Baby Boomers are strangling the economy they built by refusing to move or retire

Key Points:

• The Baby Boomer generation has significantly influenced the American economy for decades, suppressing wages and opportunities for younger workers and now causing labor shortages as they retire, leaving businesses unprepared for this shift.
• In housing, Boomers own a disproportionate share of large family homes, limiting availability and affordability for millennial parents who need more space but face supply shortages and financial barriers.
• Boomer leadership in major institutions has often lacked succession planning, with many top leaders surrounding themselves with loyalists rather than developing capable heirs, resulting in challenges for institutional transitions.
• Politically, Boomers remain dominant, holding a disproportionately large share of Congressional seats and having controlled the presidency for most of the past three decades, delaying generational power shifts to younger cohorts.
• Overall, the Boomer generation’s legacy includes economic, housing, and institutional bottlenecks that future generations must address, raising questions about what the country will look like as Boomers fully retire and relinquish control.