Baby Boomer Time Bombs by Mish

Baby Boomer Time Bombs

Warning: This is a very long post, 14 pages or so printed.It covers 5 aspects of the Boomer Time Bomb. I have been gathering material on this for months and finally decided to write it all up. I tossed out dozens of references that I could have included but then it would have been 40 pages long or so.

Some aspects of this are well known, others less so.In spite of all Bush's hype about Social Security, SS is one of the smaller problems on the list. Social Security is a big problem of course, but closer to now, which of course is all anyone ever worries about these days, is the affect of 10,000 boomers a day retiring starting 2006. More to the point, one has to wonder about promises that have been made to those boomers, and the preparedness (or lack thereof) of many approaching retirement. One also has to consider the demographics looking forward.

The pension problems at GM and Delphi and airlines are widely known but what about state government promises, local government promises? What about cities like San Diego and Duluth that are nearly bankrupt over promises that can not be met? What about states like New Jersey that are borrowing money by selling bonds to fund pension plans then investing that money on the hope and prayer that the stock market will provide adequate returns? What about Illinois? How about silly promises made by the state of Washington? The list goes on and on and on. That is why the following is 14 pages long. I take a look at Social Security, Medicare, Defined Benefit plans, stock market effects, and other savings (or lack thereof).I talked about The Boomer Time Bomb on my latest podcast with HoweStreet in addition to predictions for 2006. Perhaps some want to tune in to that at http://www.howestreet.com/goldradio/interview.php?audioId=183 This is an important issue and I hope everyone gives due consideration as to how they may be affected by promises that probably can not be kept.

Here goes:Five components to The Baby Boomer Time Bomb:
1) Social Security
2) Medical Expenses
3) Defined Benefit Pension Plans
4) The Stock Market
5) Other Savings

to be continued at: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2006/01/baby-boomer-time-bombs.html