It must be the fault of the Pre-boomers
The mess the country is in must be blamed on something — some group or some philosophy. Of course, it’s easy to blame the politicians because their mistakes are so public. This is true for both parties. Pointing fingers at business and finance is almost a knee-jerk reaction. Then there are the people who have retired or are about to. Those born between 1930 and 1945 are the ones who took America to where it is today.
Image by Adam Crowe via Flickr
Yes, the Pre-boomers are the ones. We picked up the ball after the post-World War II boom and ran with it. During the 1950s our generation was learning in school. In the 1960s we learned on the job. And from the 1970s on, we quietly applied on creativity and newly gained experience to the work at hand. Pre-boomers, it is now being realized, were the last generation to actually believe and invest in the notion that it was our responsibility to build a country where our children could be better off than we were.
We were the teachers, doctors, public servants, trade and business people who served this country through the long period of peacetime prosperity. Fortunately, we learned from the generation preceding us. The Greatest Generation survived the Great Depression and fought the Great War. They laid a solid foundation by teaching us about faith, family, hard work, prudence and patriotism. And we applied these principles to our daily lives.
As the bridge generation, Pre-boomers tried to instill the philosophy of living to the Baby Boomers, our younger brothers, sisters, cousins and, in some instances, our children. For most of us, Gen X and some of Gen Y are our off-spring. Where we might have fallen down is in leading them by both precept and example. We were so busy doing what we were taught to do that we did not see that society had lost its compass and was rudderless in a sea of “me-ism.”
The Boomers are the most prodigious group of consumers that ever lived. They learned if one was good, two must be better and three or more was best. This “buy your way to happiness” philosophy seemed to work for a while. A husband and wife working meant living well. And when the kids came along, those at the upper end of the salary scale could buy a house in a nice area and send the kids to nice schools. They didn’t save much but the house was building equity and the 401K was looking good.
Everyone thought they could buy a house or get anything else they wanted. The system was in place and those managing the financial and other institutions were ready to extend credit. Forget about being able to afford something just buy it if you want it and sign on the bottom line. Then the storm came and sunk many boats.
We Pre-boomers are sorry for not warning others about the consequences of the “buy now and hope for the best” attitude. The crash hurt us too. Our savings have dwindled, our home values are down and our lives have been affected by the current recession. But we are more than willing to discuss the principles that worked for us with anyone who is ready to listen, including business people and, of course, our politicians.
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Interesting blog, but it’s missing an important part of the equation: Generation Jones (between the Boomers and Generation X). And while I think your focus on pre-Boomers is interesting and relevant, many experts view those born 1942-1945 as part of the Boom Generation.
Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) now specifically use this term. In fact, the Associated Press’ annual Trend Report chose the Rise of Generation Jones as the #1 trend of 2009. Here’s a page with a good overview of recent media interest in GenJones: http://generationjones.com/2009latest.html
It is important to distinguish between the post-WWII demographic boom in births vs. the cultural generations born during that era. Generations are a function of the common formative experiences of its members, not the fertility rates of its parents. And most analysts now see generations as getting shorter (usually 10-15 years now), partly because of the acceleration of culture. Many experts now believe it breaks down more or less this way:
DEMOGRAPHIC boom in babies: 1946-1964
Baby Boom GENERATION: 1942-1953
Generation Jones: 1954-1965
Generation X: 1966-1978
Generation Y: 1979-1993
I just sat down to write an article about Boomers and suddenly realized I was not sure Who the Boomers Are! I was born in 1950 so I know I am one but my wife who was born in 1942 I have always had some questions about since our view is so different. Last week I went to her 50 year High School Class Reunion and was somewhat shocked – after reading your article on pre-boomers it all became clear!
Everything you said fit and made sense! Here was a group of people who were highly educated and had achieved amazing success in life and traveled the globe. I was shocked because of how much alike they all were in life style and success.
They now seemed as a group to be focused one their grandchildren and their old friends – the ones they went to high school with.
What surprised me the most was their lack of interest in the internet and computer technology. In fact out of about 50 people only one had an IPod! Or I-phone – see I don’t even have one either!
Thanks so much you really are a Great Generation!