Generation Gasp
In a recent meeting with a few of my work colleagues I was struck by how differently we each see issues and problems. I am not talking about different personality views, but a general worldview that appears to be defined by the generation cohort we belong to.
As one of the younger people at my office, I belong to the Baby Bust / Generation X cohort. which is in contrast with most of my colleagues who are in their mid to late 50s and are part of the Baby Boom.
It has been my experience that Baby Boomers are generally a positive group who believe that the world is always getting better. In contrast, I am pretty cynical about the future, particularly the Health Care industry I work in where the future challenges are being solved with more bureaucracy and institutional thinking. While I see us being faced with a very negative future, my older colleagues see lots of strengths. Who is right? I don’t know, since the correct answer depends on the question being asked. A big part of my perspective is my fiscal conservatism which which asks, “How are we going to pay for all of this?”
What I do worry about is that the Baby Boom in their enthusiasm, rose-colored view of the world, and breaking of social rules will leave the younger generations with a huge financial and social headache. I don’t see them as a group asking any of the hard questions, nor even caring how things are being run. This is demonstrated in Europe’s debt crisis with Greece not being able to afford its government programs. I am worried that this is what we will face in the future, especially as the Baby Boomers retire and begin drawing on government programs yet contribute less to the tax coffers. The problem is that the Baby Boomers are spending the money now, and it won’t really be there for them (or the following generations) when they need it.
What is interesting is that this all seems to be part of a natural cycle expressed by an interesting website I stumbled upon. The website combines mythology and generation gap issues into a thoroughly researched perspective called the Lifecourse Insight. Check it out.
Popularity: 56% [?]
In 1967 the Young Rascals sang “Let’s Live for Today”:
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today
And don’t worry ’bout tomorrow, hey, hey, hey
That’s a nice concise (and honest) statement of Baby Boomer “slash and burn” economics and environmental policy. As a generation, most are quite prepared to spend as much money and consume as many resources as they can now, individually as consumers and collectively through government, without much consideration for the future.
In this respect, Gary Doer and his Finance minister Greg Selinger, with their $600 million deficit, were the Ultimate Hippies. Can you picture Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. and Manitoba’s present premier singing: “Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today . . .”
Thanks for sharing. That is quite a contrast with the snarly, in-your-face punk bands from the late 1970s. The punks saw that everything was getting worse with such thinking. That cynical attitude has carried on with the various indie bands.
The Editors is easily one of my favorite bands to come out in the past five years. They have a bunch of great songs, but this one is particularly relevant:
“When Anger Shows”
How can you know what things are worth
If your hands wont move to do a days work?
This chorus summarizes how so many people expect something for nothing. We expect government to fix all of our problems, yet are surprised that we spent all this money and the problems remain.