Protests Are Getting Old

A lot of people took to the streets last weekend to protest Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE among other things.

In looking at pictures of the crowds I was struck by who was protesting.

It has been customary over my lifetime that young people are the most likely to be leading protests.

It was true with the Civil Rights protests in the 1960's, Vietnam in the 1970's and with the Black Lives Matter, Ukraine and Palestinian protests of recent years.

The young are typically the ones that have the energy, enthusiasm and emotional fervor to take to the streets for a "cause".

What I found interesting in the protests last weekend were the significant number of older people.

I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-protests-tariffs-doge-baby-boomers-photos-why-2025-4

Take a look at some of the pictures from around the country of these "Hands Off" rallies.

There is almost not a single person under the age of 55 in sight.

Why???

You might notice that there are a number of signs at these rallies that want Trump to keep his hands off of Social Security and Medicare.

However, Donald Trump (and Musk) have been absolutely clear that they have no interest in cutting either program. Trump has stated that repeatedly since he first got into politics in 2015.

In fact, all of the work DOGE has done regarding Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is to close any opportunities for fraud in these programs. By doing so, these programs become more secure and less likely to face shortfalls in the future.

This is a big reason that DOGE recommended removing nearly 10 million Social Security active numbers in the system that were associated with people over the age of 120+ who were not reported as deceased.

Although benefits were not necessarily being paid based on these active numbers, this was a clear pathway to potential fraud.

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/social-security-conducting-major-records-cleanup-marking-7m-listed-age-120-deceased

These seniors must also not be aware that Donald Trump is pushing Congress to cease taxing Social Security benefits as he promised in the campaign.

This would effectively increase Social Security benefits to those who want him to keep his "hands off" their benefits.

Social Security benefits were exempt from taxation from its inception based on the fact that the FICA contribution had already been taxed. It was felt that taxing the benefits would amount to double taxation.

That was changed in 1984 so that those with over $25,000 ($32,000 with joint returns) of total combined income had to pay tax on half of their benefit and up to 85% is taxed for those with over $34,000 ($44,000 joint) of income. It was argued it was "unfair" for the "rich" to get a tax-free benefit.

This combined income test includes half of someone's social security benefits and all of their other income.

These income thresholds have never been adjusted for inflation in 40 years.

As a result, in 1984 only 8% of Social Security recipients paid tax on their benefits. Today over half do and that number will climb every year going forward under current law and inflation.

Do these seniors have any idea what the real facts are or are they just victims of Democrat and media propaganda?

Some argue that the stock market meltdown on Thursday and Friday motivated these gray hairs to come out in force on Saturday. That might be true for a few but these protests were planned well before any stock market chaos.

One suggestion is that the older people at these rallies are primarily teachers and other government employees who are shocked to see that the world that they have lived in for the last 50+ years is being threatened.

It is shocking to them that a government job may not guarantee lifetime employment nor is it a given that government spending is sure to increase every year irrespective of performance and results.

It should also be noted that there has never been a generation in American history that has enjoyed a better investing environment over their lifetimes than Baby Boomers.

If they saved anything and invested it in stocks, bonds, real estate or cash they generally had the wind at their back most of their lives.

Source: https://www.quantifiedstrategies.com/historical-returns-asset-classes/

That is particularly evident when you look at the rolling 20-year returns of the typical 60/40 investment portfolio that is most often recommended for retirement savings.

Source: https://www.lazyportfolioetf.com/allocation/stocks-bonds-60-40-rolling-returns/#google_vignette

For instance, the 20-year period between 1980 and 2000 produced almost double the historical median returns for a 60/40 investment portfolio (60% stocks/40% bonds).

Moreover, almost every 20 year rolling period in the last 45 years has been above the historical median return of 7.29%.

Of course, the Rule of 72 states that your money will double in ten years at a 7.2% return.

Quite simply, the data shows that there has never been a better period for the average investor to accumulate wealth than in the last 45 years.

The Baby Boomers are also the generation that has presided over the greatest increase in federal debt in the nation's history.

Federal debt was less than $1 trillion in 1980. It is now over $36 trillion.

Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN

The Baby Boomers will not be responsible for paying this debt.

That will be left to younger generations.

Perhaps that is a reason that younger Americans were not out in force this past weekend protesting Trump, Musk and DOGE.

Have we reached a point where they are finally figuring out what the Boomers have left them with?

I am always amazed at the incredible number of things that Americans find the time to protest about.

That says something in itself.

A good portion of the rest of the world only has time to attempt to eke out a bare standard of living in order to survive.

Most do not have the time, energy or freedom to protest anything.

The protests in the United States about anything and everything are getting very, very old when viewed from that perspective.

In the case of the"Hands Off"protests, we can also now say that the protestors are getting very, very old.