I’m constantly impressed by the ability of those in my parent’s generation — the Baby Boomers — to find and dwell on the positivity and love in life.
Usually the generation younger than the one before it spends time blaming the older generation for all of the ills in the world.
At one time I thought the Baby Boomers had completely dropped the ball and left the rest of the younger generations holding a bag of financial and social woes.
After thinking about this for a long, long time, I’ve looked at what happened over the course of the lives of the Baby Boomers. I have to say that I was wrong about the Baby Boomers and the average working or retired Baby Boomer has had to deal with more upheaval in their lives, despite not having a World War interrupt the middle of their generation.
America’s “Greatest Generation,” as coined by Tom Brokaw, survived the Great Depression and fought World War II. They returned from the war and built a greatly improved America, with positive social change and advances in the financial success of the middle class.
Those improvements were driven by outstanding consumer confidence, high-paying jobs and jobs with enormous stability. The result of the great economic engine that was post-World War II America. The idea now of entering one job, having it for 30 years, having one’s pay constantly increase and having a viable pension plan is all but gone.
The Baby Boomers were the last generation to see this growth and these benefits. According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, the amount of disposable income a family has, when measured against economic changes and inflation, hasn’t greatly improved since the 1960s. It wasn’t until the mid-to-late 1960s that Baby Boomers had the political influence to impact elections, or have members of their generation hold higher federal and state offices. The last time the tide turned significantly regarding the financial lives of the average American family was in the 1960s. And members of the “Greatest Generation” held key political positions through the presidency of George H.W. Bush in the 1990s. They are still very much a part of key positions at all levels of government.
It’s not that Baby Boomers didn’t influence politics during this time. They did greatly, pushing social changes that led to greater equality between the genders and races in America. Still, looking at the inequality of wages and the potential for middle-class people to make better lives for themselves, there was a falling off that’s difficult to explain. We have a long way to go.
The presidency of Jimmy Carter is regarded by many as a failure, but social and financial policies put into place in the late 1970s led to some of the great growth we saw under President Ronald Reagan. Carter established the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.
Years later, under President Bill Clinton, there was a period of financial growth where the United States was actually able to lower the rate of the federal deficit. This wasn’t necessarily due to policies created by the Clinton Administration, but instead was the result of fiscal groundwork laid by George H.W. Bush. When it comes to social change, we must remember that it was George H.W. Bush who enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is another piece of clearly positive social change that has led to significant grass-roots changes in the lives of people.
The point is that we must give wide consideration to what we may believe is “good” or “bad.” The truth emerges over time.
One significant negative consequence the Baby Boomers have had to deal with is the loss of their personal savings at the end of their careers due to the Great Recession. Baby Boomers have inherited the wealth of the “Greatest Generation,” but so many members of the Baby Boomer generation saw their own savings dissolve in a few short years. This happened particularly to people who may have invested money into the stock plans and programs of the companies for which they worked.
Due to rapidly changing technology, some long-term stable investments became less valuable rapidly during the Great Recession. During this period not only did many people in their mid-50s lose their long-standing jobs, but they lost their investments, which may have been tied to the stock prices of the companies for which they had worked.
I look at my own parents, my aunts and uncles, and view how they have settled into their 60s and 70s and what they’ve done to maintain their physical and mental fitness. They’ve embraced exercise and health awareness. They’ve adjusted their retirement dreams for creature-comforts rather than the travel and potential extravagance the generation before them had seen. They’ve volunteered so much of their time to churches, civic organizations and grass-roots political organizations.
During the recent federal government shutdown, I was frustrated to hear Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross say he didn’t understand why federal workers needed food pantries. He thought these workers should take out short-term loans to pay their bills. Ross has a net worth of $2.5 billion. He obviously doesn’t know what average people suffer through during a period when they have no income. Ross was born in 1937; he’s not a Baby Boomer.
We all hope that the generations who come before ours do good works in order to make the load of our lives easier. I think one of the most impressive things the Baby Boomers will be remembered for is their ability to handle significant negative change in our society and economy during the golden years of their lives. They have not abandoned the social institutions that do good works. While younger generations have become more introverted, addicted to smart phone technology and instant mental gratification, many Baby Boomers continued to embrace the ideals of kindness, giving and charity.
Perhaps this is easier to see living in our small Midwestern community, where senior citizens prove to be among the most active volunteers we know. There are good people in each generation, I may be more exposed to the good works of this generation because of what I’ve witnessed specifically in my own family and circle of friends.
Generations X, Y and Z have enormous responsibilities to keep improving upon and enhancing the American Dream. I believe all of us hope the best and brightest of these generations can accomplish this task. To do so they must become students of history and give of themselves. They need to learn from past mistakes and make things better for all.
— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
