Aging Nation

It is gratifying to see two such prestigious observers of aging issues put forward a clear analysis of the aging 'crisis' in the United States. This book is an antidote to the ceaseless drumbeat of doom and selfishness coming from those who would dismantle our key sources of retirement security. -- Marilyn Moon, Vice President and Director of the Health Program, American Institutes for Research A must read for the general public, politicians, pundits, and anyone who cares about growing old in the United States. Schulz and Binstock provide expert the analysis, balanced viewpoints, and historical overview essential for countering alarmist scenarios and promoting reasonable public policy and discourse. -- Fernando M. Torres-Gil, School of Public Policy, University of California, Los Angeles, former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging A solid corrective thwack against conventional (and often false) wisdom, propagated by doomsters, about the perils of a nation living longer. Take notes for your own protection. -- Robert Butler, Founding Director of the National Institute on Aging

population, and present a balanced-and reassuring-assessment of the future.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.