The last statistic is especially damning.
From the LA Times 1/24/06,
The Boomer Bust
Boomers vs. Post-Boomers: A Statistical Abstract
Number of Americans in millions born during the "baby boom" between 1946 and 1964: 75.8
Year President Bill Clinton was born: 1946
Year President George W. Bush was born: 1946
Year Cher was born: 1946
Percentage of boomers who feel younger than their age: 63
Mean age they say they feel: 40
Percentage of boomers who expect to make it beyond age 70 without serious health limitations: 79
Percentage of boomers who expect to make it beyond 80 without serious health limitations: 50
Life expectancy of a U.S. resident, in years: 77.6
Percentage of American adults who are overweight or obese: 64.5.
Percentage of boomers who think they have a weight problem: 53
Percentage of boomers who consider themselves to be in very good or excellent health: 58
Percentage of American children who are overweight or obese: 16
Largest single age group for people living with HIV and AIDS in the U.S.: 35 to 54
Largest single age group for new AIDS cases: 35 to 44
Drug overdose deaths among Californians over 40, per hundred thousand, in 1990: 8.6
Drug overdose deaths among Californians over 40, per hundred thousand, in 2003: 17.3
Percentage of those who had used drugs in the past year who were 35 and older in 1979: 11.9
Percentage of those who had used drugs in the past year who were 35 and older in 2004: 34.2
Percentage of felony arrestees in California in 2004 who were 40 and older: 22
Percentage of felony arrestees in California in 2004 who were teenagers: 19.9
Percentage of baby boomers who say it's "not really" their responsibility to let an adult child move back home: 63
Percentage of baby boomers who say it's "not really" their responsibility to save for their children's inheritance: 70
Percentage of baby boomers who anticipate a comfortable retirement: 55
Ranking of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" in Blender magazine's "500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born": 1
Ranking of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time": 58
Ranking of "The End" by The Doors in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time": 328
Ranking of "The End" by The Doors in Blender's "50 Worst Songs Ever": 26
Number of successive decades in which Cher had a No. 1 hit on a Billboard chart: 5
— Shawn Hubler
Information drawn from government and nongovernment sources, including RoperASW, AARP, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control, American Obesity Assn., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gallup Poll, 2003 HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the California Criminal Justice Statistics Center, Pew Research Center, and Blender, Rolling Stone, and Billboard magazines
2 comments:
So using statistics, the average boomer is stoned and listens to the worst of pop music. Yes, I could see how that leads to distorted view of their future.
I think there's also a sociological projection going on with the headlines about overweight children, functionally illiterate and pot smoking teens: the boomers, unable to deal with their own failings, but still aware something isn't right, finds these faults in their kids.
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