Mommy? What’s A Demographic Nightmare?
by Ahansen
For those of us born in the immediate aftermath of WW2, the knowledge that we were a demographic phenomenon was never far from our awareness. As our teachers and the popular press of the day constantly pointed out, our numbers overwhelmed the American school system, forced a reorganization of tax codes and social policy, gave boom to a youth-oriented culture, changed mores, and “radicalized” behavior across the country.
They also scared the bejabbers out of prognosticators who foresaw us bringing down the social security and health care systems sixty years down the road– when up to 79 million of us would hit retirement en masse.
Now the awful nightmare has come to pass! As our country faces an unprecedented economic mess and the unpleasant realization that for the next few generations at least, our global dominance has peaked and our standard of living will decline, we boomers bear the collective condemnation of our parents as well as our progeny for bringing down the American way of life—and just, well, ruining everything. Again.
The blame for the housing crash has variously been placed on greed, overbuilding, shoddy lending practices, insane economic policy, “globalization,” and a host of other ills, but perhaps it should also be considered that maybe there were just too (bleeping) many of us baby boomers, and that the policies that were instituted to accommodate our numbers were not fungible to following generations. Maybe the PTB forgot to adjust for diminished need– in housing, in goods and services, in governance? (Those vexingly partial 3.2 children per household of my childhood, are now down to an even more anatomically puzzling 2.09.)
When the statistical last of us boomers bought our first homes in 1992, the need for new housing was reduced accordingly. Yet building (and finance,) kept pace with a demographic that no longer existed. (Unless you count illegal immigration, but for the sake of argument, let’s not?)
The more optimistic of today’s pundits tell us the market will likely bottom in 2011 or 2012 after Prime and Alt A mortgages reset. But will it? What about all us yuppie boomers who only had one kid? And the fact that those kids are waiting far longer than their parents to reproduce and “settle down” in a house of their own?
Moreover, when both sets of Boomer parents bite the pickle and leave the house to their grown offspring and their only-child spouses, there will be two inherited houses per couple– plus whatever home(s) the kids may have purchased in the interim. On that purely theoretical basis, all else being equal, the housing glut will persist until junior has moved the last of the boomer grandmas and gramps into a retirement home and sold off the old family homestead(s).
If we define boomers as those born between 1948 and 1964, and assume the average aged hippie freak gets hustled off into assisted living at age 81, barring a population explosion during a prolonged economic depression and a whole lot of unforeseen variables I don’t have the energy to come up with right now, it could well be 2045 before all those houses are absorbed. It’s going to take an awful lot of stimulation to keep housing prices from losing at least one zero in the next ten years of so. And that’s assuming anyone still has a job left to pay for them.
So stick that in your hashpipe and smoke it, Mr. Yun….
Opps, forgot to put in the by line from Ahansen at first.
To illustrate the size of this problem I recommend watching the video “Demographic Winter - the decline of the human family”
http://www.demographicwinter.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM0YO1uSZ_8
or download via torrent:
http://www.mininova.org/get/1697148
PS: I grow my own stash.
Not counting immigration seems a bit disingenuous. Population growth is still above replacement even if you ignore illegals. But the basic premise that we’ll have more people dying out of houses than buying into houses over the next two decades could very well be true, especially if we cease to be the economic superpower of the world.
There is basically no developed country with a sustainable population growth.
For a population to maintain its size it needs to grow by 2.1%. Or basically a couple with two children will end up ‘replacing’ themselves when they die. The .1% is added for those souls that may not reach a chance to reproduce. So you can have a population that is ‘growing’, but not above replacement value. Europe is suffering from growth rates below replacement value. And Japan from a declining population.
Why do you all think that government has done nothing about illegal immigration? Otherwise our growth rate would be ‘negative’ (below 2.1%)
You can’t ignore the impact of immigration.
Bill,
I was referring to the ebb and flow of migratory immigration–which in this country tends to be “undocumented” and, especially in times of economic contraction, temporary. Legal immigrants are a whole other demographic, and of course I include them in my assessment.
It’s an interesting question, how many undocumenteds will go back home during this crash. I don’t think anyone really knows the answer. I think the days of them crossing over to pick fruit and then heading home after harvest are mostly over (though of course it still occurs, it’s a small fraction of the total). Many are well entrenched here and living far from the border. Even if they are broke, it’s a long way home and probably not much better when they get there. I think those with children here would be among the least likely to return home. We’ll see.
alpha-sloth,
Don’t kid yourself. Talk to anyone in Ag. They’ll quickly tell you ( in spite of -years- of inflows ) it was nearly impossible to find any people to pick fruit.
Too busy making the bigger bucks working for contractors/builders! USAToday had an article two weeks ago about how hard this has been on their families back home.
There are quite a few that work in ag around here (central KY). The horse farms and tobacco farms are heavily staffed by illegals. The tobacco work is seasonal, and they come and go, but the horse farm workers never leave, and many have pretty good jobs. I don’t know how many would leave if things tightened up even more. And there’s a lot of America between here and Mexico if they do decide to move.
“I don’t know how many would leave if things tightened up even more.”
The only way to get them to leave is to start a rumor about some other place where there is work and riches aplenty and all sorts of subsidies.
alpha,
No reason to doubt you, it’s just that any time someone mentions “illegal immigrant problem” ( Central KY isn’t the first place that comes to mind? )
Paging Kim! Speaking of illegal immigrants, you asked me to keep you posted on the hospital trial. Well, the jury is in and they ruled for the hospital.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=142349&provider=rss
Pisses me off when they say the hospital “deported” the guy. Hardly. They took care of him at great expense for three years, re-habbed him and chartered a flight to send him home where he wanted to be. Heck, he got better care in America than ahansen did. After all, there was no insurance company denying him care. Apparently the Guatemalan hospital couldn’t unload him fast enough.
Report from the “Southern Front” (from my Border Patrol Agent little brother):
Border crossing has slowed to a trickle (San Diego area).
Lots of workshifts with nothing much going on for the Border Patrol. Still seeing kidnappings of illegals from the US side of the border; throw them in the trunk, haul them to Mexico for ransom…….but none of the illegals here are going back.
I like Palmetto’s idea. We need to start a rumor about how rich you can get, framing houses in Siberia.
Yeah, and in this fair land of milk and honey, we should also make up a race of giant-nostrilled, insatiable, incredibly wealthy drug fiends.
Oh, pardon me. I forgot the traders and quants at Goldman Sachs already exist for real. Drat.
Wow, X-GS. I had no idea they kidnapped illegals and held them for ransom. Just guessing here…they’re gang-related?
