Harper - dividing the generations

Steven Harper and the journalists learned a new word, and they just can’t stop saying it, ‘demographics’, so that they can sound professorial.  According to them, the higher number of baby-boomers will be putting extra strain on the health system and the OAS program as they age – and that’s *not fair* to everyone else. They should have refused to be born.  And they just won’t die fast enough. 

But its not that simple.  Of course they made alot of mistakes, but its also the generation that helped create more wealth in this country than any other.  Unlike successive generations, they knew how to save for a rainy day, and are not drowning themselves in personal debt.  They are also the healthiest generation in history.  They gave up smoking, excessive drinking and grew-up in an era where they walked miles, were not driven to school, and spent every spare moment playing physical games outside, not computer games on a couch.  Phys-ed and Health classes were mandatory every day, while today they are ‘options’.

The harsh reality is: its the next generations that could bankrupt the health and social assistance systems.  Due to their indolent life-styles they are contracting serious diseases of old age in their 40’s, 30’s and sometimes even as children.  They will be on medication, intense health care and life-support systems for many decades as technology improves. The vast majority have almost no savings and without a new universal retirement scheme, could be forced to go on welfare in their old age.

We are all in this together, and an intergenerational war will not solve our problems.