Hi Mike, since you're counting on the boomers, here's what Dr. Ed said today on the topic...
>Sunday morning, May 13, 2001
COMMENT: Many economists are surprised by the strength in retail and housing
sales. Apparently, they don't have kids. As the father of five, I know that
we Baby Boomers will be spending lots of money on our Baby Boomlet for quite
some time even if we've lost some of our job security and some of our stock
market wealth. Today, there are roughly 76 million Baby Boomers, who were
born between 1946 and 1964. They are 37-55 years old. They've been busy with
their careers, but not too busy to have some sex along the way: They've had
an estimated 75 million kids--currently aged 0 to 25 years old-- since 1976.
These kids cost lots of money to house, clothe, feed, transport, entertain,
and educate.
In poor agrarian societies having kids is often an economic necessity to
provide extra labor to tend the livestock and bring in the crops. In modern
industrial societies having kids is a sign of optimism about the future. The
birth rate is currently relatively high in the US and low in Japan. Rapid
population growth in modern economies often is associated with rapid
economic growth. The Census 2000 counted 281.4 million people in the United
States, a 13.2% increase from 1990. The population growth of 32.7 million
persons represents the largest census-to-census increase in American
history. The previous record increase was 28.0 million people (an 18.4%
increase) between 1950 and 1960.
Both the 1950s and 1990s were decades of prosperity. Let's keep the
prosperity going: Have kids! I am doing my part for the good of the country:
Laura Juliette joined the Yardeni Bunch on Friday, May 11. Fortunately, the
beautiful baby girl looks just like her beautiful Mom.<
yardeni.com |
