This is not my judgment. (I'm fifty-six) But is the considered mass professional opinion of those who toil in the field now known as 'Human Resources'. Curious name Human Resources, back in the day it had a warm and fuzzy humanitarian ring to it. Now it makes people seem like raw material much like iron ore or crude oil.
At any rate, I draw this conclusion about age prejudice from personal, not personnel experience, vast anecdotal testimony of friends and acquaintances and popular literature like the May 2005 article in Fortune Magazine, You're fifty, you're fired and you're on permanent vacation.'
Those in my age bracket are oft times referred to as 'Boomers'. Many of these Boomers are running America's businesses and institutions. Those Boomers in the name of corporate efficiency and the bottom line are very busy currently getting rid of their siblings, cousins, classmates and fellow boomers. Those boomers not surfing the lofty crest of American business and those who 'wipe out' are seen as superfluous.
We are, at best, prime fodder for the swelling and greedy financial services industry as we are in our so-called 'peak earning years'. But mostly, we seem to be in the way.
Pundits, many of them Boomers themselves forecast doom as we slowly age and clog up America's health and social service machinery.
Nightmare Scenario
The nightmare scenario of millions of aged boomers sporting titanium joints, plastic hearts and digital sensory arrays doggedly refusing to die haunts social planners (many of them boomers as well.) like a nightmare from Malthusian hell.
On the upside, predicted shortages of bedpan emptiers and drool wipers have young people flocking to become 'eldercare' technicians.
The likes of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, leading Boomers themselves, have conjured up images of a nation awash in ancient doddering hippies spaced out on prescription drugs clogging the highways and by-ways in psychedelic muumuus staggering about on light-weight aircraft aluminum walkers.
The problem with this concept of ancient Boomers is that the very eldest of us is merely 60. The youngest merely 43.
It has been centuries since sixty was considered old. On top of that sixty is not what sixty used to be. I frequently play open pick-up basketball at a local YMCA. Open means 18 years and up.
Now as stated earlier, I'm no spring chicken but there are several older players than I, some in excess of sixty. One remarkable athlete is near 70! We're playing real full court hoops with players in their 20's, 30's and 40's. It's not the N.B.A. but it's no knitting bee either. Point being, boomers are going to be strong and active until about 2050.
'Tacit National Policy'
Our tacit national policy is to marginalize the 78 million of us who are boomers. We have taken counsel of our fears and come up with an irrational view of the future. We've totaled up all the liabilities of boomers and completely discounted any contributions. Only our large financial institutions with their pseudo-hippy folk-rock television commercials are eager for our business. Most others consider us as flesh and blood anchors around the necks of future generations.
Costs Incurred By Boomers
Those who fear the medical expenses, pension requirements and other costs to be incurred by boomers in the future should keep in mind that they themselves are next in line.
Only those with massive personal wealth will live out their days without some form of assistance. When we hit the down slope, they will be right behind us with the next generation hard on their heels.
Then those who today would deny boomers' benefits will be fighting for their own.
Fighting, I would point out with their own children who will view them as shortsighted ill-prepared complainers who should have managed their lives better.
These same children on the other hand will view us boomers as dear old grandma and grandpa who have been stiffed by their ungrateful children. As we say here at the Old School, "What goes around comes around."
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