I saw a posting by Skip Franzel on LinkedIn regarding an article in Forbes, written by Susan Adams. The article entitled The Prophet of the Coming Aging Boom talks about Ken Dychtwald who predicts a tidal wave he calls “the Age Wave.”  “Dychtwald’s message: Baby boomers, the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, present a vast market for a potential explosion of products and services, from new dating websites to longevity insurance to new kinds of food.” You can see the posting at http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=854095514&gid=163619&type=member&item=76298892&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Ft%2Eco%2FBJNYdZeC&urlhash=ILEH&goback=%2Egde_163619_member_76298892%2Egmp_163619%2Egde_163619_member_76298892

Here is my response to the posting.  Tell me what you think about the posting and my response to it.

I find Ken Dychtwald’s passion and knowledge of the senior’s buying power commendable. However, I am concerned with the possibility of over-commercializing the baby boomer issue. Even though my livelihood and the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people depends on selling to the elderly, I am worried that we might get tunnel vision and concentrate our efforts only on selling (even if our products and services are newer, better, etc.). So I was encouraged to hear that Ken Dychtwald is also concerned with the “aging’s dark side,” like the dearth of geriatricians, insufficient funding to prevent diseases, and patchy long-term care services. These are certainly issues that need to be addressed. However, an even more important issue is left out or very little discussed: it has to do with how we, as a society and as individuals, treat our elderly. I have a feeling that if we would treat our elderly as they are treated in some of the other societies and cultures, i.e. with utmost respect (bordering on veneration), many of the “aging’s dark side” issues would be much easier to address, or could even become a non-issue. Am I wrong?