I agree with most points the author is putting forward. A Boomer born in the 50s, I was brought up by parents who spent carefully and encouraged saving. As a result of that early indocrination I have always been mindful to live within my means, to accumulate savings and investments throughout adult life by not spending every cent that crossed my palm. No I have not lived like Scrooge. I have and enjoy many of lifes 'luxuries' but at the same time I do lots of things to reduce the cost of living. Happy to say that as retirement approaches I feel fairly confident that our savings and investments will carry us through our later years.

However it is my XGen children I believe are more caught up in the culture of 'rampant consumerism'. We were more 'indulgent' parents than our own as there was more wealth in our household. The reasons - fewer children, better paid employment through higher education and new opportunities and a mother who worked, albeit part-time.

Although required to develop a work ethic, they did grow up in the credit obsessed social and economic era of the 80s and 90s 'Have it all and have it now!' Middle child who was not very money savvy got herself into a bit of a hole in her early 20s. Fortunately she sought advice, paid out her debts and is now doing well. I see a lot of young people who live from one pay packet to the next with much of their earnings squandered on boozey nights out. Stories of late teens/early 20s with thousands of $$ credit card debt is common. All very scarey.

What we need now is a shift in fiscal culture rather than so-called economic growth linked to population. I believe there is evidence to suggest that latter day migration in some circumstances is markedly linked to growth in the welfare dependency sector.

In a nutshell - Aussies - grow your own! The rest - mostly stay home.

From the Article:

It is obvious from this analysis that the previous immigration booms of the latter half of the 20th century are what created Australia’s “Baby Boomer Bulge” problem that we are now trying to grapple with. But just as you cannot cure an alcoholic by giving him more alcohol, neither can you “cure” a top-heavy demographic pyramid by boosting immigration. All that will do is create another “bulge” of even greater proportions that will be even more difficult to resolve!

COMMENT
Defintely a member of the scurrelous Hanson mob or SPA :) not to mention a xenophobic racist. Hang on.... let me recheck his credentials.. hmmm

Divine_MSN, good comment, assuming all the economic scaremongering about future smaller generations being unable to pay enough taxes for all the baby boom pensions is true? The issue of spendthrift lifestyle might be a much bigger problem for our treasurers.

ALGOREisRICH, not sure if you are being ironic or serious about the raaaaaaaaaacist slur. Surely it is possible to discuss demographics, environmental sustainability, etc, without the usual Communist slurs whenever anybody dares to question, the red/green/getup/labour coalition's propaganda or the divide & conquer methods they are using to create "the 4th Reich".

Formersnag :)

Let me re-assure you.. I was being sarcastic.

Here is a little juicy tidbit which I'll dangle in front of you.. much MUCH more to come on this and although it might not seem apparent yet..(won't for a while) it does have implications for immigration.

"Who is Maurice Strong"?

Probably the least known person in the world today outside Green circles, and the most important question to ask when it comes to a host of issues which include immigration. (ultimately)

Here is a link.. "the public face" of Maurice Strong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XueBqv_dpM

Think 'Rio Earth Conference' 1990s

Michael's articles are generally more thought out than than most of the barking mad SPA comments. Alas, this is not one of them.

How did we get the babyboomer generation? Fornication. The Dad's came home from WW2 so happy to be alive that fornication seemed like a good idea. They got carried away. And thank God they did other wise I wouldn't be here.

Stopping fornication is pretty much at the centre of the anti-people movement. That and stopping black Muslims eating our vegetables and chewing on our cows. Halal cows.

One minor clarification - economics is about the conservation of scarce resources. You don't see 'em giving it away. What will happen when we run out of resources? We'll, we're fornicated.

What should we do? Well, it sounds like we need brainier people to help solve the problem. This is where Michael's genetics skills could come in handy. Maybe we don't need more people, maybe we just need a certain BREED of new people.

Pick me.

Cheryl,
Noticed from you post, you refer to SPA, can you explain what you are talking about?

Over the years SPA was for State Planning Authority and that doesn't fit your sentence.

I googled SPA and all I can find is references to a type of bathing pool.

Just what is it you are refering to?