We need to reform our immigration laws (make it easier for good, law-abiding, hard-working people to move here), and shut down the “open-flow” at the border by fining the hell out of the employers here who hire illegals. They should be fined 3X whatever the costs (healthcare, education, infrastructure, legal, etc.) of the immigrant’s burden, including the costs of any dependent friends/family members.
100X, because enforcement will only be 1% effective.
The US population is growing at an extraordinarily high rate, due to mass immigration, both legal and illegal. From 1990 to 2006, the US population grew by 50.5 million people, an unprecedented 20.3 percent increase. If current levels continue, we’ll have 404 million people here by 2050. We now have about 300 million.
As economies become more advanced, fertility declines. The so-called Third World is expected to go through this demographic transition sometime during this century.
My fertility has declined so much, I must be freaking Einstein…….
The developing world, eg, India and China, is already seeing this begin.
Parts of the 3rd world, such as Bangladesh, have also seen a cut in their high birth rates through education, economic development, and family planning.
It turns out that part of the reason for the very high birth rate in the 3rd world is that girls are married before menarche and begin having children almost as soon as they are fertile. Unfortunately, right after menarche the bones of the pelvis have not spread–this takes 2-3 more years. Without adequate medical care (neonatal care and C-sections), infant (and maternal) mortality will be high. Sometimes women (really girls) will be in labor for days. (This leads to a very nasty complication called fistula.) Essentially, if the child dies, the woman often attempts to have another child right away, but this heightens the risk for another risky pregnancy because the tissues inside her body have not recovered. Anyway, multiple pregnancies, multiple miscarriages and stillbirths, high maternal death rate, etc. Education can really change these women’s lives.
IANAD. I learned all this by googling around medical sites after hearing about that 9yr old who got pregnant with twins…
Em, if a population (or anything else for that matter) grows by 2.1% it is not maintaining it’s size. In fact it is increasing/growing by exactly 2.1%.
Not sure what you’re talking about. Maybe you mean the average number of kids a woman must have to maintain population size. Some die before they reach reproductive age, some chose not to reproduce for whatever reason. Some get drafted and used as cannon fodder, etc.
The US population is still growing, in large part due to immigration.
Population growth rate: 0.975% (2009 est.)
Birth rate: 14.18 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate: 8.27 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate: 4.31 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.05 children born/woman (2009 est.)
No, it is called replacement level. In fact, any less than 2.1% represents a declining population.
Put it this way:
You get married and have two kids. It appears as if you have actually increased the population.
But what happens when you die?
You only replaced your wife and you, w/o adding to the overall population level.
The same if you have only one child. When you die, you decreased in numbers.
The 2.1 replacement level is number of children per woman. It is not a percentage. That’s why posts keep informing you that you have made a mistake.
You mean 2.1 children, not 2.1%.
So, 2.1 children = 105%
Sounds about right - there’s at least 5% of the population that won’t reproduce themselves, for whatever reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-replacement_fertility
Someone will figure out it out. In fact, they already have. They’re called Mormons, or Muslims…or other younger religions that want to grow themselves. It won’t be nice WASPy types like me that keep it going. My bad.
Younger religions? Islam predates Protestantism by about 900 years, IIRC.
But there is no denying that religions and governments have a huge influence on population rates. I once asked my mother why they and all their upper-middle class doctor friends had had such large families - as they obviously weren’t all that enthusiastic about the whole shebang. She told me that in the 50’s it was considered “patriotic” for educated professionals to have a lot of kids as an “offset (!)”
Having come of age in the era of Paul Ehrlich’s “Population Bomb,” and predictions of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (yep, even in the 60’s it was a huge issue amongst the Sierra Club set,) my orientation was just the opposite. Most of my friends have only one or two, if any, children.
All I meant that Islam was younger than Christianity. Meanwhile I think WASPs have morphed into decadent Romans…
I took the Population Bomb real seriously too, basically same social background and assumptions. If my lifestyle hadn’t been so effed up I’d have blown that off all that noise and had a family.
Italy, Japan, and who knows who else are having serious
problems with just that statistic. To many are not having
children, much less the 2.+ they need to replace them and
keep their countries vibrant/vigorous.
Last I heard, Italy and Japan were offering their citizens
something to encourage them to have families.
It doesn’t seem to be working, those extra benefits/perks.
So, India/China etc will take over that growth?
France is projected to become majority Moslem in a few years. I’m sure that will modify their cultural heritage.
Do muslims make good croissants? Just asking..would really miss those.
My local baker is Iranian. (I guess he’s a muslim, but he’s not openly religious.) He makes a damn good croissant. Everyone thinks he’s French, because he’s short, dark, foreign, and rude. (But really a great guy.)
I would guess Moslems would get behind making croissants since the crescent is their symbol. Just don’t ask them to make hot cross buns for lent.
IIRC the croissant was developed for festivals celebrating the victory of European Christians over the invading Moslems many centuries ago.
That’s right, Dennis. It symbolizes that we whooped ‘em! Probably why my baker’s croissants are rectangular. (Like all good croissants.)
my ex girlfriend is a Moslem in Kuwait. Her country is very liberal still. She used to wear a mini skirt to high school. Nowadays, she has a phd, her own counseling business, an eighth floor apartment, and has people cook for her and her two children. She loves Reba McIntire songs, buys Dell computers, and her best friend in her country is wild about American pop culture. The youth in her country buy the latest gadgets and drive expensive cars.
So where is this anti-west, anti civilization that we heard all about?
I guess it’s those guys who cut off girls’ ears and noses for trying to go to school in Afghanistan, Bill, plus the guys who blew up the World Trade Center a few years ago that give rise to the feeling that elements of the Muslim religion are anti-west and anti-civilization. Just my opinion. Glad your gf had enlightened parents who got her an education.
My understanding is China’s one-child policy, coupled with a cultural preference for males, has produced a demographic disaster of their own. (India, I think is alright.)
Not really.
The demographic disaster would have been if they hadn’t had the one child policy.
Working longer is one thing. Starving because of overpopulation is something else.
– w
Good point, warlock. I was talking in the context of population replacement. Whether or not that’s a good thing ecologically is another question. (I say no.)
What happens when you have 100 million men than women? That’s the problem that China, and to a lesser extent India, have.
Soon, you’ll have these males with no chance of starting families.
I call that a disaster. And a reason why China does not concern me one bit in the future.
The classic response to too many males is war. So maybe we should worry.
The war answer is my biggest fear coming out of China’s male-heavy population.
There is also going to be a very large number of elderly with very few younger people available to care for them. I would NOT want to be a senior citizen in China in the next couple decades.
