Isn't "The Great Resignation" just Baby boomers retiring?

[George N. M.]

Anvil, yes, you are an early boomer but by some definitions of when the boomer generation starts I am on the exact leading edge of the generation.  I was born on June 2, 1946 which is exactly 9 months, to the day, of VJ Day.  I guess I know how my folks celebrated the official end of WW2.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Daswulf]

Funny I guess.  I'm gen X, got with a millenial and have two Gen Alpha kids. 

[anvil]

George, I'd call that cutting edge Boomer for sure!  And I can't think of anything better to do On VJ Day but celebrate to the max!

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I wonder if the next generation name change in twenty years will be called beta or something else? 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Of course us boomers are retiring---we have to plunder SS and Medicare while there is still some left!  We will be reduced to eating Soylent Green soon enough!

[rockstar.esq]

Anvil, you're obviously correct in your case.  It's also noteworthy that economists who decide to categorize "generations" aren't always consistent about the duration

Lost and Silent each spanned 17 years

Boomers spans 18 years

Gen X, Millennials, and Z all span 15 years

Boomers are the obvious standout here, and maybe three years doesn't sound too significant until you consider that it's 20% more time than the following three generations were allotted.

More to the point, it's kind of ridiculous to have generations that span more years than the average age of reproduction.  The entire point economically speaking is to track major life cycles like childhood, adulthood, and retirement.  I suspect special dispensation was given to Boomers due to the incredible mortality rates of the generations before.  I absolutely cannot be thankful enough for all that those people went through.

That being said, I think popular culture overlooks a lot of opportunity to understand generational differences.  It's a shame, because everyone is set to be blindsided by the different generations obviously moving through their lives.   Boomers are a huge group, anything they do affects everyone else.  As Boomers pass on, it won't be long before Millennials are the commanding demographic of adults.  Most of them will be getting a "late start" in life.  I suspect many of societies barriers to advancement will change as a result.  I hope we quit doing stupid things like economic bubbles, but history shows how common they are. 

[ThomasPowers]

When the boomers pass a lot of capital will go into the hands of a smaller group!

[rockstar.esq]

Thomas,

Broadly speaking, I think you are correct.  Although I would also say that it's always the nature of things for capital to pass into the hands of smaller groups.  As it stands, I suspect anybody positioned to provide high volume  elder care is going to be the first of those smaller groups relieving Boomers of their capital.

When large numbers of Boomers start passing on, it will spike mortality rates and tax income for more than a decade.

I'm putting a marker down that somewhere, someone, will use those statistics to claim "Generation Z are working too hard, because they're setting tax revenue records, and living shorter lives."

 

[ThomasPowers]

I joke that our kids are looking into "Fast Turnaround Acres"; the Nursing Home that doesn't totally deplete your parent's assets!

[rockstar.esq]

Thomas, 

I wonder if the housing bubble will lead to multi-generational households, where the younger generation saves on rent, and the older generation saves on elder care.  Slowing real estate transactions might be a way to gently deflate the bubble.  

[ThomasPowers]

I know the only reason my Mother is still in her house is that my youngest adopted Sister is still living there too; in her 30's...

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

3 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

anybody positioned to provide high volume  elder care is going to be the first of those smaller groups relieving Boomers of their capital.

Hmmm… I wonder how lucrative building a new nursing home would be? 

…Nahh, I don’t want the headache lol, 

there was a small old nursing home in Westville, probably only served 30-40 residents, but about 10 years ago they moved the people out an dozed it down, because the building was in pretty ruff shape an the sewer system was all messed up, and it was becoming a problem of the sewer backing up inside the building,

since then the city finally got around to upgrading the sewer system, 

but no one ever wanted to rebuild so it’s just an giant empty concrete pad now, but the high pressure hydrant system thing for fire sprinkler is still all there and intact, 

I don’t know how true it is but I’ve been told those sprinkler system hook ups cost tens of thousands of dollars, 

 

[rockstar.esq]

Twisted,

There's a central planning concept called "Prophylactic Development". 

Out here if Colorado there was a depression-era boom of pig-ugly multifamily buildings that started in 2008.  These 5 story eyesores commonly have exposed staircase access to the units.  The units are typically designed such that the vast majority are too small for a family.  This reduces the child census, which in turn reduces the cost for building/maintaining/staffing all sorts of stuff like schools.

Everything about them is catering to childless urban professionals who are young enough to put up with the profoundly cruel wind-tunnel staircases.  Same story for hideous public art installations, mostly paved parks, and reedy thin trees.

When "work from home" became the order of the day, the single family home market blew up as all the young professionals saw an opportunity to shed ridiculously high rent for tiny apartments in the shuttered metropolis. 

