BABY BOOMERS, WELCOME TO RETIREMENT!!! NOW YOU'RE REALLY SCREWED.

　
　
　
　
　

　
　
　
　
      Nobody’s said much about it yet, but this month -- January -- the first 300,000
Americans from the Baby Boomer Generation reach the retirement age of sixty-five. And next month, another 300,000 hit that magic mark. In fact, ten thousand people -- yup, ten
thousand -- every day of every month of every year for the foreseeable future will be retiring.



      Here’s what I think they’re facing with their fixed incomes and unspoken hopes:
… a collapse, sooner or later, of a Social Security system which was
designed for people whose lives were far shorter than ours.
… a Medicare system that implodes from its own excesses or that charges
its beneficiaries (all of them) vastly more money for medical services.
… Reductions in all state and local help programs, like special transportation,
social centers, health counseling. fuel subsidies, senior discounts, etc. etc.
… Increased real estate taxes and higher sales taxes. There is no way for state
and local governments to fix the mess they’ve gotten themselves into
without raising taxes substantially. (Just as there’s no way -- despite the
surreal promises of the “NaiveTea Party’ -- to wipe out the federal deficit
without tax increases or radical tax reform.)
… Reduced pension fund payments. Maybe not across-the-board, but so
many pension funds, particularly public funds, are underfunded or
otherwise in trouble that millions of people will be threatened.
… And finally, here comes that stealthy and corrosive old enemy of fixed incomes:
inflation. Everybody notices the price of gasoline; but have you noticed
the recent price of beef, pork and milk? Up, Up and Up. One dollar in
goods and services ten years ago will buy you seventy-eight cents

today. And that was a period of low inflation. Can you imagine
what happens as consumer demand continues to explode in China, India,
Brazil and Latin America? As global demand for raw materials
increases? As whole continents demand more and better food?
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is going to go up. It’s only
a matter of when and how fast.
        Now none of this is news .. or at least it shouldn't be. But the big question remains WHAT ARE BABY BOOMERS TO DO? Their homes aren't worth anywhere near what they were a few years ago. So it’s not worth borrowing on them, even if they can find a bank willing to lend them anything. And who knows when, if ever, the real estate market is going to get better. And you can be damned sure their kids won’t be able to take care of them either. Right now, the ’kids’ are having a rough time holding on to their jobs, paying off their credit cards, renegotiating their own mortgages and figuring out how to pay college tuition (talk about inflation!!) for their own children.
So the Boomers, as I see it, are screwed … really screwed!!!

     Unless …
     Unless they do something Americans haven’t done en masse since the 19^th century.
     Migrate.
     Get out of Dodge. Pack your bags and move by the millions .. like those who traveled the Erie Canal to the fertile loam of the Middle West and those who -- with the Homestead Act --raced into the great grassy prairies toward the Rockies and beyond.
     Migrate. Immigrate. Leave.
     Find a place where you can live bigger, better, cheaper, safer and, hopefully as a consequence, happier. Can such a place exist? The answer is yes. In fact, a number of such places exist. And you don’t have to go to the ends of the earth to find them. In fact, let me suggest just one and see how you feel about it, okay? Here’s the deal:
What you get right out of the box is ……
A warm, tropical climate.
A stable economy and a democratically elected government.
The American dollar as the currency. (So no currency fluctuations).
First-class medical care with American-trained doctors and costs far below those in the United States..
Easy access to and from New York, Miami, Washington, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. ( also Montreal, London, Paris, Madrid and Stuttgart too if you’re interested.)
And best of all, a cost-of-living that’s HALF that of the US. So your income may be fixed, but your purchasing power doubles. So far, so good. Right?
But wait. There are kickers.
For $250,000, you can buy a brand new 3-bedroom, 2-bath home (or a high-rise condo) with a pool, patio and lovely garden. And you will be exempted from paying property taxes for twenty years.As a retiree, you’ll also get major discounts on your utility bills, including electricity, internet and telephone..

And if you tired of your own cooking, you’ll receive a 25 percent discount on all restaurant charges … as well as all charges for entertainment like plays, movies and concerts.
And last but by no means least, you’ll receive 25 to 50 percent discounts on all airfares you book in the country which , as you may have guessed by now, is the Republic of Panama.
        Google it, Boomers. Do a little homework and think about colonizing a country in an entirely new and different way. (How about this as a way to deal with the immigration issue in America? For every two Americans given residency status in a country like Panama,  the US will let in a Latino on the same terms. Just kidding.)  But Boomers, don't ever be ashamed of yourselves or think you've failed.
       You should have a far better life in retirement than your government, your politicians of all stripes, your business leaders and captains of industry, your bankers and brokers, and your educators have saddled you with.
　
　
　
　
(Not everything in Panama is roses. So in my next blog I’ll spend a little time on the negatives. Until then, thanks for reading me. And apologies for the screwed-up fonts.)