The impact on the economy of older Boomers slowing down their desire for material things is something we've been talking about for months, now. But we guess it's now officially a trend if it is the cover story of BusinessWeek magazine.

And while we agree the Boomer consumer factor is significant, we've pointed out that the move to being more responsible consumers isn't going to just be a generational thing, but a consumers of all ages thing. We said so in an article in this week's Engage: Boomers newsletter.

The Boomer Line: Marketers that figure out how to deliver meaningful value at any price point will survive in the new Responsible Consumer Economy. Consumers want to get more out of what they buy. Help them do that and you'll prosper.

Note: Research giant IRI issued a press release this week about a new study they've completed on Boomers as grocery store and food shoppers.

While we're sure there are plenty of good nuggets in the study, we have some fundamental issues with how they've sorted the cohort and report the findings.

First, they slice the group into three age-based segments. Age is not how to segment Boomers -- life stage and lifestyle make much more sense. For example, empty nest Boomers behave similarly, no matter their age, which can be 45 or 60.

Second, they include consumers ages 33-43 as part of their analysis. We are pretty sure the math works this way for someone born in 1964 or earlier -- they are 45 and older. Younger consumers are not Boomers.

Third, they label their three age groups based on year of birth, not when they "came of age." Most agree that what makes a generation a generation is what happens in the world, politically, culturally, when one is ages 10-20 or so. Better labels would have been to call the oldest Boomers "Kennedy Boomers," and the younger half of the cohort "Nixon Boomers." Gen Xers, those under 45, could have been called "Reagan Gen Xers," but why bother.

Sorry to have gone off on a rant here. Who wants pie?