November 24, 2010
Source: Canada.com
OTTAWA - In the film Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood's modern Western classic, the flawed hero Will Munny discusses death after The Schofield Kid killed his first man in a gunfight with a gang.
``Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming,'' The Schofield Kid says.
``We all got it coming,'' Munny said.
Will Munny is right. We do all have it coming. It's just a matter of timing. And Will Munny's analysis has implications for the current morass in the economy and elsewhere.
As our society grows older, we live in an age of fear.
The largest demographic has got it coming and they wonder about their financial welfare and health in their later years. This from a generation that spent like no other, accumulated debt like no other, partied like no other. No BMW was too good for the Boomers. You didn't drink water . . . you drank Perrier or some designer dew that fell from the leaves of the Amazon rainforest.
The Boomers were so self-absorbed that at one time they dubbed themselves the Me Generation. No group of people in history has been so spoiled. No generation was so self-assured. The high life would last forever. And few generations saved less for their retirements or unforeseen health and care problems.
Now the foundations of Boomer confidence are in doubt.
We live in a society built on confidence. We expect that, on a two-lane highway, the other driver will stay on his right. That a loonie will be honoured at the store. We trust banks will remain solvent and keep our money safe. That our job will be there tomorrow.
But doubt is now a part of the collective psyche for the generation that powered the world's greatest economic boom. Its consumption-fuelled economic strength and a belief in progress. Now both are in jeopardy.
With aging, if our basic existence is in jeopardy, what of our health and prosperity? A generation that said: ``I hope I die before I get old'' didn't die, doesn't want to, got old, didn't like it, didn't save, and is scared for its comfort, enjoyment and welfare. In that environment, you save, not buy.
We live in a society of doubt and fear.
Economists and politicians wonder what has happened to economic health and society's vibrancy. The answer? It just got old. There's a reason companies market to the 18-to-49 age group. They consume. Meanwhile, the Debt Crisis of 2007-08 rocked our confidence to its foundation. Banks collapsed and shuddered. In addition, personal wealth was crushed as stock markets crashed. And all this just before the largest demographic faces retirement.
Would that the Boomers just face lowered expectations. Many in their live- for-today mania accumulated spectacular debts that crippled their ability to recover financially. In the United States, so many mortgages couldn't be met that the housing market collapsed, bringing financial institutions and the economy with it.
Meanwhile the recovery is slow as a financially damaged society spends for what it needs, not what it wants.
The rebound is further hurt by the elasticity of the price of oil. This basic commodity increases in value as the economy gets stronger and demand for it rises.
Gas at about $1.12 a litre is bound to retard growth and put a ceiling on prosperity.
Adding to fears is change. Most older people don't like change, but our society is being altered at a furious rate. Just when Boomers got a handle on Twitter, out comes the iPad and the newest app for the smart phone. Lightning- fast development brings with it unease.
But there is still more serious change.
In North America, we built a society on consumption and manufacturing . . . neither of which are responding well to overseas competition.
Companies are not just failing, but entire industries disappear in the face of competition from cheap-labour economies. Jobs don't just vanish but careers are destroyed because that field no longer exists. A lifetime of finely honed expertise is rendered useless. Next job stop: ``Do you want fries with that?''
Many who keep their jobs toil brutal hours because workforces have been slashed as profit margins are squeezed.
For all that, workers wonder if their jobs will be there tomorrow. Not exactly the atmosphere in which you buy a new washer and drier.
A spoiled generation is coming to terms with what others in the past have had to deal with. In health and economics, we've all got it coming.