So much fun stuff here.
China, 100 million extra dudes. Girls should be pretty happy over there.
The illegals are leaving. Apparently the scum sucking illegals are going back to Mexico and the cost of my lawn work is going up. We have some funny ‘tudes here in the US.
THe script goes like this…
Hey we over built like 20 million houses.
Better get rid of the illegals or they will stay in the houses.
Hey we over built like 25 million houses…
“There is also going to be a very large number of elderly with very few younger people available to care for them.”
That applies to a lot of countries, including the US.
When these social nets were originally set up, there were plenty of workers contributing to the system and very few taking out of the system.
Now you have the reverse, and it is a system that can no longer be sustained.
Girls in the city, maybe. In the countryside, where girls outnumber boys, there have been troubling reports of women being kidnapped by men from urban areas.
I bought the ’60s and ’70s line …”Two will do, adopt a few!”. I even promulgated it. Ended up having none. Our house will go to???
“Put that in your hashpipe and smoke it, Mr Yun…”
Ben;
This phrase, for unknown reasons, triggered the following vision:
Laurance Yun as James Bond, strapped to a metal table with a high powered laser ready to cut him in two. Ben Jones, as Auric Goldfinger, ready to push the button to start said laser.
YUN: You expect me to talk?
BEN JONES/GOLDFINGER; No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die
In the background is a cadre of HBB’s, manically laughing in the backgound.
Subkommander Dred
“The Times They Are A-Changin” — Bob Dylan.
The older Wisconsin Faithful still cling to their DreamPrices for their investment shacks and otherwise dying idyllic lifestyles. If the educated youth can’t find a paying survival job in Madison or Milwaukee, they move on to greener(money) fields…in other states and the PTB and fools wonder why!
Debt, foreclosures, unemployment, higher taxes, increased fees and other economic hardships will surely take their toll this Winter and those that follow. Although they and the MSM deny it, the Exodus began years ago and for the untrapped, it will continue at a more rapid pace with this recession.
The THUNDERING HERD of Fools that believe that it is truly different here, will be culled big-time and those that remain standing will have the shocked “What in the Hell Happened !?!” look upon their calf like little faces.
In the final analysis, we are gonna see some really shell-shocked cheeseheads regardless what miracles the MSM and the Pack up at Lambreau conjure up to entertain the doomed of the Frozen North this Fall.
Rust Belt People get ready — Here We Go…Again!
hgtv last night had some east coast senior citizen selling her house to downsize and give the proceeds to 4 adult kids.
The one that didn’t want (the old-47yr, never updated house on Great piece of land) to be priced under 1mill was the one who moved west. It did sell for 875k. Couldn’t quite grasp that an old outdated house and all other houses were not quite as valuable.
Buyers knocked the house down.
Madison here, employed and renting, will be gone as soon as I find a job further south…
Well, quite refreshing. Still, while it may be true that the -last- of the Boomers bought their home by 1992, I would assert that was in fact, their 1st home!
Unlike their WWII parents ( again statistically ) boomers didn’t stay put long. According to NAR the avg. tenure in a home is 7 years. ( I happen to think it’s a LOT less )
Endless upgrades, career moves and homes that were sold simply because they were no longer appreciating as quickly as homes in other neighborhoods? Even the 40% sold in 2005 that were 2nd homes are not counted in the above scenario.
But somebody else probably moved into that old house. The churn rate doesn’t matter, just how much housing was created minus how much was destroyed.
Jim A,
In a normal world, I’d agree in a heartbeat. But we’re not there? Push come to shove a lot of these 2nd homes -will- become abandoned and fall into disrepair in short order.
We’ve already seen video of homes in the IE being bulldozed. To my way of thinking, there’s so much phantom inventory floating around out there, we haven’t a clue. What percentage of Vegas’ inventory is unoccupied?
There are huge amounts of phantom inventory. It’s not just housing in the IE and Vegas that was built thinking someone would live in them at some point (after many flips). There are entire neighborhoods in the rust belt that are completely empty. Those are either being bulldozed or in the process of planning to be bulldozed.
Michigan is a good example. They are tearing up roads that they can’t afford to keep paved and cities like Detroit have entire neighborhoods that have been bulldozed.
Perhaps I should have said “until ~2001, somebody probably moved into the old house.” Because I agree with y’all: One of the things that was a real bubble warning was the number of unoccupied houses: second homes, flipper homes, moved before selling the old house homes etc. And of course on the multifamily side we can add condo conversions, which temporarily removed rental stock while people renovated them into condos. All that temporary demand has tipped over to the supply side of the see-saw.
And sadly, we have seen some depopulating cities. Not just Detroit, but many smaller industrial cities and most agricultural towns have been losing population.
Jim A,
And… I never even stopped to consider the condo-conversions/”re-partments” that really were a seperate mess. I’ll bet a lot of those lenders stuck holding some worthless “1st Trust Deed” from a busted specuvestor would give anything to have those tenants back!
Now they’re scattered to the four winds ( or rooming w/ someone else? ) Again, I don’t know if it’s a function of population or household creation?
Well that phenomena fueled the “If people are moving out of apartments into houses, how come rents are going up?” mystery. Well in general, they aren’t anymore.
And, here’s another depressing thing to contemplate: Possessions.
You know, those things that people bust their chops to make payments on. Or buy outright.
Well, once you get to a certain age, you start to look around at your stuff and think, “I have everything I need.” That’s the age that the Boom-crowd is in.
If that isn’t depressing enough, let’s talk about selling that stuff. Sorry, Boom-crowd, but you can only expect to get a fraction of what you paid for it. Don’t believe me? Head over to the nearest yard sale. Or take a gander at Craigslist and eBay.
Yep, as an early boomer (1949) my years of acquiring toys are well past. I’ve had a couple of boats, a couple of motorcycles, an R.V. or two, a “classic” convertable to name a few. I’ve taken several expensive vacations, skiied the winter away, etc., etc. All have come and gone. The only thing I did not sucumb to was a lake home or the McMansion, thank goodness.
When I look at that kind of stuff now, I just see all of the work and cost associated with the care and feeding of the “stuff”.
I can only speak for myself, but as I get into my 60’s what I desire most of all is simplicity. Toys complicate life.
That is not to say that I intend to be sedentary, there is a lot that my wife and I want to see and do, but we want to see and do it as simply and practically as possible. Skip the motorhome, a car trip and a few nights in a hotel and I am not committed to fixing, storing and cleaning the thing.
No doubt to either take there? It’s just that we’re applying it to ‘generic’ stuff most boomers ‘thought’ they wanted. Not surprisingly, they all want to “simplify” their lives as it all gets to be bit much?
