Baby Boomers

The federal government Friday called for all baby boomers to be tested for hepatitis C, which kills more Americans each year than AIDS and is the leading reason for liver transplants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the recommendation to find hundreds of thousands of people who don't realize that they have the infection, which greatly increases their chances of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus is transmitted by blood, usually through intravenous drug use or transfusions.

In the first few years of the last decade, a lot of assumptions were made about aging baby boomers, their parents, their children, and their housing needs. Boomers would begin downsizing as soon as the children flew the coop, starting at about 55. Boomers would move to communities filled with their own kind. Elderly parents would be accommodated in a casita — a part of the house — until they needed continuing care. The casita would then be converted to a crafts room.

The housing market's continuing struggles have upset the retirement plans of millions of Americans, keeping more of them in their current homes, waiting for diminished equity to reappear. Others plan to move, but they appear to be demanding something much different from what they wanted before the real estate boom turned to bust: smaller, less expensive retirement houses they can afford with their reduced means. At the start of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, economists weren't anticipating that the long-term trend toward retirement living would be derailed.

The Democratic Party hopes the 1988 election will be a replay of 1976, when the combination of a White House scandal and a weak nominee cost the Republicans their hold on the presidency. But the Democrats shouldn't bet that the Iran-contra affair will have the impact of Watergate, or that Gerald Ford will be reincarnated at the head of the GOP ticket. They would be better off looking for parallels in another election that brought a Democratic victory - 1960. A glance at the crowded Democratic field of declared or likely candidates - Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson, Michael Dukakis, Bruce Babbitt, Richard Gephardt, Albert Gore Jr., Joseph Biden, Paul Simon - underlines what may be the crucial element in the next presidential contest.

Here's the latest thing from the generation that embraced peace marches, love beads and each other in the 1960s: Some baby boomers in the Philadelphia area are organizing to throw their generation's weight against that of elderly Americans. In particular, they want a retirement program by the time they get old enough to cash in, not one that's been bankrupted by preceding generations. That's a fine goal. Still, there's something vaguely disquieting about an interest group that calls itself the American Association of Baby Boomers.

WASHINGTON - Many baby boomers say that they're likely to stay put in retirement amid a shaky economy. Those who hope to buy a new place are looking for a smaller home somewhere with a better climate that's more affordable and close to family, a new poll finds. The 77 million-strong generation born between 1946 and 1964 is increasingly worried about retirement and their finances in light of the economic crisis of the past three years. Just 9 percent said that they are strongly convinced they'll be able to live comfortably when they retire, according to the Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll.

The aging of the baby boomers has touched off a marketing blitz by the manufacturers of lotions, creams, cleansers, ointments, moisturizers and other skin-care products intended to ward off the all-too-obvious effects of growing older. Although many makers of cosmetics imply that their products can prolong or restore youth, federal regulators question such assertions. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration initiated a crackdown on extravagant advertising claims by cosmetics companies.

"I'm going to take youse out of the '80s," yowls Jon "Bowzer" Bauman as he leaps out of a gleaming peacock blue 1956 Thunderbird convertible during "Bowzer's Original Doo Wop Party," the new summer revue at the Tropicana. "I'm gonna take youse back to da '50s, a simpler era, when Marlon Brando could still fit on a motorcycle, when Pepsi Free didn't cost 75 cents. " Why not? When the casinos first came to Atlantic City, most of the entertainment offered was aimed at people in their 50s and 60s, because those were the folks with the most money to blow.

Maybe President Bush ain't too good at arithmetic," Slats Grobnik said. What prompts that observation? "Because he says he don't know why people are more scared of this recession than they were of other recessions that was worse. " Well, he has a point. One need go back only 10 years when we had a recession that was more severe. And there have been others in which the economic indicators were less hopeful. "Yeah, and that's what I mean about his arithmetic. A little simple math can tell you why people are more scared.

In the first few years of the last decade, a lot of assumptions were made about aging baby boomers, their parents, their children, and their housing needs. Boomers would begin downsizing as soon as the children flew the coop, starting at about 55. Boomers would move to communities filled with their own kind. Elderly parents would be accommodated in a casita — a part of the house — until they needed continuing care. The casita would then be converted to a crafts room.

The federal government Friday called for all baby boomers to be tested for hepatitis C, which kills more Americans each year than AIDS and is the leading reason for liver transplants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the recommendation to find hundreds of thousands of people who don't realize that they have the infection, which greatly increases their chances of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus is transmitted by blood, usually through intravenous drug use or transfusions.

MOUNT ORAB, Ohio - It's winter, so Donna Robirds puts on two sweaters in the morning and keeps heavy blankets handy as she sets her thermostat low - 60 at night - and bundles up to keep her utility bill down. At 67, with a fixed income and a $563-a-month mortgage, she lives on a tight budget. Food stamps help the retired state employee stretch her budget in this Appalachian village. So has the mild winter. "We haven't had the extreme cold, so it hasn't been too bad," she said.

Nicole Gelinas is a City Journal contributing editor and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute Aging members of America's middle class worry about retirement, and for good reason. When the TV talking heads aren't reminding us about plummeting house prices, they're speculating about not whether but by how much politicians will cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. And the financial and economic crises of the last several years have left the country 10 percent poorer, obliterating $6.1 trillion in wealth, a healthy chunk of which was in retirement savings.

WASHINGTON - Many baby boomers say that they're likely to stay put in retirement amid a shaky economy. Those who hope to buy a new place are looking for a smaller home somewhere with a better climate that's more affordable and close to family, a new poll finds. The 77 million-strong generation born between 1946 and 1964 is increasingly worried about retirement and their finances in light of the economic crisis of the past three years. Just 9 percent said that they are strongly convinced they'll be able to live comfortably when they retire, according to the Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll.

For so many Americans, these are desperate, fearful, and contradictory times. More than 20 million are out of a job, have given up looking, or settled for part-time work. Those with jobs fear they will be laid off, and people trying to move for a job are stymied by homes they cannot sell. "How are consumers feeling this month? . . . Pretty depressed," said analyst Ed Yardeni, after perusing consumer-confidence numbers in late August. According to a recent Gallup poll, three in 10 workers are worried about being laid off - a level of fear last seen in August 2009.

WASHINGTON - The "golden years" may lose some luster for many baby boomers worried about the financial pressures that come with age. Many of the nation's 77 million boomers are worried about being able to pay their medical bills as they get older, a new poll finds. The concern is so deep that it outpaces worries about facing a major illness or disease, dying, or losing the ability to do favorite activities. Another major concern among the boomers: losing their financial independence.

Theodore Roszak, 77, the author, scholar, and critic who brought the term counterculture into the mainstream as he documented the social upheavals of the 1960s, died July 5 of cancer in Berkeley, Calif. The longtime professor's best-selling The Making of a Counter Culture was published in 1969 and gave a label to the assortment of youth movements upending life on college campuses and beyond. "People were trying to figure out, 'What is this thing that has come upon us?' He named it," Columbia University historian Todd Gitlin said.

WASHINGTON - Baby boomers say wrinkles aren't so bad and they're not that worried about dying. Just don't call them old. The generation that once powered a youth movement isn't ready to symbolize the aging of America, even as its first members are becoming eligible for Medicare. A new poll finds three-quarters of all baby boomers still consider themselves middle-aged or younger. That includes most of the boomers who are ages 57 to 65. Younger adults call 60 the start of old age, but baby boomers are pushing that number back, according to the Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll.