers overstaying their welcome may have ruined our political system. Perhaps they’re right. Taken from a book by Bruce Cannon Gibney, Top Quotes: “A Generation of Sociopaths: How The Baby Boomers Ruined America”:
“America suffers from its present predicament because a large group of small-minded people chose the leaders and actions that led to it… the society they created does not work very well — collapsing bridges, fresh deficits, poisoned waters, collapsing ice sheets, financial catastrophes, underfunded pension systems, a faltering Social Security program, a seven million person corrections system, and a corrupt political system…The generation squandered its enormous inheritance, abused its power, and subsidized its binges with loans collateralized by its children… Not all Baby Boomers are sociopaths, but an unusually large number have behaved antisocially, skewing outcomes in ways deeply unfavorable to the nation, especially its younger citizens.”
Ouch. I take exception with generalizations like this. I have friends who are anything but self-absorbed, who volunteer, live principled lives and are contributing to society in meaningful ways.
With that said, the “me” generation has led us into a $1.8 trillion fiscal deficit. We’ve been engaged in forever wars. Now we have a president who has flipped our foreign policy upside down; is tearing down our security mechanisms, health care system, and rule of law; alienated long standing friends and allies; destroyed our booming economy and has staffed his administration with the least qualified group of people in my lifetime… simply because they flatter him.
Just listen to his language. In the mix with his nonsensical blather, there is a lot of “me, my, I, myself, mine” and not much of “we, us, yours, our, and ours.” Clearly, he doesn’t have a clue what self-sacrifice looks like. He prioritized playing golf with the Saudis at his golf course (at our expense) over being present for the transfer at Delaware's Dover Air Force base of four American soldiers, who died during a training exercise in Lithuania. We all saw how his ego couldn’t even admit that he had lost an election by over $7M votes — he would rather destroy our democracy than admit that he lost an election. And now he’s even talking about running for a third term at age 82!!!
“America is substantially richer in the 21st century than the 20th, but average (not median) income has increased. Boomers adjusted tax and fiscal policies to favor the accumulations of wealth during their lives, at the expense of the future….Living standards seem good, but that’s only because people tread water by borrowing — both families and the government. Eventually it will become impossible to sustain living standards by borrowing, but Boomers will be dead and the problem will belong to someone else.”
The above mentioned article was pretty depressing to read. And, as much as I hate to admit it, there is a lot of truth in it.
In the Senate, 67 Senators are over the age of 60. 54 of them are Boomers, between age 60 and 79. Six are from the so-called Silent Generation, and are age 80-91. In the House, 17 Members are from the silent generation, 187 Members are Boomers. If there was a mandatory retirement age of 67, 109 House Members and 45 Senators would have to retire!
Have the Boomers ruined our system? I don’t know, but they are certainly blocking the next generation — particularly in key leadership roles. I’m looking to the future and seeing some interesting folks to watch: Pete Buttigieg, Abigail Spanberger, Jared Polis, Liz Cheney, Wiley Nickel, Elissa Slotkin, Jason Crow, Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer, Adam Kinzinger, Andy Beshear, Wes Moore and my new favorite watch: Mallory McMorrow. There are some very exciting potential leaders that should be moving ahead of the pack and leading us into the years ahead.
“Every generation inherits a world it never made; and, as it does so, it automatically becomes the trustee of that world for those who come after. In due course, each generation makes its own accounting to its children.” ~Robert Kennedy
The average age of the House of Representatives is 58, unchanged from the previous Congress. While the average age of House members stayed the same, the median age decreased by a year (58.9 to 57.9) as a new crop of relatively young members of Congress entered the scene. In the House, the most populous age range is 50-59, making up 24.5% of the body. This is closely followed by 40-49-year-olds, who make up 22.5% of the House. However, older generations still comprise a decent percentage of the House, with 70-79 year old’s making up 16.4% and 60-69 year old’s making up 13.9%. Even Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House, didn’t crack the top 5 oldest members of the House of Representatives.
The average age of Congress is 61 years old, factoring in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Currently, five senators are older than 80:
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) - 90 years old
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) - 82 years old
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) - 81 years old
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) - 80 years old
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) - 80 years old
Donald Trump will be 79 in June, Dick Durbin is 79, and Chuck Schumer is 74. The 118th Congress was one of the oldest in U.S. history.
