This headline, taken from Arthur Miller’s great play, “Death of a Salesman,” came to me recently when I was talking to Pete Peterson, one of the founders of the Blackstone Financial Group. Pete was also the only person ever fired from Richard Nixon’s cabinet when he headed the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. (This firing was a distinction in my book). Privately, in business and philanthropy, Pete went on to glory and became an expert preaching about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid reform. But in those areas, Pete has been like Cassandra — a voice crying in the wilderness.

It was Pete who gave me this statistic — that in the year 2008 — 78,000,000 baby boomers would retire in the U.S. Think on this — twice as many people will be retired officially as were retired in 2007. So America may begin to look more and more like Florida.

Those of us who have been on the wrong side of the Young, Younger, Youngest, Youth Bloom generation have taken quite a whipping from Madison Avenue. And I believe all those still embracing only that philosophy are living in a fool’s paradise.
Whatever fate hands them, the new retirees remain a huge reservoir of consumers. And many of them will go on working, in one way or another. A lot of them have money, some have a lot of it. But all constitute a “force” — they still have hopes, ambitions, wishes and dreams. They still want new cars, new gadgets and all the basic necessities.

They do say the largest group now coming on the Internet are women over fifty. Think on that! With young and older grandmas now blogging, we may learn a thing or two. These so-called “retirees” are already a force in politics. And I foresee 20 years ahead an America where mature older people will be calling the shots. They are already calling the shots in politics. These are people the world will have to listen to, cope with, please and provide product as well as care for.

So if it’s a new ballgame what will its slogan be on the new uniform? WE WEREN’T BORN YESTERDAY? At any rate, attention must be paid.