Changes

Between the end of World War II and 1964, 78 million baby boomers were born and now are part of the "Boomers" generation. They far outnumbered their predecessors, for the birth rate was low during the [[Great Depression]] years of the 1930s.  They have been retiring in large numbers and greatly increasing the number of people in retirement and receiving assistance from the Depression-era [[Social Security]] program.

Between the end of World War II and 1964, 78 million baby boomers were born and now are part of the "Boomers" generation. They far outnumbered their predecessors, for the birth rate was low during the [[Great Depression]] years of the 1930s.  They have been retiring in large numbers and greatly increasing the number of people in retirement and receiving assistance from the Depression-era [[Social Security]] program.

As of 2015, the [[Millennial]] Generation outnumbered boomers. Like Boomers, Millenials get their name from newspaper and magazine editors and writers and again like Boomers and unlike other generations where a large group of people born in the same era, sharing the same experiences, are not politically united.  Since the Vietnam War of the 1960s when boomers came of age facing a mandatory draft to maintain a [[Keynsian]] "full employment budget" of the United States government and reduce [[unemployment]] among large numbers of recent high school graduates and drop outs, Boomers until their senior years never were able to exercise [[political]] power despite their large numbers. The Vietnam War divided them socially, politically, and culturally, basically between those who loved their country with a respect for [[law]] and democracy, and [[radical]] socialist criminals who would rather do [[illegal drug]]s then to go fight and die for other people's freedom, as the Greatest Generation had.

As of 2015, the [[Millennial]] Generation outnumbered boomers. Like Boomers, Millenials get their name from newspaper and magazine editors and writers and again like Boomers and unlike other generations where a large group of people born in the same era, sharing the same experiences, are not politically united.  Since the Vietnam War of the 1960s when boomers came of age facing a mandatory draft to maintain a [[Keynsian]] "full employment budget" of the United States government and reduce [[unemployment]] among large numbers of recent high school graduates and drop outs, Boomers until their senior years never were able to exercise [[political]] power despite their large numbers. The Vietnam War divided them socially, politically, and culturally, basically between those who loved their country with a respect for [[law]] and democracy, and [[radical]] socialist criminals who would rather do [[illegal drug]]s then to go fight and die for other people's freedom, as the Greatest Generation had.  Baby Boomers and older generations have been gradually shrinking, from 61% of the electorate in 2008 to 44% in 2020.

[[Image:Babyboom.jpg|thumb|300px|St. Joseph Hospital, Chicago, 1941]]

[[Image:Babyboom.jpg|thumb|300px|St. Joseph Hospital, Chicago, 1941]]

The boomers are much better educated and have higher incomes than previous generations of Americans.

The boomers are much better educated and have higher incomes than previous generations of Americans.

The name 'boom' itself is derived from the [[Boom and Bust]] cycle, or business cycle, and exonerates [[President Franklin Roosevelt]] and the [[New Deal]] of the charge of [[socialism]].  It attests to widespread understanding of the capitalist system in [[popular cultural]] immediately after the defeat of fascism. It has been argued that Franklin Roosevelt 'saved [[capitalism]]', and without him, America would have suffered violent socialist revolution.  By 1946 when newspaper and magazines began writing about the new 'boom' in babies, both the boomers' parents, now in their child baring years, and their parents and grandparents who suffered through the deprivations of the Depression and war, well understood the boom and bust cycle of capitalism as necessary to supply a nation and its people with all the food, clothing, shelter, and national defense to protect [[democracy]] and bring about prosperity for all peoples, and that the leftwing socialist and [[totalitarian]] regimes they fought against, first in [[National Socialist]] [[Germany]], then against the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] in the [[Korean War]], were a threat to [[freedom]], [[liberty]], and human rights.  'Boom times' meant opportunity, and an end to the ferquent and unstable ups and owns of the [[New Ordeal]].  Like an 'oil boom' or 'housing boom', the 'baby boom' was born, and their parents and grandparents had, by the testimony of their own lives, throughout the Great Depression and war years, a healthy respect for the [[profit]]-motive.  [[Communism]], or anything that threatened peace, prosperity, and family by the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy era]], was harshly disfavoured.

The name 'boom' itself is derived from the [[Boom and Bust]] cycle, or business cycle, and exonerates [[President Franklin Roosevelt]] and the [[New Deal]] of the charge of [[socialism]].  It attests to widespread understanding of the capitalist system in [[popular cultural]] immediately after the defeat of fascism. It has been argued that Franklin Roosevelt 'saved [[capitalism]]', and without him, America would have suffered violent socialist revolution.  By 1946 when newspaper and magazines began writing about the new 'boom' in babies, both the boomers' parents, now in their child baring years, and their parents and grandparents who suffered through the deprivations of the Depression and war, well understood the boom and bust cycle of capitalism as necessary to supply a nation and its people with all the food, clothing, shelter, and national defense to protect [[democracy]] and bring about prosperity for all peoples, and that the leftwing socialist and [[totalitarian]] regimes they fought against, first in [[National Socialist]] [[Germany]], then against the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] in the [[Korean War]], were a threat to [[freedom]], [[liberty]], and human rights.  'Boom times' meant opportunity, and an end to the ferquent and unstable ups and owns of the [[New Ordeal]].  Like an 'oil boom' or 'housing boom', the 'baby boom' was born, and their parents and grandparents had, by the testimony of their own lives, throughout the Great Depression and war years, a healthy respect for the [[profit]]-motive.  [[Communism]], or anything that threatened peace, prosperity, and family by the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy era]], was harshly disfavoured.

===Easterlin Models===

==Easterlin Models==

Richard Easterlin is an economist and professor of economics who has researched and published much literature on economic growth in the United States.   

Richard Easterlin is an economist and professor of economics who has researched and published much literature on economic growth in the United States.   

[[Image:BABYBOOM.JPG|thumb|300px|trends in birth rates 1900-1980]]

[[Image:BABYBOOM.JPG|thumb|300px|trends in birth rates 1900-1980]]