It occurred to me that many to most of these multi-family buildings just need elevators, and an anti-dystopian exterior remodel to make them suitable for independent senior living.   Half the parking lots could be commandeered to build office, therapy, and nursing areas because the majority of residents won't have or need a personal vehicle.  Throw in a generator for every fifth building or so to provide assisted living, and before you know it, the landscape of barren eyesores could give way to a renaissance of pro-human architecture.

If Boomers were involved, they might consider what it'd be like to look at, and live with, this stuff for the next ten to twenty years.  Perhaps spend some time considering how some aesthetics tend to age like milk, while others have brought tourists from around the world ever since they first went up.   I'd personally love to see a resurgence of classically styled architectural ironwork in building facades, fixtures, and finishes. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s an interesting idea rockstar,

I got an older building downtown Westville that was built over a hundred years ago and your right there’s something neat about how those older buildings look! 

I think your onto something there, I never really thought about it but your right in the next 10 to 20 years there’s gonna be a serious assisted living home shortage unless someone starts planning an building now, 

Im to broke to try and pull something off like that myself lol, but maybe you should look into investing into buildings to make your ideas come to life!

[ThomasPowers]

After Las Cruces NM was listed as the best place to retire for several years; a lot of assisted living and nursing homes were built. Including a lot of them in a zone that was a major flood channel from when a flood nearly  destroyed the city.  They built a massive "dam" to block off any future ones---and now are allowing people to build and live down inside it!  I guess they figure that it will be easy to evacuate folks living in assisted living and nursing homes  if  when another flood occurs.   My parents house is located on top of the highest hill above that flood channel. (Growing up in a town that got flooded a lot, Fort Smith AR, gave them some good reflexes...)

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Fort smith still floods, i friend of mine did a big clean up and repair job for one of the owners of the stock yard down there and showed me pictures of the mess during and after the flood, 

 

[ThomasPowers]

The stock yard in Moffett?   It's pretty low;  I wonder about the Blacksmith shop out there?

My Father told me stores about boating on Garrison Avenue when he was young and when I was in single digits---before the Corps of Engineers  made a deep water port for Tulsa, (thanks Wilbur!), I remember the Arkansas river being knee deep in the summer.

[George N. M.]

Thomas, I'd like to see the FEMA flood plain maps of Las Cruces and see how they have been amended through the years and why.  A dike or a big enough berm may be enough to remove an area from the 100 year flood plain but the dike has to be maintained and you can't put any road cuts into it.  Also, a large modification like that can just displace flood waters and inundate property which would otherwise have remained dry.  Not a good thing.

Cities and counties have to have an enforce flood plain regulations or FEMA can rule that no one in the city or county can purchase flood insurance through the federal program.  This is usually enough to motivate local governments to enforce regulations even if they don't like them.

I have seen some flood plain maps that were very poorly done and paid little attention to the real topography when overlaid on a topo map.  It is possible to get amendments to the FEMA maps but it is a complex process and takes several years.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

28 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

The stock yard in Moffett?   It's pretty low;  I wonder about the Blacksmith shop out there?

I dunno we’re I just know he said it was the stock yard in ft smith,

I’ll call him later an see if that’s were it it’s and if he still has pictures of the last flood an damage,

as far as the blacksmith shop goes, I didn’t know there was one down there but I’ll ask around an see if it’s still there, 

[ThomasPowers]

George; they have been building *in* the catchment area, not below it.  The big flood was decades ago; but as a geologist, it just means that another one is a possibility!   Way back when they diked off a huge area as catchment and it wasn't till fairly recently that the city spread east into that area and then into the catchment as that became the desirable area to live in.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

The stock yard in Moffett?

I just got hold of him and yes the one in moffett, 

he said he lost his phone that had the pictures but he still had some pictures on Facebook 

[ThomasPowers]

Strange that the Fort Smith Arkansas Stockyards were in Moffett Oklahoma; but being from the area fairly understandable to me...

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I don’t know much about fort smith area other than it’s south of me and it close to i40, lol, 

I never really had a reason to go down there, I think it’s around an hour trip, maybe I’ll get a wild hair sometime and check it out, 

[ThomasPowers]

Tour "Hanging Judge" Parker's Court Room (and see the gallows reproduction),   read up on Belle and Pearl Starr, walk Garrison Avenue till you get to Texas Corner, ride the train in Van Buren.  I don't believe they have bronzed the house I used to own there; but it's probably just a matter of time...  The Blue and the Gray TV miniseries did a lot of filming in Fort Smith and Van Buren, they blew up the house behind my Grandfather's house.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Ive heard a lot about judge Parker and belle star since I was a kid, ive got some old west history books that have alot of that information but it’s been over a decade since I’ve read them so I’m probably due for a refresher, 

I see advertisements for that train, it runs all the way to several places in north west Arkansas and I think even one stop in Missouri, 

if they do bronze your house Thomas I’ll definitely have to go take some pictures of it lol,