This looong blog post by Bruce Sheppard is worth reading in its entirety.
Part of it reflects on the baby boomer ‘inter generational wealth transfer’ conspiracy promoted by Bernard Hickey et al.
A bunch of kids were born in the 1950s mostly, and as a result nappy valleys appeared all over the western world, schools were built.
Now many schools are closing down, as we have fewer kids than we had at the peak.
Then they became young adults, these baby boomers bought cars and houses, and a consumption-led boom bedded in, the baby boomers gave the world their best shot in their 20s to 40s and produced significant wealth for the west. Now they are moving into wind down mode, and consuming their wealth.
Their kids, however, are a different bred, instead of the generation X and Y stepping into the productive cycle, many have not yet jumped out of the dependant cycle. They stay at school and home longer, and when they do work they over value their worth because PC nonsense has convinced them that everyone’s a winner…blah, blah. And they spend every dollar they earn. No wonder we have a balance of payments deficit.(Facilitating economic warfare from the surplus economies.)
Soon the baby boomers will be moving into expensive health care and retirement living, notice the booming retirement villages, in 40 years these too will be empty shells like the schools of the 50s as this wave of post war babies moves through to death.
This demographic wave combined with low birth rates is our undoing; it is the Achilles heal of our society, as the only way to keep up our lifestyle is to import labour and capital and the only way for politicians to get elected is to keep us happy by obliging. …
Sheppard has a number of other very intelligent and worthwhile things to say in the post:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/stirring-the-pot/4249073/Its-a-wrap#
Surely, even his critics wish the maverick Sheppard well in his new role as part of the establishment board of the Financial Markets Authority. I do. God knows we need to tame the frontier of our financial markets somehow, to instil some confidence in our investment and saving areas … or the future will look like the past.
I’m sure we’ll hear from him again.
Interested, Peter do you support this guy?
He’s a living treasure, as far as I’m concerned.
An imperfect, quirky, eccentric, strident, judgmental, outspoken whistle-blower.
But enough about me. (Joke!)
Bruce Sheppard’s response to the Hanover Investors accepting the ludicrous, let-them-get-away-with-it ‘moratorium’ was brilliant.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/756282
Right up your alley, Craig, I would have thought?
Unlike some, I’m not scandalised by what Sheppard said about being provocative. I have seen it referred to by his critics, but don’t care… and don’t see him as insincere.
Like any conversation, one takes from a blog or opinion article what one chooses to take. It’s not like it’s aiming to be one of the Gospels.
As for B Hickey, with respect, I don’t see him in those terms. I reckon he means what he says. I don’t always agree (surprise, surprise) but he’s not a phoney.
People listen to BH with a credulity w.r.t. economic matters which some may describe as undeserved. It bemuses rather than outages me.
And you?