I don’t necessarily believe in term limits, but I think we need to have age limits. Since 2020, eleven members of Congress over the age of 65 have died in office. Robert Byrd died in office at age 92! And who can forget the spectacle of Dianne Feinstein or Joe Biden fumbling their words or watching Strom Thurmond being wheeled into the Senate at age 100. Maybe if Ruth Bader Ginsberg had retired at 80 instead of staying on the Court, we would be looking at a very different Supreme Court today.
Please, don’t talk to me about Bernie Sanders. He may have a spring in his step today, but he’s 82 and he could trip tomorrow quite easily… I know. I watched my parents move from being very energetic and engaged to somewhat infirmed and tired in a very short period of time during their 80’s. 80 is 80 and aging is a fact of life.
It’s time for the Boomers (and definitely time for the Silents) to step aside. Let’s get younger blood. It’s going to be their world - not ours - and they need to be in positions of leadership, if they are going to assume the mantel.
Let’s have less of the me-generation.
Let the torch be passed to a new generation of Americans. It’s their time now.
Thought for the day in honor of her birthday…
“Really, I don't know what I'd do with myself if I retire. Wash dishes?”
~ Loretta Lynn
Must Read Article:
What Do You Tell a College Student Graduating Into This America?
Does it do justice to what she’s witnessing — to the Trump administration’s abandonment of, and indifference to, a man consigned to a hellhole in El Salvador because of an administrative error? To Trump’s morally perverse rewrite of history, in which Ukraine is evil and Russia rightly aggrieved? To his pardoning of the savages who smashed their way into the Capitol and bloodied police officers on Jan. 6, 2021? To his veneration of autocrats and his administration’s fervent efforts to turn him into one? To its conception of power not as a blessing that compels you to be generous but as a bludgeon that allows you to be cruel?
This is not merely a change in the rules. It’s the collapse of decency and dignity...
…the current turn of events is a reminder that we never know what’s coming next, and while that question mark can be terrifying, it can also be a solace. I said that the unpredictability of the story reflected its many authors, she and I among them. We have by no means reached a point of helplessness, but we will most certainly get there if we declare defeat too soon. Hope isn’t an option. It’s an obligation.
Quote of the day:
“My father and others in the Greatest Generation won the Second World War and created the most powerful economy and strongest democracy the world had ever seen, populated by the largest and most prosperous middle class in history. My Boomer Generation and I then failed to create the decent, sustainable, and just society that was within our grasp.”
~ Robert Reich
What I’m reading today…
Donald Trump was never much of an executive, a fact attested to by his many high-profile failures (the casinos, the Plaza, etc.) and his scams (Trump University, the accounting shenanigans, etc.). He likes to present himself as the ultimate deal-maker, but he is not much of a negotiator, as Vladimir Putin knows. He likes to play at being a tough guy, but he is easily backed down by opponents ranging from Canadian politicians to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and his weak character makes him vulnerable to flattery. His gift isn’t for business or hardball politics or the Machiavellian exercise of hard power—his gift is for storytelling.
Flexing Their Equity, Baby Boomers Are Driving the Housing Market
Americans between the ages of 60 and 78—the baby boomer generation—are commanding a sizable presence in the housing market lately, regaining their top spot as the largest share of home buyers. They accounted for 42% of buyers and 53% of sellers, the highest of any other age group, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ newly released “2025 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report.”
Trump’s FEMA Refuses to Fund North Carolina’s Hurricane Recovery
In response to FEMA’s denial, Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards, who had joined his colleagues in signing the request and whose district saw some of the worst damage, reacted by stating that the request was “unprecedented,” and that he was “focusing on other ways” to help North Carolinians. During the 2024 campaign, Trump falsely claimed that the Biden administration was diverting FEMA funds to use on undocumented immigrants. He also declined to condemn threats to FEMA workers. Since taking office, Trump has signaled he wants to do away with FEMA entirely.
A book I want to read: Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes
Their message is clear: Biden should never have sought re-election and his selection of Harris as his running mate was a mistake from the start. By 2024, Biden was too old and too unpopular. He appeared feeble, if not outright addled. But his aides came to view Harris as a liability and so did those at the top of the party. The president’s wife, Jill Biden, opposed Harris’s place on the ticket. Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi lacked faith too. At the same time, Jill and Hunter Biden, the 46th president’s wayward surviving son, bolstered the president’s determination to cling on. They could not let go.
Young Americans' favorite podcasts reveal a stark partisan split
Young people are starkly divided by who they vote for, what they do for fun and where they get their news and information. Gen Z and young millennials exemplify how social media, news and podcasts have fragmented America into competing realities. Their favorite podcasts cover a vast range from comedy to true crime to daily news.
