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What an (economic) drag it is, getting old

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Bob Cook, Feb 7, 2011.

  1. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    The flip side of this: as America, particularly the white part, overall gets older, its young people are more diverse, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/us/05census.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

    Demographers sifting through new population counts released on Thursday by the Census Bureau say the data bring a pattern into sharper focus: Young Americans are far less white than older generations, a shift that demographers say creates a culture gap with far-reaching political and social consequences.
     
  2. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    True, but their aren't a lot of well off Floridians retiring to Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, etc.

    So, Florida is still going to come out ahead in this regard.
     
  3. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Despite our aging, we're nowhere near when Europe is -- and where China will be, thanks to its one-child policy.

    http://www.npr.org/2011/01/27/133242270/the-forces-of-culture-behind-economies-fortunes

    And here is something interesting from the Census (it's from the 2000 Population Profile, the 2010 one isn't out yet) on the effect of immigration on ensuring an aging population doesn't mean a dying population -- and why there's tension over who is replacing those people (http://www.census.gov/population/www/pop-profile/natproj.html)

    Growth of the Hispanic-origin population will probably be a major element of the total population growth.

    According to the middle series, the Hispanic-origin population would be the largest growing group. By 2000, the Hispanic-origin population may increase to 31 million, double its 1990 size by 2015, and quadruple its 1990 size by the middle of the next century. In fact, the Hispanic-origin population would contribute 32 percent of the Nation's population growth from 1990 to 2000, 39 percent from 2000 to 2010, 45 percent from 2010 to 2030, and 60 percent from 2030 to 2050.

    Future fertility and immigration may play major roles in the Nation's growth.

    The two major components driving the population growth are fertility (births) and net immigration. In the middle series, the number of births is projected to decrease slightly as the century ends and then increase progressively throughout the projection period. After 2011, the number of births each year would exceed the highest annual number of births ever achieved in the United States.

    Almost one-third of the current population growth is caused by net immigration. By 2000, the Nation's population is projected to be 8 million larger than it would have been if there were no net immigration after July 1, 1992. By 2050, this difference would increase to 82 million. In fact, about 86 percent of the population growth during the year 2050 may be due to the effects of post-1992 net immigration.
     
  4. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    People tend to forget that Baby Boomers drank soda and ate junk food from school vending machines, so while we're generally obese we'll also take some of the burden off our children by dying earlier.
     
  5. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Medical science has come up with tons of ways to handle high cholesterol and diabetes and bad hearts and a whole lotta other things. As unhealthy as Americans are, we can keep them alive. It's a major reason health care costs have exceeded general inflation.
     
  6. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Well, then there's only one solution.

    [​IMG]
     
  7. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It's preferable to this.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  8. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Slash the price of the $10 aspirin (among other things), and we can live to be 120 with no added cost.
     
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Kind of like saying get rid of Medicaid and Medicare so hospitals don't have to play silly games, such as inflating prices for some so they can discount prices for others.
     
  10. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Whatever happened to Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm? The guy who in 1984 declared that elderly who were terminal had "a duty to die and get out of the way." Now there was a death-panel type way ahead of his time.
     
  11. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    These are good reads, Bob -- thanks for the links.

    Most interesting part of the Crain's article was the sidebar on some well-off suburbs like Orland Park, which used to be able to rely on housing turnover infusing it with young families. Instead, it has a bunch of older empty-nesters who can't sell their house.

    In a super spread-out region like Chicagoland, it will be interesting to see how all the extra services elderly people need can be provided to those far-flung suburbs as opposed to "the inner ring" of Berwyn and Evergreen Park.
     
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