Today, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said: "As the population ages, the nation will have to choose among higher taxes, less non-entitlement spending by the government, a reduction in spending on entitlement programs, a sharply higher budget deficit or some combination thereof." This was quoted in the AP Wire: "Bernanke: Baby boomers will strain U.S."
I've always believed that there should be more done by the search engines to educate Baby Boomers to the Internet and search from a consumer advocate and national pride perspective. This would be a hugh undertaking, but the payoff would also be huge, if done properly. It would be a win-win-win for all by helping the growing number of Baby Boomer consumers to shop and educate themselves more completely, the search engines would gain more active users and advertisers, and the USA would have more Baby Boomer online buyers and sellers contributing to the economy from PC's and home based businesses.
Here is another article from CNN Money.com
"Fed Chair warns on Social Security, Medicare " says: "Bernanke said the economy's potential productive capacity would likely be diminished as the population ages. However, actions taken now to address entitlement funding and boost savings could lay a stronger foundation for the future, he said." There is no better way to boost savings than having as many Baby Boomers earning additional income on a part or full time basis. They could even help teach their grandchildren about the benefits and drawbacks of the Internet while spending quality time with them.
Baby Boomers sellers are perfect to cater to other Boomer buyers with their online business. Who relates better? It is a huge market as this BusinessWeek online article entitled "Boomers: A Web-Marketing Bonanza" elaborates on.
One simple suggestion that I've heard is legitimate and relatively easy in starting an Internet business is CafePress.com, where they "manage every aspect of doing business online, including storefront development, site hosting, order management, fulfillment, secure payment processing, and quality customer service - enabling anyone to open a free shop with no upfront costs and no inventory to manage."
If you want to promote your CafePress products aggressively, Jennifer Laycock did a series of 30 articles called "Zero Cash, A Little Talent and 30 Days - Day 1 - Formulating a Plan". But, a Baby Boomer would need to have, or learn, some basic search marketing terminology to effectively use those articles, which would be a great Boomer education in itself.
Google, Yahoo, and MSN need to wake up to the hugh potential of increasing their active users through education initiatives aimed at Baby Boomers. Because, right now, "At times, it seems like Google's long term prospects are hinged on this new generation of internet savvy kids and teens." as noted in this 7/06 "G-Boomers" blog post. After all, what good is it for any search engine to "organize the world's information", if the ever growing market segment called "Baby Boomers" doesn't know how to access properly, and effectively use that information.
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