GEEZER BOOMERS

(The following was sent as a letter to the Editor of the Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch on December 6, 2014.)

Your editorial of December 5 purports to credit such things as "public-service messages" and "school ... strategies" for the reduction in juvenile violent crime.  I suppose those laudable things have had some positive influence, as you generally acknowledge.

However, the "tough-love" crowd routinely takes the credit for the unmistakeable overall drop in violent crime, as do the MADD mothers taking credit for the unmistakeable drop in alcohol-related accidents.  The latter are even talking about pushing the "BAC" (Blood Alcohol Content) drunk-driving "trigger" down to 0.05% BAC since the 0.08% "trigger" seems to have worked so well.  It was at 0.10% BAC some years ago until Bill Clinton and Congress coerced all states to embrace the 0.08% BAC DUI standard in the 1990's or lose federal highway funds.

Your editorial also points out that adult violent crime, though down, is now higher than juvenile violent crime.  That should be no surprise, if the "experts" would acknowledge the "elephant in the room."

The "elephant" is the aging of us Baby Boomers.  How is it that the single largest demographic variable in history (the coming of age and then the aging of us Boomers) is repeatedly ignored when considering these disparate events?  Not only with regard to crime and drunk driving, but also the current economic "malaise" that resists the idiot "supply-side" remedy of lower income taxes for the "job creators."  Fundamentally, we Boomers have gotten too old to party, too old to rumble, and too old to be in the marketplace buying up stuff left and right, spending money like drunk sailors and never saving a penny!

We Boomers were the greatest single "demand" influence the world marketplace has ever seen, and there is no succeeding generation able to equal our sheer numbers.  Consequently, we are all suffering a crisis in economic "demand," not "supply."  The real "job creators" (retailers and other small businesses) have fewer paying customers so must hire fewer employees.  (Retail sales for "Black Friday" were down nationwide over 11% last week.)

Distracted cops easily targeting "social drinkers" coming out of bars, festivals and athletic events are racking up the conviction numbers but are still missing most of the admittedly fewer "killer drunks" still on the road with BAC levels routinely exceeding 0.13%, relatively unchanged since the 0.10% standard.  (I have the Virginia DMV's own numbers to prove this statement.)  "Social drinkers" are probably "impaired" at 0.08%, but they are not very "dangerous."  Nevertheless, the MADD mothers and law enforcement pat themselves on the back for "doing something."  We Boomers are just too old to be out on the roads driving drunk like we used to, so of course accidents are down overall!

If the personal savings rate jumps up soon, you can "thank" us paranoid "geezer" Boomers for hoarding our dollars instead of spending them!