I always considered a “bell curve” to be the norm. In school there were the few kids at the dumb end and a few brainiacs at the other end. The majority constituting the fat, middle section of the bell curve was considered the “norm”.
I always understood that a bell curve with a fat mid-section consisting of the middle class was a good, normal thing. In contrast, the dictatorships, third world countries and “banana republics” had no bell curve, no democracy and atrocities. Any reading of history shows that the decline of all societies commenced with the decimation of the middle class resulting ultimately in revolution. The Fall of Rome, Glorious Revolution in England, French Revolution, Russian Revolution and the rise of Mao and Red China all come to mind.
Fast forward to today. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security are being threatened with extinction and at best reduction. The safety net we worked so hard for is being shredded.
Why?
Consider the following:
Boomers are generally retired from the workforce and therefore are no longer producing
Boomers are getting older and sicker. Father Time is taking the inevitable toll and the cost of medical care is escalating
Boomers are blocking the housing ladder. They bought at lower prices and are sitting on low interest mortgages if they even still have mortgages.
In sum, they are now a cost center rather than the productive center that they used to be in their heyday. For the “powers that be” the boomers are both a problem and an opportunity.
The sooner Boomers disappear, costs will go down, budgets will be restored, we won’t have to worry about that pesky shortfall in the Social Security Trust Fund. Boomer real estate will be freed up. But that doesn’t mean folks that are lower on the housing ladder will get a chance to step up. When boomers’ real estate becomes available because of the cut backs to social security, Medicare and Medicaid, they will be distressed sales. By the way, rich boomers, the privileged rich of every other generation and hedge fund, equity venture capital companies that rub shoulders with all these other rich members of the landed gentry will gobble up the boomers real estate. With them owning former boomer properties at bargain prices, they can proceed to rent them out at exorbitant rents compounding profits. This will accelerate the “rentification” (not sure if that’s a word but it seems to fit the description) of the USA.
Looking at the decimation of any class or group of persons in history and you will see that if you take away their property you have complete control over them. We need to look no further than land grabs of the Irish by the British, the Native Americans by the USA settlers, Aboriginals’ by the Australians, the Ukrainians by the Russians and the Palestinians by the Israelis’ (or by the USA if Trumps idea of “owning” the Gaza strip proceeds) and Greenland if appropriated by USA. Bottom line is “he who controls the land, controls the destiny”.
The strategy of the decimation of the poor, working class and even middle-class boomers could be a test run, blueprint for comparable decimation of all other sectors of society who are deemed to be too costly and unproductive, especially with the advent of the artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics/automation revolution. With automation of all vehicles, what are we to do with all those truck drivers, bus drivers, taxi/uber drivers? With automation of all mundane office functions, what is to be done with all those engaged in data entry/data analysis, recordkeeping, bookkeeping, accounting, entry level and even middle management office workers?
So what are some alternatives?
Stop The Steal (to steal a phrase from a different context). Stop the steal of social security, Medicare and Medicaid. Don’t be fooled by “privatization” which is a foil for “decimation”. The story of the Trojan Horse comes to mind with the strategy of “privatization” being the camel that sticks his nose into the tent and eventually takes over the whole tent for his own advantage.
Boomers (and every other stratum of society below the millionaire level) need to develop alternative, self-sufficient economies based on mutual aid to create their own safety nets and support networks if they hope to remain independent. Don’t give up what you earned and going forward pledge to do whatever it takes to NOT be beholden to those who consider you to be a costly nuisance that happens to be a profiteering opportunity.
As always, I look forward to any constructive feedback (solutions sought, exhausting ranting discouraged) and check out my additional blogs on my website www.dunnwriteswell.com.
Dunn Writes Well 