But we need to be consistent here! If we’re going to bad mouth real estate AND the market, we have to acquire ’something’? Agreed, most toys and “collectibles” are just junk. But I see absolutely NO harm in s-p-e-c-i-a-l-i-z-i-n-g in something!
Be the “jukebox guy” or the 32mm film guy or the Fender Guitar expert and only latch on to the things you’re quite certain will appreciate long term. IMHO.
Hey don’t forget the Comic Book Guy
Toy burn-out is why we have gardens. The cash suck of horse trekking though Andalusia, or maintaining a blue-water motor sailer pales in comparison to homegrown cauliflowers that amortize out at $14 apiece, or a hillock of $150 camellia bushes….
LOL, oh how right you are!
You’d probably enjoy a book called the $64 dollar tomato that follows a gardener on his expensive quest for veg.
Somewhere 10-15 years ago, someone calculated the cost of deer meat by adding all the money spent on deer hunting, divided by the pounds of dressed out deer “harvested” per year.
Worked out to something like $12/pound (early 90s dollars)
Deer meat “harvested” by impact with automobiles worked out to $7-8/pound.
If you ‘harvest’ it with your own car, it’s expensive. (May cost your life.) If someone else’s car does the harvesting, that’s some mighty cheap meat.
Jim, I’m ten years younger. My dad warned me about being a slave to possessions. That is why I only rented watercraft, never bought a motor home, etc. The more things you have, the more you invite burglars.
“blue-water motor sailer”
Ah yes! The hole in water into which one pours money!
And I haven’t ruled out the value of a producing garden by any means. I guess all the years I spent in the service without Toy 1 have not left me feeling ‘deprived’.
Most of the “stuff” you see on Ebay etc. is really pathetic. Not worth what it would cost to ship it! But just like the housing bubble itself, how can there be any value, if -everyone- is pursuing the same interests? You’d have to find a fairly unique niche’ and even that won’t assure success. You still have to work it hard.
Boats are great! I encourage all my friends to buy one. (I also encourage them to install swimming pools, and keep well-stocked bars.)
Have we met, dear?
Maybe. Have you got a pool?
LOL.
Only a little scum-pond these days…but let’s just say I’ve entertained my share of charming “schnorrers.”
“Schnorrer”? Please, please. I prefer the term ‘lover of hospitality’.
Those Winnebago things cost an arm and a leg. What’s the typical price - around $80K? And they get 5 mpg.
That kind of price would pay for a lot of nice nights in hotels, and there’s no maintenance required. Plus you can drive around in a sportscar that gets 32 mpg, and really relax and enjoy the scenery.
I had an uncle that paid $300,000 for a motor home. He was my rich uncle. WAS is the keyword. He died without a penny to his name. That was sad on a lot of levels.
Sad, but I’m giggling all the same.
You can buy a tricked out transit bus (we’re talking fancy destination sign on front, side, and back, talking bus, AVL, MDT, fancy-pants farebox, ramp loading, heavy-duty floor and seats, nice motor, super-cool A/C, and more cameras than Q) for about $350K, or $275 as part of a large purchase, and that thing will be a massive steel frame monster, powerful, smooth, and user-friendly.
The ungainly, tiny-mirrored, chintzy-paneled, over-the-road top-heavy wobblers that fools line up to pay payments on just floor me.
If you really want an RV–really–get a coach conversion.
I’m still in the toy phase.
I used to have an inexpensive boat. It was fun on the water, and I learned about maintenance. I kinda miss it.
I used to replace my computer every few years so I could play new video games. Don’t play video games so much anymore.
I now have toy tractors, bouncy balls, puzzles, squirt guns and kids. This is the most fun by far (no really hun, that RC is for the boys, not me.)
I’m only 31, and I’m already starting to think this way. There is still stuff I want to buy. After all I’m not as old as a boomer. However, I’m getting to the point where I could put all the possessions I still need to buy on a list. And with a lot of these things, once their bought, that’s it. Unless something breaks/wears out, I’m not buying it again.
What helped me realize this was moving a couple times the last several years. When you move you realize just how much useless junk you have. I’m not talking about stuff that might be iffy on whether you should hold on to it. I’m talking about stuff its clear you never should have bought. The second to the last time I moved I learned how to determine if I should really buy something or not. In other words, ask the question, “am I really going to use this thing or not?” and come up with a real answer. The last time I moved I discovered that I have to find a way to get people to stop giving me junk (i.e. christmas/birthday presents I never use). That’s going to be a bit harder. The last time I moved I had a bunch of junk like this that I threw away in a dumpster. It was such junk that I couldn’t figure out a way to have in recycled. I’m not into being green that much, but I recognize the uselessness of going straight from purchase to storage to land fill.
I do buy more computers, computer parts, and other technology than the average person, but that doesn’t make that big of a difference either. Again, I only need/want so much, and I am asking if I really will use any piece of tech.
Even being only 31, I have already come to understand the limits of stuff. Maybe I might get new hobbies or something like that, but it still won’t make much of a difference.
Big Bubble Popper,
Nothing will cure you of junk quite like making frequent moves! I had a number of bubble-sitting residences and each time, I got rid of more and more.
Yes, it IS hard to tell friends and relatives *not to buy you gifts. Not fun at all. But it has to be done. I finally said, if you absolutely can’t stop..? Pool your resources and let’s get something we can ALL enjoy. Last birthday I got a set of Dick Dale Custom guitar pick-ups, and that was it. ( They’re starting to get the hang of this )
‘My’ general rule of thumb is, am I likely to use this in the next year? Tennis racket? Gone! Cross-country ski’s? Yeah, right, gone! I admire your learning this at a much younger age than most!
I’m still hauling my snowboard around. Haven’t used it in about 7 years. But I DID enjoy it when I was doing it!
My scuba gear will be pried out of my cold, dead fingers. (Or more likely, off of my cold, wet, drowned body.)
Oh, I hear y’all.
We’re in the process of packing up for the 3rd time in a decade, and I had to hire a guy to come and pick up all the junk from our garage and various rooms around the house - its too nasty to give to charity, and its not easily recyclable…. I feel awful its going into a landfill, as I’m not only mean but thrifty, but I can’t really see what else we can do with it.
Maybe its because I’m on the tail end of the bell-curve of Boomerhood, or the fact that as a youngun we’d move every two years - but I’m so over “stuff”. It feels like emotional concrete to me.
