The Coming Expansion of the Elderly Population

[BridgeTheGap]

Death and taxes may be guaranteed, but what happens to an economy when the hereafter becomes a much more distant prospect? Western countries are about to find out. More than half the babies born since 2000 in France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada, Japan, and the United States will live past 100, according to a recent study in The Lancet, the British medical journal, charting the astronomical increase in life expectancy experienced since 1840 in developed countries. By midcentury there will be nearly 6 million people over 100 in the world, compared with just 340,000 today, according to the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

The social and economic consequences of a centenarian world are likely to be monumental. One challenge, of course, will be medical costs. Just because people are living longer doesn't mean they're staying healthy as they age, and the price tag just for basic elderly care will be massive. But the more profound change might be in how societies think about work and careers. "The 20th century was a century of redistribution of income," the authors write. "The 21st century could be a century of redistribution of work."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/26/geriatric_world

[Warpy]

1. Well, the boomers will have a decreased lifespan

thanks to the robbery they've experienced their whole lifetimes on wages, pensions, assets, and health care.

As for redistributing work, they're going to have to start at the corporate level, the physical work given to the young and desk jobs earned as their bodies start to fail. Nobody can dig ditches for a living much beyond 60 and that's if they're gifted with perfect health. Only desk jockeys and retail workers can expect much working longevity beyond what is now retirement age.

There's already a ten year gap between forced retirement and full Social Security benefits. Imagine if these two bit dreamers get their way and raise the age to 75.

[The Wizard]

2. Stock tip

Adult diapers.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Did the Lancet study take into consideration the impact of a dead ocean, filthy air, and lack

of drinking water in an ever-increasingly hot environment? I'm not at all convinced that people will live longer.