I want to thank Terry Savage for her brilliant column  in this week’s Chicago Sun-Times. She writes about the impending generation war. It will be a war based on age and wallets.

 A huge number of Baby Boomers — who’ve always gotten what they wanted and been promised ample benefits in their retirement years — will be pitted against the smaller, but equally vocal generation that will be taxed to pay for these promises.

 She writes, “Unlike the Federal government, states cannot simply “print” money or run budget deficits. So they’re forced to raise taxes or make spending cuts — or both.” Across the nation, she states, we’ve already seen cuts in “sports, the arts, and after school activities. These cuts hit working parents hard, and create a new generation of latch-key kids and at-risk children.” 

Savage writes, “The next battle will be fought over jobs. As the recovery develops it will become apparent that there will be fewer opportunities for younger workers to get jobs, or move ahead in their career. That’s because Baby Boomers are delaying retirement.” The dream of early retirement has been replaced by, “’Hanging on as long as I can.’ Working longer gives Boomers an opportunity to rebuild devastated 401(k) plans and hopefully sell their homes at a reasonable price when they’re ready to downsize.” 

Savage asks, “Will younger workers have the income to purchase Boomers’ homes if they can’t get Boomer jobs?” 

She states that one reason the health-care debate is stalled revolves around saving money through cuts in Medicare reimbursements. “The huge — and actively voting — Boomer generation is about to demand that the contributions they’ve made into the system now be used to take care of them in their senior years, even though the cost will be greater than their payments.”

 In my favorite part of her column she states, “when they were young, schools expanded even using mobile classrooms to give Boomers an education. As they age, they will demand medical and custodial care. We’re likely to see the equivalent of those mobile classrooms in temporary trailers to expand nursing home facilities.” I love this part, because I’ve had a very similar vision for many years. Click here  for a blog I did on just this subject.

 She closes by saying, “The cost of caring for the aging population of our country will pit seniors against the next generation of workers who will be taxed to pay for the benefits that Boomers have been promised…Pitting Grandma and Grandpa against their grandchildren is a cruel war.” 

Readers, please take heed and buy long-term care insurance if you don’t already own it.