Sadly, the Husband wasn’t brought up to be a nomad, and has ‘collectionitis’ - vinyl, cds, dvds, games, graphic novels, comics, magazines…..he’s gotten better about it through constant nagging on my part - but of the approx 20 cubic yards of non-furniture stuff to move on saturday, I’d hazard that 18 of them are his, and his alone.
Then again, he’s Gen X, not Boomer (I like ‘em young!), so hasn’t reached that zen-like nihilism about ’stuff’ that us older folks seem to have reached
I guess I should be happy that he doesn’t collect vintage cars or bikes, or houses. But, still……
oh gawd, who owns DVDs any more…
I have only a handful of DVDs. Oh, and all of the original series of Star Trek. Yeah, guilty. But for everything else, I rent it from Netflix. I know so many people who’ve bought dozens of movies they’ve only seen once (or never watched at all). Who needs it?
Now, that comics thing is a toughy. But magazines? Seriously? I just cut my name off of them and donate them at work or at the library. Not tying lead wgts around my neck.
I must be an old soul too, I was born in 1979 and gave up my toys a few years ago. The woman and I have a healthy collection of books and CDs, and being a musician I have a decent pile of that associated equipment, but there is nothing excessive anymore. The only Big Thing I want to purchase within the next few years is a Jeep TJ so the we can explore Death Valley a little further than my Subaru can (safely/sanely) take us. Well, and a house, but not until we get somewhere near a bottom, which still seems a way off.
Remember to stay safe. It’s safer to go out in group than to go out alone, regardless of what you drive. There are many off-road groups in SoCal area, and one family-oriented, non-denominational group is L.O.S.T (it started off as a in joke among the founders, ‘Liberty Owners Special Team’, an in Jeep Liberty). It’s since grown to have members nationwide. It’s cool to hang out with the LOST KJ West guys. Some of them have gone on to bigger and better things. Go out there and have fun
HTTP www dot lostkjs dot com slash forum slash phpBB2.
Looking at a consignment store recently, making offer half off for a ‘thing’ which has been sitting for 9 mo, they said, no, they would rather wait. The price they wanted was at least 1/2 off the original price anyway. Let it go. Anyone with cash, gets the goods. But I guess not.
Another treasure will come forth.
A CL set of chairs.Lister said $40 for chairs, until I showed up and said okeydokey, she said, NO, 40 per. I say, no they are used and so sorry. Lots of stores are offering going out of biz prices ala stated orig $7,9000 now $1,100. same set of whatever.
Lots of fantasy still out there.
I run into this all the time, the thrift and consignment stores are the worst. You have to wait until they’re so full they can’t fit any more donations and have stuff on the truck waiting to be unloaded. THEN they’ll make a deal, but you have to sort of hit the place at the right time.
Being in the “stuff” business, I NEVER turn down a decent offer, sometimes even at my own cost if I need the cash flow. I always make it up somewhere else.
Heh, hanging around Black people all summer they will say things like “Offered for $2100? But they will take $1900 if you pay cash.” I guess the trick is to show up with $1900 cash or money order or whatever and maybe $50-100 in your back pocket and act chill like you ain’t want it that bad … and hope the other guy bites.
Me, I’m from the ‘burbs. I suck at negotiation. If I don’t like your price, I’m just not interested. ‘Bye.
“assume the average aged hippie freak gets hustled off into assisted living at age 81″
My generation seems to be faring far better then the coming baby boomers. While the baby’s have a projected longer life span I see far more with back problems, carpal tunnel syndrome, emotional illnesses, etc and many are already sidelined with medical disabilities. They will either get hustled off earlier or have to move back with their kids. Having said that it begs the question, what are we going to do with all these hugh two story monstrosities that will not accommodate senior living?
You’re on to something, salinasron. I know quite a few people in their seventies and eighties who could run the average young ‘un into the ground.
Wanna see embarrassing? Well, that’s what happened when I took my mid-eighties father on in racquetball a year and a half ago. The ole man didn’t just beat me, he pulverized me.
That was just at the health club. He also outshoots me when we go out to the range. And, no, he doesn’t use a scope on his rifle. He uses iron sights. The same humiliation happens when we go over to the pistol range.
And the emotional problems? Boy, do I see them in my generation. And in younger people too. When the seventy- and eighty-somethings were their age, they knew how to tough things out. After all, they’d made it through the Depression and WWII.
Arizona Slim,
No question. It’s their emotional luggage that gets so heavy. Methinks some of them have had their “pleasure button” pushed a few times too many?
When compared to ‘that’, yes, everything does look dark and gloomy?
And, to that comment, I’d like to add this observation:
If your allusion to the “pleasure button” is to the same thing that I think it is, then why is it that members of the Catholic clergy are some of the happiest people out there? Yes, I know there’s the stereotype of the lonely priest and the miserable nun who used to whack the kiddies’ hands with a ruler.
But get out there and meet some real priests and nuns. Better yet, spend a day with them. It will be one of the most enjoyable days you’ve had in a long time. And not because of that p-button being pushed.
Arizona Slim,
I will definitely have to take you up on that. If nothing else, it would be a refreshing perspective. I always talk to them when I’m up at the Abbey and one works on vintage motorized bicycles in town and is an absolute gas to speak with!
I fear.., I’m talking about LSD in many cases. These are people were -years- of therapy has failed to yield any results. There’s no underlying family problems ( or none that shouldn’t have been resolved LONG ago ) and no family history of mental disorders. Just TOO much “experimentation” w/ drugs of all kinds. You really can’t say it’s even alcohol ( in many, many cases )
Plenty of the WWII crowd “liked their booze” but never really were prone to depression. Crabby maybe, but not “lost”. They always seemed to know what came next.
My druggie friends all are in a state of arrested development - at say age 10?
DinOR–
I feel bad for them if it’s LSD, because you don’t really recover from that. Nasty neurological effects.
As for the depression kids, psych research says they deal with uncertainty and disappointment better than younger people because they’ve already faced “the worst”.
Might also be some selection effects, because some people didn’t make it out of the hard times of the 30’s or the wars of the 40’s and 50’s. Some died or got shot … and some killed themselves.
Or what about the “your a winner ” button, or the gradeschool one where the kids are never ever wrong, make the incorrect choice, are constantly applauded just for being alive/there or participants.
Sheesh, my gen didn’t have that, but the kids and kids kids of our gen are surely skrood. They always are being adored, adulated, revered, just for showing up.
We are seeing problems now, just wait.
desertdweller,
And a recent study just affirmed exactly that!
“You can be any… thing you ‘want’ to be little flower!”
( Yeah, if you work your azz off? )
Then after their third ‘casual employment’ job ( defined here as = no benefits ) “they’re crushed”. Go figure?