But patterns — and partisan splits — emerge when honing in on the audiences of MAGA and MAGA-adjacent media stars like Charlie Kirk and Joe Rogan, according to the poll of 18- to 34-year-olds nationwide.
Will the Baby Boomers Make America Go Bust?
Fifty years from now, when there are too few doctors and nurses and plumbers and electricians, and too few working-age people to support increasingly obese entitlement programs, all in a nation that has grown too culturally and economically weak to defend itself, that will become apparent to everyone. If nothing is done to turn things around soon, the Greediest Generation’s legacy will be sealed.
How Baby Boomers Became the ‘Wealthiest Generation That Ever Lived’
Boomers, which were born between 1946 and 1964, have now become the “wealthiest generation that has ever lived,” according to a new global wealth report from the financial firm Allianz. And it doesn’t look like subsequent generations are going to be able to dethrone them anytime soon.
“A unique historical situation — strong economic growth, affordable housing markets and booming equity markets — allowed them to build up a handsome fortune.”
Talk with people in their late 40s and 50s who once imagined they would be able to achieve great heights — or at least a solid career while flexing their creative muscles — and you are likely to hear about the photographer whose work dried up, the designer who can’t get hired or the magazine journalist who isn’t doing much of anything. Gen X-ers grew up as the younger siblings of the baby boomers, but the media landscape of their early adult years closely resembled that of the 1950s: a tactile analog environment of landline telephones, tube TV sets, vinyl records, glossy magazines and newspapers that left ink on your hands…
Every generation has its burdens. The particular plight of Gen X is to have grown up in one world only to hit middle age in a strange new land. It’s as if they were making candlesticks when electricity came in. The market value of their skills plummeted.
Millennials stand to become the richest generation in history, after $90 trillion wealth transfer
Many millennials are currently grasping in frustration at long-held American Dreams like homeownership, a steady job and an affordable cost of living. However, over the next twenty years, Millennials are poised to inherit some $90 trillion of assets and become the richest generation in history – but only the ones who already come from affluent families, potentially deepening wealth inequality further.
Between now and 2044 in the US, the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers are expected to hand over the reins of their significant wealth to Millennials.
Trump's magical manufacturing thinking
The irony is that since April 2, there hasn't been a flurry of manufacturing announcements — but there have been plant closures, including reports of car makers pausing production at some factories and laying off workers (which Trump adviser Peter Navarro said they had "no business" doing.) President Trump seeks a fundamental reordering of the American economy that requires millions of people to commit trillions of dollars in capital and labor to rebuild industries the country hasn't had for decades. Thus far, there aren't many volunteers to start.
“‘Trust in President Trump’ -White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
Well, at least that clarified things. As markets roiled and investors dumped US bonds, the president’s spox was asked: why was consumer confidence so low? Why was the world losing faith in America?
Her answer was as revealing as it was opaque: She offered no economic plan; no strategy. No roadmap through the chaos. Consumers, she said, were going to go through some things (she didn’t say exactly what) but insisted that there were ‘a lot of reasons for people to feel optimistic.’ But not because they had faith in America, or the dollar, or the economy that The Economist described last fall as ‘the envy of the world.’
Instead, she offered a simple mantra of faith. ‘Trust in Trump.’ The world smirked. Cult leaders blushed, and somewhere the Founders cringed.”
~Charlie Sykes @sykescharlie
Trump Says He'd "Love" to Deport US Citizens to El Salvador Gulags if It's Legal
Over the last month, the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to cast the 238 men it deported to El Salvador as terrorists and gang members affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Agua. But it’s presented little to no public evidence to back most of those accusations up. Meanwhile, a recent investigation by 60 Minutes found that 75% of the men appear to have no criminal records. Instead, the investigation found the Trump administration has presented evidence in court as flimsy as an old Facebook photo showing one man flashing a “rock on” hand symbol to justify his deportation.
Appreciative, detached, dissatisfied: How Gen Z views U.S. democracy
While young people may be critical of how democracy works today, most still believe in its core principles. Their civic attitudes are shaped less by who they are and more by what they’ve experienced: whether they’ve been encouraged to participate, whether they’ve been taught how democracy works, and whether they’ve had a chance to build civic skills.
Read the report: How Does Gen Z Feel About Democracy?
A book I highly recommend…
From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks
“Most of us strivers believe we can keep racing until we run out of road. Arthur is trying to save us pain and maximize our contributions to the species. Every ambitious person should read this.” ~Dan Harris
What I am listening to…
What I am watching…
What I read every day…
