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The baby boomers - babies no more

By Kym Durance - posted Tuesday, 17 February 2009


If you were born between 1945 and 1960 you are entitled to describe yourself as one of the baby boomer generation. Each generation develops its own sense of self along with assessments of the characteristics of those that have gone before them. Here, for example, is an assessment by a Mr Paul Begala, one clearly disgruntled commentator, from Esquire Magazine in 2000:

I hate the Baby Boomers. They're the most self-centred, self-seeking, self-interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing generation in American history. As they enter late middle age, the Boomers still can't grow up. Guys who once dropped acid are now downing Viagra; women who once eschewed lipstick are now getting liposuction,
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I do not think it would be all that difficult for even the casual observer to find evidence to support Begala’s somewhat vitriolic appraisal of the baby boomer generation whether they be American or not. There is also evidence to suggest that it is the self-indulgence and self-interest, and the legacy of those characteristics, that will plague the baby boomers through old age and into death. Life style diseases rooted in self-indulgence, coupled with the global financial crisis, another symptom of self-interest, will see to that.

The baby boomer generation has been in charge, so to speak, of much of what has transpired over the past 40 or so years. They were at the vanguard of many of the revolutionary and protest movements of the 60s and 70s, and later took charge of many of the institutions, both private and public, that exist today. After the wild days of protesting in the late 60s, most of them, to quote George Thorogood, front man for the rock band the Destroyers, did “get a hair cut and got a real job”.

Social demographers and most members of the commentariat will report that baby boomers were witnesses to not only immense social change, but also initiated substantial changes themselves. But they would say that wouldn’t they? Many of the prominent opinion writers of today are in fact baby boomers themselves. Again, that is somewhat characteristic of the baby boomers who do seem to see themselves as rather unique.

But are they really as unique as some might claim? Other generations also saw in enormous social change: somehow the baby boomers seem to have crowded that fact out from their consciousness. Many of the changes brought about by earlier generations were far more profound than those of the baby boomer cohort - like turning sex into a relatively unproductive recreational pastime or changing music styles, fashion, or debt.

The advantage the baby boomers had, of course, was that the changes that occurred while they were leading the pack were being broadcast around the world pretty much in a heartbeat. Ideas became movements, movements became policies, and social-reform and revolution of sorts were words on everybody’s lips.

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Social reform and revolution has happened before of course, time and time again in fact. Others have been equally instrumental in social change so we should not let the hubris of the dominant cohort right now drown out the true voices of history. Every generation makes it mark in some way. There have been other generations; especially those of the enlightenment, the reformation and the puritans. Each of these, and others, brought about substantial social change within their own sphere of influence.

Communication was the real agent of changes, not the boomers. But in a post world war world where the victors write the history, baby boomers have been very flattering about themselves and their role in history. Yes they have changed fashion, yes they have changed music, and yes they have changed even debt. But with the exception of debt the other arenas of change are simply aesthetic adjustments: interesting but unremarkable.

It is when you combine the more substantive changes the baby boomers have instigated, those linked to debt and health that their real legacy is revealed.

What unites all of us, baby boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y are the travelling companions of ageing and death. We are all getting older. Some of us fight it with passion. There is a robust anti ageing industry trying to sell us lotions and potions to ward off the ravages of time. We have toxic strains of bacillus injected into our faces and fat from our butts put into our lips. We have sacs of salt water shoved under our skin to enhance our profiles, it is no longer good enough to have white teeth; these days they have to glow like a white business shirt under an ultra violet light at a discothèque.

For some, the quest for eternal youth leads them to a healthier, if somewhat obsessively compulsive life style; but for far too many of the baby boom generation, things are not quite so promising when it comes to ageing and death. Self-satisfied baby boomers have swollen the ranks of the morbidly obese, those with type 2-diabetes or cardiac disease, or indeed all three maladies. The legacy of this trend has been passed on to their children as well. Those are changes, profound and far reaching, that the baby boomers will be reluctant to include in their legacy.

Advances in science have allowed us, in many instances, to trade off death for disability. Many of us are living with things that 25 or more years ago would have killed us off. But now, thanks to advances in medicine it is the baby boomers that linger on. And with that lingering will come increased demand on aged care services, however fashioned. Some of that demand will be for residential care but there will be increased demand for home-based services as well.

Before the global financial crisis it might have been safe to assume that many of the baby boomers would be better prepared for ageing. Many would be better superannuated, better informed about choice and more able to navigate the maze that is the aged care system. Now however it may be the case that all the information, education, and consumer savvy with which many baby boomers are brimming is useless given that they have collectively poisoned their own and everyone else’s economic well. Neither themselves, nor the nation, will be in a position to care for them in the manner that might have once been expected.

There will be an emergent ageing bubble needing care, but now we all have a diminished capacity to pay for that care whether it be in a residential setting or a home centred program. And those in need of care will require more complex management thanks to good medicine.

Three factors will combine to generate a state of unmet need in aged care when the baby boomers are in need of aged care services - and some of them are there already. The first is that the numbers are simply rising, as everybody knows. The second is that within the ranks of baby boomers are large numbers of ageing people with the onset of, or already have, more chronic diseases. Third there will be an increased number of ageing baby boomers who once might have been self-sufficient and been in a position to be less reliant on government funded services. These will each add pressure to an already struggling industry.

Right now there is reduced capital available to build new bed stock or refurbish existing bed stock. Already a number of large aged care providers have advised the Commonwealth that they would not take part in the recent aged care approval rounds for new licenses for beds. Money is too tight and no doubt their investments have taken a hit like everybody else. So, at the same time that there is a rising tide of potential demand, the brakes have been firmly applied to growth that has been, or would have been planned to, address the emergent need.

Falling house prices present additional difficulty for the aged care industry as many aged care providers invest bond monies, held in trust for residents entering low care facilities, into new building stock. The coffers are replenished with new bonds from new residents. Therefore, falling house prices are likely to leave some providers with a cash flow problem.

So when it comes to the baby boomers, it will be the next generation or so that will determine what have been the real changes brought about by the baby boomers. We can only hope that they are as kind to us as we have been self congratulating about ourselves.

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About the Author

Kym Durance is a health professional and has worked both as a nurse and in hospital management. He has managed both public and private health services in three states as well as aged care facilities; and continues to work in aged care.

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