Yes, well having the targets shoot back could focus your shooting skills…
LOL !! So true. In my youth I had read all the James Bond books, and had other similar heros. When the Army got ahold of me because I didn’t go back to college in the fall of my senior year it was no big deal. Intelligence was fine with me and off to Taiwan I went, even bought me that James Bond Rolex from the BX. Then, with James Bond in mind I requested Viet-nam and the Army willing sent me there, Phu Bai-Hue to be exact. It only took some machine gun bullets slamming into the vehicle that I was riding to instill back into my brain a health does of ‘reality’. It was some thirty years before I could watch another war movie, and as for people like Bond, you can’t trust anyone in the intelligence field to have your back; everyone expendable.
I’m with you, Slim.
Two years ago my extended family traveled to PRC for a month-long walking tour of the western provinces and the Pearl River Delta. Yes, we stayed in lovely resorts along the way, but every day was a minimum 5-10 mile trek. My 84-year-old parents and 78-year-old Aunt and Uncle put us young’uns to shame. Moreover, they ate the occasional scary-crappy meals without complaint, and stoically endured our inability to get a decent gin and tonic anywhere in the entire country. The teens, on the other hand, were whining the entire trip, and even I opted out of a couple of excursions in favor of a day in the spa.
I don’t know that this is a comment on a generation, so much as all generations.
Teenagers always whine, and always have whined. Odds are good if you survive into your eighties and still want to go walking, you’re in good shape. Eighty year olds using strollers typically don’t get invited to racket games.
– w
I love those old coots! We got a lot of ‘em here. And yeah, wear you out hunting, shooting, working their big gardens or whatever. Women who grew up on real farms, worked as teachers/nurses/secretaries and raised families too. Thin fit old folks with fat great-grandkids on welfare. Meh..not their fault IMO.
USTA tennis leagues are age-based. You must be at least 50 to play in a “senior” league, at least 60 to play in a “super senior” league, and at least 70 to play in a “super-duper senior” league. I’m not making this up!
I don’t think there’s anything above that.
My grandpa was playing tennis at age 80.
There is a sense of reality in the surviving old coots. Many younger people just can’t think through the consequences of their actions. Those people don’t survive to old age. Here’s an example: over the weekend two people got themselves drowned on two separate forks of the Payette River.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/847790.html
Invest in UTC? (Otis elevators.)
This got stuck down here. Originally meant to respond to ron’s excellent question re what to do about 2 story mcmansions.
There will be an interesting tug of war with seniors trying to sell their house so they can move to a new assisted living facility. the ALF counts as housing also.
Well said. nm
Ahansen, I wish that every builder and RE developer would read this. Who could fail to get the message you have stated so well?
The US just doesn’t need that many more new houses. D’oh!
There may be a need for new houses even though the total number of houses may not change.
There are overpopulated places in the US - think LA, LV, or Phoenix - who have an unsustainable population even today. Those people will simply have to move somewhere else as global warming dries up all their sources of water. Those cities will become the next in a line of ghost towns like the cliffdwellings of the Anastasi.
There will be a need for new houses. As you point out the southwest can’t hold as many people as it currently does because of water issues. The logical place for them to move to is to the rust belt since the rust belt can easily be considered the water belt. I’m looking forward to the fireworks this will cause. All these people aren’t going to tolerate the extreme mismanagement and corruption of the Detroit city council, Michigan state government, and other rust belt city and state governments.
On top of that who is going to want all of those McMansions out there? They’re in exurbs when people are going to want to commute less. They’re huge when people are going to want smaller, more energy efficient houses. As this is a blog entry about demographics think of it in those terms. How big of a house does a couple who doesn’t have kids need or want? How big of a house does a single person need or want? Personally, I live in a condo for this exact reason. It’s the only way to get a smaller size home (and my condo is pretty big) that isn’t at least 4 decades old.
So there can be new houses even if the total number of houses stays the same OR goes down.
DennisN,
When you look at all the excess, there’s no additional need to throw in global warming. It could rain another 10″ a year and many of those scenarios -still- won’t have legs.
I was trying to push the argument.
One prime reason for my selecting Idaho for retirement is that the water situation here is tolerable for the long haul. The Snake River carries twice the water of the Colorado River, and there’s only 1.5 million people in Idaho to drink it.
Everything sells at the right price. Lower the prices enough, the houses sell, and the inventory problem is history. This is already happening in markets like Reno, NV, where the overbuilding was of epidemic proportions, and properties are selling for 1990’s prices. There is a feeding frenzy of “investors”, and first time buyers at the lower end. When those mid to higher end properties come way down in price- expect the same. It’s less an inventory problem, and more a price problem.
And, as is the case in other markets, those newly minted “investors” will get a force-feeding in the realities of landlording.
Yes, but the investors usually want to rent their properties out. So, while the houses for sale may decrease, the inventory of inhabitable homes does not.
You now have the problem of landlords chasing a declining renter population which in turn lowers rental prices.
Which in turn lowers the price of homes on the market.
Too many homes too few occupants. Supply and demand.
The same principle applies for homes for rent. Rents will decrease, and the homes will be rented. The end result would be more single person households. If you haven’t noticed, there has been an increase in the number of persons per household due to budgetary constraints. Make them cheap enough, and they’ll be rented. Yes, supply and demand.
Dang, I used to work in Reno circa 1970 and always thought it was a nice place, considering it was a den of inequity and all that. Good climate, real seasons, outdoor recreation, jobs. I don’t want to see that place now.
I just realized the word I wanted was “iniquity.” Ooh, I learned a new word!
I think “inequity” refers to being underwater in real estate.
Right, leading to MEW-withdrawl symptoms.
Sad article about the river fatalities. I’m just of the opinion no amount of “expertise” can bring you through those Class V rapids. It’s more up to God and how generous he’s feeling that day.
It’s like saying you’re an “expert” in crash landing a plane. IMHO.
the horse breeding industry has been geared up for years to provide high-end 17HH warmblood dressage horses to an aging female baby boomer population willing and able to spend $10K+ per horse plus the $10+ to accessorize ($4500 custom saddles, $350 bridles, $250 full seat breeches, etc. etc.)
hence a huge overpopulation of overpriced horses today.
this is not to mention all of the back yard breeders turning out low quality mongrel horses with no more market and thus no value. cue the slaughterhouses.
.
I know.. my family has several horses.
Just try to sell a horse, nowadays.. no takers.
Besides the cost of the horse.. you have the stable rent, supplies, vet, shoeing, etc.
Plus… when people lose jobs & relocate….???
