Posted on 08/26/2013 8:34:06 AM PDT by upbeat5
Americans should expect an enormous shortage in caregivers for older people in the coming decades, with a dearth of friends and family members available to care for the baby-boom generation as it ages, according to a report released Monday by AARP.
The report, “The Aging of the Baby Boom and the Growing Care Gap,” projects that by 2030 there will be only four potential caregivers available for each person 80 or older, down from a high of more than seven in 2010. By 2050, when boomers are between 86 and 104, the ratio will drop below 3 to 1. Currently, about 14 percent of potential caregivers — defined as people 45 to 64 — provide care for someone 80 or older, 9 percent care for someone 60 to 79, and 7 percent care for someone 18 to 59, said Ari Houser, one of the authors.
The “2030 problem,” as researchers have defined it, stems from a combination of factors, including the large number of baby boomers, the fact that boomers had relatively fewer children than earlier generations, and increased longevity for both men and women.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
In the "old days", most of the elderly would not live to some of the advanced ages we see with significant aliments and frailties. Not to mention a both husband and wife typically working and not home to care for elderly parents.
Japan has been working on that very thing for years now. Seriously.
Mom raised 7 loving children.
Time to invest in nursing homes.
I like the icefloe idea.
I feel badly for some of my older relatives - Hippies of the 60’s who were always busy looking for the next “experience.” Never bothered to have kids or build a family. It will be a lonely old-age for them.
Habla Espanol?
>I’m one of those intransigent purists. I just won’t vote for those that support abortion.
Of course, that means the GOP-E hates me...<
And some Freepers do too.
(NOT ME...I feel the same way you do.)
I am sure many wish they would have had more kids. Makes me sad.
My wife has a bunch of women friends who are now in their 50s and 60s who never had any children. In most of the volunteer groups that she is active in... women who had children are a minority. These are urban women from the Seattle area.
It wasn’t so many generations ago that your family was your “retirement plan” in most cases.
What’s that song?
Cat in the cradle and the silver spoon?
My child arrived just the other day
Came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
He was talkin’ ‘fore I knew it
And as he grew he said
“I’m gonna be like you, Dad
You know I’m gonna be like you”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
“When you comin’ home?”
“Son, I don’t know when
We’ll get together then
You know we’ll have a good time then”
Well, my son turned ten just the other day
He said, “Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on, let’s play
Could you teach me to throw? I said, “Not today, I got a lot to do”
He said, “That’s okay”
And he walked away
And he smiled and he said
“You know, I’m gonna be like him, yeah
You know I’m gonna be like him”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
“When you comin’ home?”
“Son, I don’t know when
We’ll get together then
You know we’ll have a good time then”
Well, he came from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
“I’m proud of you
Could you sit for a while?”
He shook his head and he said with a smile
“What I’d really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later
Can I have them please?”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
“When you comin’ home?”
“Son, I don’t know when
We’ll get together then
You know we’ll have a good time then”
I’ve long since retired, my son’s moved away
I called him up just the other day
“I’d like to see you, if you don’t mind
He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I could find the time”
“You see my new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu
But it’s sure nice talkin’ to you, Dad, it’s been sure nice talkin’ to you”
And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He’d grown up just like me, my boy was just like me
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
“When you comin’ home?”
“Son, I don’t know when
We’ll get together then
You know we’ll have a good time then”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
“When you comin’ home?”
“Son, I don’t know when
We’ll get together then
You know we’ll have a good time then”
I am absolutely convinced it will so be again. People have put far too much faith in the Government or their corporations to provide for them.
This author assumes there will be lots of old people.
We ain’t seen nothing yet...
LIGHT CLASSICAL
Yeah, unlike others who spend their last years with 3 or 4 middle aged kids packing them off to an old folks home while arguing over who gets the house and family heirlooms.
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