Aging nation : the economics and politics of growing older in America
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Aging nation : the economics and politics of growing older in America
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-269) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
With the impending retirement of some 76 million baby boomers in a period of huge government deficits, public anxiety about the social and economic health of an aging nation is widespread. The policy debates are contentious-from deciding who should receive limited subsidized housing and medical services to the ongoing battle over "saving" Social Security and other entitlement programs. Some policy makers and pundits forecast disaster: elderly people will be put out to pasture with inadequate health care and financial resources, and a crumbling social welfare infrastructure will implode under the strain of intergenerational conflict. In Aging Nation, renowned experts James H. Schulz and Robert H. Binstock agree that there is considerable cause for concern but insist that a demographic tsunami is not inevitable. Drawing from the most current data, the authors provide an in-depth analysis of the nation's evolving private and public policies on retirement, faltering employer pensions, health care, workplace conditions, and entitlement programs.
They consider such timely issues as poverty among older people, rejoining the workforce after retirement, Social Security and health care reform, as well as the rise of elderly people as a powerful political force. Dispelling popular myths and misconceptions perpetrated by politicians and pundits, Schulz and Binstock consider the economic, political, and social challenges arising from the aging U.S. population, and present a balanced-and reassuring-assessment of the future.
Table of Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition
1. Baby Boomers and the Merchants of Doom
2. The Phony Threat of Population Aging
3. The Search for Security with Dignity
4. Dealing with Risk
5. The Company Pension: Altruism or Self-Interest?
6. The Pension Lottery: Personal Pension Accounts
7. To Work or Not to Work: That Is the Question
8. Health and Longevity: What Lies Ahead?
9. A Gerontocracy? The Politics of Aging
10. Framing the Issues for an Aging Nation
Notes
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"