TV in Ireland , they had bit where horses of “affluent” owners were left, after said owners lost their “farmettes” or country homes.
Lots and lots of horses being abandoned.
Over the years, I’ve noticed an inverse relationship between the DOW and the number of rescue horses grazing the pastures of the horse sanctuaries along I-5.
The economy, coupled with the drought makes this a terrible time to be a horse in California–a fact I remind mine of every time they try to noodge their way into the orchard.
Keeping the family horses is one reason for the many small 5 acre “ranchettes” south of Boise. It’s big enough for elbow room. Plant 2 acres in alfalpha and 2 acres in corn, the remaining acre for a horse pen and barn plus the house and a vegetable garden. Horses become cheap when you raise their food on-site.
Out here in Alachua County, Florida, you can’t GIVE a horse away!
You can’t even give a horse away for free in my area. People are literally setting them loose on public lands. The cost of feeding and care is prohibitive.
The woman who I purchased my dog from also bred Arabian’s. Just like her dog breeding, it was a labor of love, and she never made any money at it. Her husband was wealthy, and she did what she enjoyed.
I’ll bet she didn’t tell her husband she wasn’t “making any money at it”.
For better or for worse, I think there are no more horse slaughterhouses. They were closed for ‘humane reasons’, but now unwanted horses are being abandoned to starve or die of disease. No easy answers.
cue the slaughterhouses
I thought all of the slaughterhouses for horses were outlawed a couple of years ago?
There’s a movement to bring back horse slaughterhouses someplace around here - I think maybe Montana. There’s still a demand in places like France.
They were……..the horsey lovers had a hissy fit over their “beautiful, majestic animals” being turned into dog food and French Steaks, so they got it banned in the USA.
They outlawed the “problem”, but never offered a solution, other than some kind of vague idea that a country as rich as good old Uncle Sugar should be able to afford to let these horses retire in a style they have become accustomed to.
That’s okay……..now all those empty trucks heading back to Mexico have something to haul now. And I’m sure that those places are run with a SPCA approval stamp.
Another “feel good” solution that made the problem worse, because dip$hitz in this country can’t seem to think the problem thru to it’s logical conclusion, or consider the unintended consequences.
You’re so right.
Some domesticated horses manage to survive and even thrive when left to their own devices. They even become low-maintenance.
http://www.equiworld.net/uk/horsecare/Breeds/chincoteaguepony/
They did used to run wild out west. (’Mustangs’ were all escaped domestic horses. There were no horses at all in the Americas when the euros first arrived.)
So where’s Olygal with her ideas for selling pieces of Shorty the mustang to the French?
“They did used to run wild out west”
They still do in N.W. Arizona. The BLM is always trying to get rid of them. Burros (donkeys) too.
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-4878455-oatman_az_vacations-i
Horses and sail boats are both similar to standing in a shower watching $100 bills going down the drain.
Sailing dinghys and trailerable keel boats aren’t too bad. You can keep them fairly cheaply.
As for me I now have a plastic Old Town “pack” canoe. It weighs 35 lbs. I can carry it down a dirt path and plunk it into a lake where you can’t launch powerboats. Works for me.
dennisn, have simple patent ?
Will put on bits/buckets. Thanks.
I have a 14.5′ kayak that I bough used a couple of years ago. Of course it’s spent a goodly amount of time sitting there, silently accusing me of not being as outdoorsy as I think I am.
the horse breeding industry has been geared up for years to provide high-end 17HH warmblood dressage horses to an aging female baby boomer population willing and able to spend $10K+ per horse plus the $10+ to accessorize ($4500 custom saddles, $350 bridles, $250 full seat breeches, etc. etc.)
I tried horse breeding one time. I damn near broke my back.
LOL! What? Being NYC, was it in alley?
How long did you manage to support him?
“How long did you manage to support him?”
ZING!
Sloth, did I ever mention that I took the KY (don’t go there) trooper test in Frankfort? That was one of my more bizarre employment efforts.
I’m glad it didn’t work out. I had, um, a little too much fun in college
You shouldn’t have quit, Muggy! You might have arrested me one day! I’d go peacefully. (And I enjoy a good strip search.)
Sloth, it was about quitting. N2O is classified as an inhalant.
Good KY state trooper strip search- side of the highway, lit by spotlight, trucks roaring by blowing horns.
Sorry, it *wasn’t* about quitting
I agree that at 61 and retired (with a good income), we no longer spend much money on “stuff.” But, we do travel a lot, dine out a lot, and spend money upgrading electronic equipment and do some upgrades to the house that really benefit us (shelving, lights, etc). not upgrades to show off (granite countertops, etc.).
I think the sales of boats, RV’s, etc. will decline, but those businesses that pamper the older crowd will do well. As for second homes, we learned long ago that it is much easier to rent a place for a month than to buy - we don’t like to be locked into one particular resort.
I know of two second homes that were considered essential by the owners. And, guess what, both were recently sold.
Sounds like you spend a lot on “stuff” to me, it’s just “stuff” that appeals to you rather than “stuff” that appeals to someone else.
tomato thomato, etc.
Good article!
At 50 I’m the youngest of the siblings in my family. Only one out of us four had kids. Many of my friends are around my age and did not have kids either. At least my siblings are renting.
Funny to watch people in my age group treat Real Estate as a Chinese Laundry service. Where they do each other’s laundry. That’s how it goes that the boomers will have to sell their mcMansions to each other - yuk yuk!.
Silly boomers! I am glad I put money in everything they ignored: T-bills, series I bonds, gold bullion, TIPs, and municipalities. I’m bullish on international stocks, particularly emerging economies with a young demographic population moving to the middle class.
My lease renewal for Phoenix came in the mail. 1,000 square foot apartment. Well recent sales in the Ahwatukee neighborhood are 1900 to 2100 square feet adjacent to desert preserves. My apartment lease is asking $966 per month. The zillow estimated monthly payments on twice the square footage is $1042. The manager said the lowest prices along the noisy street are $800. So I’m asking her to drop me to $850 per month for 12 month lease.
I’ll find out in a few days. I told her I watch comps in the neighborhood, I know there is a glut of houses for sale and I’m ready to move my stuff to storage.
This is fun.
Have you priced the cost of storage these days ? Hint, it’s not cheap……
I rent storage units already. Well aware. Phoenix seems to have the lowest priced. $73 per month is what I pay for one in Phoenix. Has stuff to fit in a 2 bedroom apartment.
FYI: used 40′ “highcube” storage containers are selling for $1400! (Of course you have to pay to transport them on site.)
