US domestic consumption is at a 16-year low. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, has dropped from 70.8(February), to 58.5(August). Influential to the US Fed’s interest rate setting, this perhaps reflects Bernanke’s supporting another interest rate cut, and a Democrat-proposed stimulus package (US$150B for tax rebates, unemployment benefits, and massive infrastructure spending).

Keynes described public spending to Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the government putting money into the ground, and paying labor to dig it out.

Global confidence in the US Economy has also wavered, and Figure1 shows 1999 US$ Global Currency reserve levels dropping from 71% to 63% in 2008 (Figure2); shifting to Euro, and Sterling.

The average American is cash-strapped. Laden with US$2.6Trillion (Trn) in personal debt amidst tighter credit, they are forced to find alternatives.

The entrepreneurial challenge is identifying the golden nuggets despite the gloom and doom, closely matched to the demographics of the five generations (Figure3) comprising US society. This article tackles the rich, retiring Silent Generation and Baby Boomers.

Silent Generation (1925-1944, 52.5M births)

This smallest generation in 100 years was named after a 1951 Time cover story. They conformed to the GI Generation, which overshadowed them. Ironically, while they admired their predecessors for fighting WW2’s “good fight,” they did too - “silently” - in Korea.

They embraced GI culture, like Bing Crosby and Gene Kelly (born 1901 and 1912, respectively), but they take ownership of these icons, who became prominent during the Silents’ formative years.

A practical generation now aged 64-83, most Silents have had their 401ks mature relatively intact (unless they worked for Enron or Long-Term Capital Management) and enjoy hitherto trouble-free Social Security. Rebelling against their “Silent” nature, they will use their money to “live,” i.e., maintain convenient, hassle-free physical independence for their remaining years.

The assisted-living industry overestimated the Silent’s number and behavior. Too few (about 32.3M in 2006), they refuse to die in a home, or depend on their children. One author forecasts the abovementioned industry’s impending shrinkage.

Earning from this ever-dwindling demographic is a challenge. Perhaps, Fil-Am retirement home business owners can relocate their businesses here (encouraging their anchor “clientele” to come to the islands of Calm, Balm, and world-class medical facilities), thus stimulating Philippine Medical tourism. Our TLC Medical professionals are more than qualified to care for elderly afflictions, like Alzheimers. Medical procedures are cheaper: kidney transplants cost US$6,200 here, versus US$120,000 in the US.

Baby Boomer Generation (1945-1964, 78M births)

Named after the 1945-1964 birth surge, this pro-change demographic rejected the Silents’ conformity, creating a culture that questioned the authority of parents who pampered them with material affluence and overprotection, reacting to the previous World Wars’ deprivations. A theological-philosophical awareness espousing liberation theology, questioning corporate life and gender roles emerged.

Music expressed their counterculture. Elvis’ anti – commune “Jailhouse Rock” and the Beatles’ uplifting “Here comes the Sun” represented Life’s positive force.

Despite the counterculture, some of the Boomers creations bolstered – and possibly shortened - America’s Golden Age: Bill Gates’ Microsoft reportedly contributes 0.5% to US GDP, but Nobel Laureate Robert Merton’s financial derivatives model institutionalized greed. It’s the Boomer’s paradox: the greed of Financial Derivatives, against Lennon’s utopian lyrics, “…no…greed or hunger…above us only sky.”

They saw racial equality and men on the moon. But they experienced John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and Martin Luther King’s in 1968.

The $7-$10Trn inherited from their GI and Silent Generation parents was enthusiastically spent on themselves, their children and grandchildren – reacting to their parent’s negligence, too busy rebuilding a postwar world.

Three caveats must be observed when addressing Boomer needs, reflecting their counterculture mindset and situational ethics of the end justifying the means: Make it Easy. Save Me Time. Give Me Value.

They embrace products promising a hint of “Forever Young:” beauty and wellness treatments, even procedures. A rough indicator: 1992 recorded 32,000 breast implants surgeries. Boomers were then aged 28-47. In 2007, Boomers were 43-62; the number of breast implants zoomed to 333,000.

One in two Boomer marriages failed. Those who remarried created second households, pushing the US household debt-income ratio over 135%; significantly higher than Italy’s 59%, or France’s 89%.

But while the Baby Boomers and the US economy are facing a sunset, the Philippines’ star is rising.

Recently discovered Northwest Palawan oil wells promise 18M barrels in reserve. One southern mining company’s annual aggregate production alone results in about US$96.3M (US$35.8M for 50,000 gold troy-ounces (ozt), US$5.7M for 600,000 Silver ozt, US$39.9M for 10,000 tons of Copper, and US$14.9M for 14,000 tons of Zinc.). That’s just one; now there are at least 24 mining companies operating in this Administration.

The next article will cover the two, most recent Generations, the X’ers and Y’ers. But in the meantime, for the Philippines (as The Beatles said): “Here comes the Sun; and I say, it’s all right.”