Opinion: Credit Woes for Fellow Boomers

One of the most bracing changes for us baby boomers is not so much a recession -- this is technically our fourth -- but a crunch on credit, our first.

Pals of mine, who are age-appropriate -- let's say late 40s and leave it at that -- are bewildered at the sudden need to produce cash instead of producing plastic. For the generation of Americans who are younger than us boomers -- you tykes who were born in the reign of Reagan, for example -- this is an abrupt 180-degree turn that is more of a shock to the psyche than it is to the wallet.

Some brief background on those of us in the boomer generation is in order here. I was born in 1960 -- at the end of Eisenhower's era -- to parents who were raised during the Depression. This is quite common among boomers. If our parents weren't alive during the Great-Do-Without, then their parents were and they repeatedly ticked off a list of necessities that didn't quite make it into their open palms. ...