I recently spoke with the owner of a business that refurbishes and sells shipping containers, and he was almost in tears telling me how many he’s selling right now. Much like Ben, he sees the real fall-out of the housing bubble burst on a daily basis, and it’s heartbreaking.
Longer ones are not going for much more…
Just look at the Baltic Dry Index. Containers were made for an era when it was > 10,000 (Peaked over 12,000). Now? Bouncing near 3,500. Hmmm…
If you have the land and some paint, it doesn’t take much to convert them for storage. (Do not forget the venting fan *and* a screen for the bugs.) One couple from our babies group has an unusual amount of land (for greater LA), they have two! (One to store ‘collectible cars.)
Garden sheds seem to be pretty cheap for the last year too…
Got Popcorn?
Neil
(One to store ‘collectible cars.)
LOL - those will be another thing that we will all be able to do without.
When you figure taxes and insurance, I can drive my early 70s Dodge A LOT cheaper than I can drive anything 5 years old or newer.
To say nothing about maintenance……they charge $200 just to plug your car into the analyzer around here…….for $3000 bucks, I can rebuild or replace every mechanical and electrical component on the Dodge.
Now if I was gay, it would be the perfect car (guys from 6 to 66 think it’s the cat’s a$$……women, not so much…at least women over 21.
)
There are some places around Boise that are selling storage spaces on a “condo” basis. I wonder how well that’s working out for them.
Too many people. Too much information.
True story. I work part time for a company that does home repair, re-hab, re-modeling, etc. I was talking to a former customer today who wanted to know if we could come out and give him an estimate on bulldozing his house. His mortgage is driving him nuts.
Umm, bulldozing, the ultimate home re-hab.
Palmy, tell the guy to leave a couple of sledgehammers and 6 bottles of Skol, and me and my crew will have a reunion.
LOL, ‘nother true story: back in the day when I wuz running wild in Miami, there used to be a local character in the Opa Locka area called The Mighty Swingah. He had a sledgehammer and people would hire him to do the initial demolition honors on various small dwellings marked for removal. After he’d done a bit of house bashing, the main wrecking crew would move in for the kill. It was sort of a ritual.
Oh, geez, Muggy, now you’ve given me an idea. How ’bout some of us here on the blog get decked out in hard hats, HBB T-shirts and sledgehammers and solicit demolition companies to do the ritual first blows to dwellings slated for destruction? You know, charge a little bit just to show up and start the process, kind of like christening a ship or something? Betcha somebody would go for it. Publicity and all that.
This is a conspiracy! You knew I’d be on the road for 13+ hours, and waited to post a boomer thread.
BOO!!
We boomers are devious. That’s why we are in charge of things. Now hurry back from vacation and get to work. I’m depending upon your sweat for my comfortable retirement.
“I’m depending upon your sweat for my comfortable retirement.”
Hmm, I look into my crystal ball, and I see a bunch of gen x-ers not caring that Gary Boomer from Cleveland just crapped his bed. I have to live in a small house, but the boomers will be leading the bleeding edge (har har) into the crappy (nyuck) medical care abyss.
It’s in the bag. And it will be in the bag until we feel like changing it for you.
The Boomer curtain call will be the biggest lifestyle deterioration known to man.
“The Boomer curtain call will be the biggest lifestyle deterioration known to man.”
You know what I mean (excluding war, locusts, TEOTWAWKI et al.)
All of my daughters have told me straight out that there is NO FREAKING WAY that they are going to wipe my a$$, after I have crapped myself.
My motto is becoming “Better to clock out a little too soon, than a little too late.”
Actually, I’m beginning to think that the coming collapse of the retirement/Social Security/healthcare system is going to shorten the lives of elderly Americans considerably, thus taking care of the demographic issue.
Sometimes if you just leave well enough alone, the problem fixes itself. Take Iran, for example………time is not on the mullah’s side.
Actually, I’m beginning to think the swine flu might be more adept at culling the herd a bit.
“Actually, I’m beginning to think the swine flu might be more adept at culling the herd a bit.”
Ixnay, to my understanding, the swine flu targets people like me, sending healthy immune systems of not-old-not-young peeps into overdrive.
Feel free to correct.
So they say, but if you read the actual reports of those who are actually dying from the disease, I’m not seeing that sort of discrimination. Seems to be a very democratic disease, cutting across all age groups, races, etc.
“All of my daughters have told me straight out that there is NO FREAKING WAY that they are going to wipe my a$$, after I have crapped myself.”
My wife and I have both emerged as primary caretakers for our families. When my moms had chemo, I was there for her and when my dad had a hip replacement I sat there in the hospital. Since both my wife and I are teachers we have spent a great deal of time the last few years caring for the older members of our families — as fate would have it, all of the procedures occurred in the summertime, so we were available full-time. We are currently keeping up with her gramps who had a stroke a few moths back, but we are very busy with the pregnancy.
(*emotional alert* I just knocked off a bottle of pinot and I am a little loopy)
All of my boomer-bashing aside, I have always had a soft spot for the elderly. See above, I wanted to be a trooper to investigate elderly crimes. I can’t imagine not caring for your parents. I mean, WTF! My sisters have already articulated that they intend to sue each other if the will isn’t fair. I have no idea what the hell is wrong with them. I’ve counseled my dad to spend it all.
I hope he buys 5,000 shitty ties and 1 million bottles of Brut.
Classic sign of a new virus is killing the healthiest people in a society. Swine flu is mostly killing the weak thus far, which is weird. Maybe the second wave (the deadliest of the Spanish Flu) will be the real deal. Let’s hope not. In the mean time, I’m being as unhealthy as possible.
Hey Dennis, you should watch the trailer for Demographic Winter above. I think you, like many boomers, think that money is your ticket. I don’t think you realize, or maybe accept, that there just isn’t enough time to take care of all of you,and not enough hands.
Money plus guns plus ammo is the ticket. I’m well stocked.
Now quit blathering and get back to work and pay your taxes.
LOL, you think the boomers are going to shoot their way outta this?
What do we want? VIAGRA!
When do we want it? ABOUT 6:45PM!
What do we want? VIAGRA!
When do we want it? ABOUT 6:45PM!
What do we want? VIAGRA!
When do we want it? ABOUT 6:45PM!
Pow! Pow! Pow!
EXCELLENT!!!
Excellent write-up, ahansen!
This is something I’ve harped on numerous times. People are all geared up for inflation (not saying it can’t happen with all the printing going on), but what about many, many years of deflation? Nobody that I talk to in real life seems to think a deflationary environment could ever exist. They can’t wrap their minds around the concept.
The next few decades will probably result in a lot of demographic and economic upheaval in this country.