July 26, 2013

How long will the young stand for the nonsense of the ageing baby-boomers?

Sir, Michael Stothard, in “Elderly set to ride to rescue of fixed income” July 26, writes “a ray of sunshine – the bond market pessimists are failing to factor in: the rapidly ageing population across the western world.” Those over 65 years old are 16 percent of population today and expected to be 25 percent in 2042.

The argument is that the elderly will abandon equities and turn to safe bonds. The equities for which there will still be some demand are safer dividend-paying stocks and those related to services to the elderly, including funeral operators.

“A ray of sunshine”? If we add to this that the current ageing baby-boomer bank regulators want banks only to make safe loans and not take risk on small businesses and entrepreneurs… who is then going to finance the new generation of jobs our young so urgently needs?… who is then going to provide the growth that will keep those safe bonds safe.

In the back of my mind, by the day looms louder the question of… how long will the young stand for this type of nonsense?