What happens when the Baby Boomers retire?

A. America will have a shortfall of workers.

B. Baby boomers won't retire; they'll work part-time or job share. There will be no sudden drop off of employees. Who can afford to retire?

C. An onslaught of immigration will fill the gap.

D. Maybe any one, or a combination of the above; predicting the future is risky business.

Correct Answer: D

Will Social Security collapse? Will advances in technology reduce the need for skilled workers? Will China become such a factor in the world economy that the business in America will assume a new role that none of us can imagine?

The next twenty years will bring remarkable changes, just like the past twenty years. The best thing that we can do is to prepare (as best we can) for a variety of possible futures. How do we do that?

1. Encourage a strong birth rate by supporting families.

It time we realize that the substance of America is its people. Let,s make larger families feasible with incentives that help families feed and educate a larger family. No space program, no war, is as important as a stable America. Support families like our future depends on it.

2. Realize that the majority of baby boomers can't afford to retire.

Baby boomers (the ultimate consumers)are financially unprepared for a retirement of thirty or forty years. Effective planning will help keep them in the workforce, at least on a part-time basis, for many years. Generation X and Y will not be able to afford to support their parents. We know we can't, and won't abandon them. Let's plan for the future that we know is certain, baby boomers will grow older.

3. The future is coming. No one has ever been good at predicting it.

It's the 21st century and we're not driving flying cars like the Jetsons. Our meals don't come from pills and we don't have a space colony on the moon. The only thing we can predict about the future is that it will be surprising.

Learn more about this author, Stephen Wilson.
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