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ARCHIVES

Dental and medical advances included high-speed dental drills, the first heart transplant, and the newly developed laser. The environmental movement, spawned in part by the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, awakened a certain spirit in youth that has resulted in many new careers today. The 2nd generation of computers was introduced and the computer "mouse” was invented. Manufacturing continued to be a mainstay of our Industrial age but the times they were a-changing.

Birthrates, in spite of all the free love available, began to decline. In fact, they plummeted from the 1960's forward - from 3.5 per woman, to 2.0 or 2.1 per woman (at or below the natural replacement rate) in the early 2000's. Male only supported families also began a decline that continues today. The divorce rate, on the other hand, skyrocketed. Men's average lifetimes advanced to 66.6 years and women's advanced to 73.1. The average American's annual salary was $4743. American teachers' earned $5174. Was public school education better then or is it better now? What do you think about how we are preparing for the future? Will America be able to compete effectively based on current educational standards and curricula?

Enough of the attempt at creating psychedelic word rainbows out of hazy memories!

WHAT'S UP IN OHIO TODAY? …This one's for you, Tim.

Dear friends, if you take the time to read about Ohio, you will see an emerging picture of America.

Columbus ranks 15th in the top 50 U.S. cities by population and it's growing. Cleveland is 35th and shrinking. Ohio ranks 24th in average annual income at $40,956 and, by age 50, women outnumber the men. 21% of folks have bachelors' degrees and 83% have high school diplomas. 82% of Ohio residents are Caucasian. In 1990, the 45-54 year old age group accounted for 10.3% of the population. The latest census revealed a jump in this age group to 13.8% of the population—an increase of 41% from 1990 to 2000.

According to recent Ohio State University research: "While the baby boomers are the most educated generation in history, the later baby boomers or those that are considered younger baby boomers (born between 1956 and 1964) have not done as well economically as the older baby boomers (those born by 1955). The younger group entered the labor market in the 1980s when the economic environment was not as strong as when the older group entered the labor market.

This younger group of baby boomers may find it difficult to retire and may turn to public job training and employment programs. Because of this lack of education, it may be prudent to invest more funds in continuous training and retooling for the current working age baby boomers—especially those that have less than a college education. This investment in lifelong learning for this group will benefit not only the individual by providing a way to earn more income, security, and options as they approach retirement but also society because fewer persons will depend on government assistance when they reach age 65."

Are Ohioans getting ready for longer lives and re-tooling or re-positioning themselves for 3rd Careers or will many of these folks, like other Americans, drain social systems and send the bill to their children?

KNOW YOUR NATIONAL BOOMER FACTS
2005 - US Department of Census

Total number of boomers	.78.2 million
% of women baby boomers	50.8
African-American baby boomers	9.1 million
Hispanic baby boomers	8.0 million