Boomsday
by Christopher Buckley
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Book Reviews of Boomsday
Book Review: And You Think the Current Political Situation is Whacky...
Summary: 5 Stars
If you follow politics, if you are intrigued by the foibles and follies of what passes for our federal government, then you have probably found Christopher Buckley before now. I certainly hope you have and if for some reason he is a new author to you, then you have much entertaining reading ahead.
It doesn't really matter what you politcal bent is, Buckly is hard on all aspects of the political spectrum with his satire.
Buckly has taken on varying scenarios of the Washington scene in past books. Their titles fairly highlight the topic. Boomsday however, took a little while to understand where he was going. The title refers to the generational warfare that is waiting slightly down the road as the Baby Boomers start retiring on Social Security in droves and those in their wake have to basically work the rest of their lives to fund the retirement of those ahead of them. (President Bush has pointed out the problem. The Democrats, before Bush was elected, agreed it was one also. Since that happy moment, the Democrats have gone tone deaf and the problems with Social security continue to fester)
That's where Buckley comes in...several years down the road...another President in office...almost no one paying attention to the impending disaster involving Social Security.
Cass Devine, however, is paying attention. A mover and shaker at a Washington PR firm, she also runs a BLOG under the name of Cassandra. On it she devises a most unique way to solve the problem. It involves "voluntary termination" with government incentives. All of that and much, much more gets wrapped up in one of the strangest presidential elections in history.
I'm not going beyond that with my description of the story. It is flat out funny, biting satire with moments of truth slipping in. The Boston Globe calls Buckley an "authentically comic writer." Tom Wolfe says he is "One of the funniest writers in the English language." They are masters of understatement.
Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it.
Book Review: Watch out baby boomers!
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is about the revolt of the younger generation against the Baby Boomers (wait - I thought that the Baby Boomers were supposed to be the "younger" generation. What happened? When did they become "Senior Citizens")
Have you ever turned on to one of those late night "beach blanket" movies? There must be four hundred of them. They all were funny, to a point. The cool high school or college students who are able to fluster their strait-laced adult parents and teachers and fight for their "right" to --- (something or other such as have a beach party, wear shorts to the prom) and get stomped on by the parents. It seems that Eve Arden is always the most strait-laced of the adult group as a parent or as a teacher or maybe a chaperone. In the end, she ends up having as much fun as the kids and the stuffy ole parents lose the battle.
This book is very much like those movies. It is funny, but it (in my estimation) gets sort of old before the last chapter. I do admit, that as a "humorous" political book, this is better than most.
In this book, you will meet the Association of Baby Boomer Advocates (ABBA) as well as a bumbling president who keeps doing more damage to his own administration than the opposition. There are two senators (unnamed, of course, but they are both from the state of Massachusetts. I will not name who I think that they might be) who are also sort of bumbling. One of them keeps having problems with young women (not exactly having problems with the women, but having problems with the news people who find out what he is doing with young women) and the other who is very impressed with himself.
The president is running for re-election [He's doing the best he can. Honest!] against the younger senator from Massachusetts [I'm no worse that the others running; give me a chance.] and several other stereotype candidates.
Book Review: A satirical take on the social security crisis: good, but not great.
Summary: 4 Stars
A fun riff on the upcoming war between the 77 million Baby Boomers who will soon start collecting Social Security and other taxpayer financed benefits and those who will be footing the bill.
Cassandra "Cass" Devine, a Washington publicist decides to create a "meta-issue" by suggesting that the Baby Boomers kill themselves at age 70 to avoid subjecting younger people to onerous taxes. "Transitioning" is the euphemism for legalized suicide.
An unlikely cast of characters is involved. Cass's boss, a highly skilled (which means ethically dubious) Washington public relations operator, a venal President and his chief political advisor, an entrepreneur with some moral problems of his own who wants the nation to live by what he says, not what he does, a Massachusetts Senator who is, putting it mildly, just a bit off-kilter, which I suppose is why he is so convincing.
This is pure satire and pretty good satire at that. The issue is serious: the reality that when Social Security was conceivedt there were 15 workers for each retired person and now the ratio is approaching two workers for each retiree. Since Social Security is operated as a Ponzi scheme with today's wage earners supporting retirees with current earnings, the system has to collapse if not quickly reformed.
Of course politicians keep handing off the political timebomb and that provides grist for Buckley's mill.
Cass gets the ball rolling and soon there are many players, all of whom want something for nothing and none of whom have what used to be called a "moral compass".
Buckley is a fine writer of satire. The book never becomes partisan nor does it ever provide truly biting commentary. It's just a fun romp with a very serious issue.
Jerry
Book Review: very funny but still a little lacking
Summary: 3 Stars
By Matthew W. Moran
Christopher Buckley has long since developed a reputation for outrageous political satire in novels like "Thank You For Smoking," and "No Way To Treat A First Lady." His latest, entitled, "Boomsday," continues in that tradition with "a modest proposal" so outlandish it could make Jonathan Swift turn red.
In Buckley's new novel, Cassandra Devine is a twenty-something on a mission. Already furious that her father spent her Yale tuition on a dotcom startup, Cassandra uses her wildly popular political blog as a platform to fix social security. Her solution: encourage the baby boomers who are bankrupting the system to "voluntarily transition" (i.e. commit suicide) with the benefit of tax breaks and incentives for their grandchildren. When young people begin protesting inside gated communities and defacing golf courses, Cassandra's blog gains national attention. But the story takes an unexpected twist when one-legged Massachussetts Senator Randolph Jepperson tries running for President - on Cassandra's platform - and makes her his chief advisor.
The story continues at a nearly dizzying pace with a cast of characters that also includes a pro-life Presidential candidate who may have killed his mother, and public relations spin master Terry Tucker. The witty author takes equal opportunity to skewer both generations and his dialogue is consistently humorous. However, his depictions are so clichéd - boomers play golf, steer yachts, and devise illegal kickbacks, while twenty-somethings gulp Red Bull and never unplug their IPods - that Buckley's characters lose a little authenticity. Indeed, in over 300 pages, there's no one here to root for - and maybe that's Buckley's point about our nation's capital.
Book Review: The Boomsday Book...
Summary: 5 Stars
The recent NYT review of "Boomsday" was interesting... It seems that some GenXers think that Boomers should be "given incentives" to commit suicide...and thus relieve the economy of the "expense" of maintaining them in their old age...
I think this is yet another great Compassionate Conservative breakthrough! Perhaps even more ingenius than "No Child Left Behind."
Consider:
Any Boomer who commits suicide during a "taxable year" should be give a $50,000 tax credit on his next return...
Not a deduction...! No that wouldn't be enough... I'm talking about a credit here!
In other words...a government check!
By encouraging Boomers to commit suicide...the Federal Budget will be relieved NOT ONLY of onerous monthly Social Security payments...but also of the Medicare and Drug Benefit outlays which Boomers will be using hugely in the near future.
The beauty of this Compassionate Conservative approach to Boomers is that it's totally "market based"....
People will respond to their "economic best interests." Just like the Republican playbook predicts they will.
The "Right to Life" flock in the Republican Party should have no problem with this program...because they believe that: The Right to Life starts at conception but ends at birth...
We simply must get rid of the looming "Boomer Drag"... somehow...
Perhaps a "bird flu" that only hits people in their 60's? That might work...
We should definitely put the "right people" to work on this program ASAP....
Perhaps the same one's who brought over the AIDS virus to "handle" our Blacks and Gays problem...?
Ya think...?