[This isn’t a political forum, and I don’t intend to turn this column into a political rant, but there are some things that need to be said… and I’m going to say them. It is my hope and intention that by airing these opinions, you will take note that we have some bitter pills to swallow and that making those pills even more bitter than they already are merely exacerbates the problems we’re currently facing. I’ve always believed that discourse – both personal and political – is healthy, so I hope you will read on with an open mind – ED.]

Like a lot of Americans, I’m pretty well fed up with the political situation in this country, which has recently devolved into a morass of partisan infighting while the public is collectively thrown under the bus. With the lowest approval rating in history, the US Congress has achieved virtually nothing in the past two years – other than bringing a once great nation to its knees. The current ‘no-holds-barred’ mentality flies in the face of the ‘give-a-little, get-a-little, get-along’ model that the founding fathers of our democracy intended, and which has served us well for over two centuries.

Let’s face it; we’ve had a great ride! Most people in this country in the ‘over-50’ age group have lived their entire lives believing that anything is possible and that as Americans, we are somehow entitled to always be the biggest and the best in everything we do. Moreover, until recently we had been living the in the longest period of sustained economic growth in the history of the world. All things considered, that’s a tough act to follow, to say the least. But now, all of that seems to be unraveling and coming unglued, and understandably, we don’t much like that. However, we now have to face some cold, hard facts.

First, Baby Boomers comprise the largest single age group in American society, the effects of which have been profound. For over a half-century, this group has been directly or indirectly responsible for virtually every major social, political, technological – and perhaps most notably – economic accomplishment, extensively fueled by its sheer size and other unique characteristics.

According to a November 21, 2008 article in (the now deceased) U.S. News & World Report:
“Baby boomers may not feel rich right now, but they’re still the wealthiest generation in U.S. history. Boomers have collectively earned $3.7 trillion, more than twice as much as the $1.6 trillion that members of the silent generation did at the same age, according to a new McKinsey Global Institute report. The researchers found that only 20 percent of that difference was due to economic growth. A whopping 80 percent of the increased earnings were due to three factors specific to the baby boomer generation: Size [79 million people born between 1945 and 1964]; Social Change [Female baby boomers streamed into the workplace at higher rates than their parents did. They also married and had children later and divorced and remained single at higher rates. That means there were more wage earners relative to the total population]; and Education [The boomers’ higher level of education than previous generations allowed them to better capitalize on economic changes like productivity growth, technological innovation, and globalization].”

Secondly, our world has changed. No, that’s not a profound statement since the world and everything in it is always changing, but I think there’s a legitimate argument that the most recent changes are different. Let me illustrate that point with what I consider to be a cogent example of how the fulcrum of the economy has shifted, dramatically and irreversibly.

We frequently use the term “Global Economy” in our daily discussions, and even people not directly involved in international commerce know what that means – or do they? It’s one thing to talk about a global economy in terms of where a particular product is manufactured or assembled, but how many really understand the underlying implications of a truly global economy? Consider this…

By now almost everyone knows that Apple Computer recently eclipsed Exxon-Mobil as the world’s most valuable company. But this is much more than just a stock market fact. Notably, the world’s largest ‘energy’ company has been knocked off its lofty perch by an ‘information’ company. (Please, spare me the technicalities around the definition ‘energy’ versus ‘information’ as this is for illustrative purposes only.) So what does that mean?

Well, for one thing it means that the type of company at the top of the totem pole is no longer in that position largely because it supports a substantially labor-intensive work force of its own, plus the massive automotive industry – which in turn, has created and supported thousands upon thousands of manufacturing jobs over the past 100 years.

Part of the bitter pill I mentioned at the outset is that the vast majority of those manufacturing jobs are simply not coming back – ever – and we need to stop telling ourselves that they are. What we are seeing in America, along with much if the developed world, is a sort of reverse Industrial Revolution. And as hard as it is to accept, it means that no matter how much we trim wages and worker benefits or reduce material costs and overhead, optimize transportation, etc. there is no way we can compete with labor that earns a small fraction of our wage scale with essentially no benefits or regulatory burdens.

By contrast, an information-centric industrial sector not only doesn’t need a manufacturing mindset, it calls for an entirely different kind of work force. Again, this is clearly not the message that millions of jobless people want to hear or that political pundits will find easy to pin on any one political party or individual, but it has to be dealt with in a meaningful and pro-active way. Pointing fingers, placing blame and denouncing measures designed to move forward – as opposed to politically-correct attempts to return to the status quo – are never going to dig us out of the hole we’re in.

Blame it on whomever you want (politically), but this shift really has very little to do with politics. Bottom line, this IS the new world order, so get used to it. Americans used to thrive on this kind of challenge. Let’s stop waiting for the past to return. Instead, let’s re-think and re-invent our future and get back to the can-do attitude that made America great. Or, as the bumper sticker says: Proud to be an Amer-I-CAN! – Ed.