Where the Jobs Are and Baby Boomers: Healthcare Growth and the Feeding of a Graying Population. Is a Post-Baby Boomer Society good for our Economic Competitiveness?
Seventy-six million American babies were born between 1946 and 1960 and we call this group the baby boomer group. Many trends can be seen coming with this group. Major toy sellers including Mattel came about this time. In fact, much of their success included this right timing since Mattel was founded in 1945, just in time for all those new babies. But all those babies are now starting to get older in age. It is no stunner that healthcare is now a booming field. In fact, I would argue that even if things stabilize in the banking sector and housing market there will be a glut of homes because many boomers will be downsizing. It really is no coincidence that as our society ages, that healthcare is now being brought to center stage.
The Red, White, and Blue Queen’s Race: The Economy Reverts to Historical Inflation Patterns: Stock Market and Real Estate Fall back in Line with Inflation. Working Harder Just to Stay in the Same Spot.
The Red Queen’s race is a situation that appears in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass where one has to run faster and faster just to remain in the same spot. Imagine a treadmill that increases in speed every 10 minutes yet you don’t burn calories at the higher rate. Many Americans are feeling as if they are stuck in the Red Queen’s race when it comes to the economy. The challenge many are facing is that with an ever stagnant or shrinking paycheck keeping up with the cost of living is simply getting harder and harder as the weeks go passing by. Much of this has to do with the way our Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury are managing our currency.
Stock Market Volatility Back Again: The S&P 500 has had 3 Major 10+ Percent Moves to Downside Already in 2009: -13.8%, -14.4%, and -11.1%. Market Volatility a Sign of Unhealthy Markets, and We’ve only gone through 2 Full Months.
The S&P 500 has lost 26% of its value in 2009 and we are only in March. This comes on the back of the S&P 500 losing 36% of its value in 2008. Market volatility is typically a sign of major uncertainty and while we did have a slightly stable period once we bounced off the November previous lows, it looks like we are now back in 2008 volatility territory. Keep in mind that we are only a few points away from matching 2008 declines and we’ve only gone through 2 full months of the year. And as many are predicting, we have yet to see commercial real estate really come down or the market changing prospect of nationalization of a few major banks.
Major Trends in Employment: College Graduates Now Facing Higher Unemployment, U-6 Rate now at 14.8%, and 4.3 million jobs lost during this Recession.
The BLS has put out its monthly employment report and the data is once again showing weakness in the U.S. employment market. What we are now seeing is conformation that this will in fact be the deepest and longest recession since the Great Depression. What is more troubling is in light of the multiple bailouts and market alchemy, not much seems to be boosting the confidence of average Americans. This is probably due to the fact that employment is contracting and most families facing unemployment have a hard time dealing with anything else than trying to find an additional stream of income for their household.