The impact of aging in United States
Currently, there are more than forty million elderly persons above sixty years in the United States. Statistically, studies show that the population elderly people will double in the next three decades. Such significant increase in the aged population is attributed to the better healthcare, good nutrition and overall improvement of human health. As a result, life expectancy in the United States stands at sixty five years and above. The current elderly generations were born during the baby boomers era after Second World War. There is two percent increase in the population of elderly people over the last decade. The worrying trend has both positive and negative effects to the American society. The paper examines the impact of the aged population, in relation to the economic, political and cultural developments.
In economic terms, the elderly population constitutes of four percent of the working class. As a result, the four percent is made up of workforce aged above sixty years. More so, there is increased government spending on sustenance of the elderly population, in term of healthcare. There is also an increase in the budgetary allocation to the elderly, in relation to pensions. As such, the old generation, which reflects low productivity, is benefiting more than the young generation. United States of America is experiencing the issue of improved life expectancy and high dependency ratio among the elderly populations. There will be more pensioners than workers, which dent the productivity of the economy. Apparently, the working class will be forced to adopt higher taxation policies, in an effort of supporting the elderly population. Such move discourages both domestic and foreign investment, which further cripple the growth of the economy. More so, the aging workforce poses a challenge of loss of skilled-personnel to work in various sectors. Additionally, the national government is experiencing a shortage of productive and young workforce. Consequently, the national government will aim at encouraging the young people through offering better pay perks that further induces inflation. On the other side, the increasing population of elderly people has resulted to the formation of companies that major in products of the aged-population. There is a viable market for elderly-oriented products in United States. More so, some of the elderly population are involved in productivity of the economy through retirement extensions.
In politics, research stipulates that the aged-population is dormant. Many leaders in the United States are below the age of sixty years, which shows a reduced contribution of elderly people in matters of political development. What is more, the older generation is not aggressive and risk-takers in matters of politics. The population density of elderly people is relatively low as compared to the young generation. As a result, there is a transition in governance, leadership and adoption of national policies. The current govern is issue-oriented, in handling social challenges. More so, the digitalization of politics further creates a gap between the elderly and young generation in US. The Republican Party is associated with Whites and aging generation. Apparently, ethnic statistics shows that young and versatile population from Asian, Hispanic and Blacks will create a paradigm shift in leadership of major parties. More so, such ethnic generation are more aligned to the Democratic Party. In matters of policy formulation, the elderly people are lagging behind in the formulation and adoption of fiscal policies on pensions. The idea of increasing fiscal spending on the elderly population adds burden to the youth generation who have to pay high healthcare prices. The political decision-making process aims at stabilizing budgetary expenditure through cutting on the healthcare entitlements especially to the elderly people. Contrastingly, the older generation in the last election constituted of more than seventy percent voter turn-out. As a result, the aged generation still holds a significant position in maintaining political democracy in US.
Culturally, the majority of elderly people in the United States are fundamentalists. As such, the elderly population holds on to traditional cultural practices and techniques. Consequently, there are defined cultural-conflicts between the current and older generations. However, there is progressive transition in culture as the older generation is forced to adopt modern lifestyles such as family up-bringing and social interactions. There are increasing numbers of the elderly people, who are using modern technology in their daily chores. Apparently, modernity has seen the erosion of traditional cultures in matters of dressing, relationships and religions. More elderly people are highly modernized, in matters of cultural development. The idea that the elderly generation in United States were born during massive cultural reforms such as liberalization forms a transition between tradition and modernity. Most importantly, the values and concepts of cultural diversity were initiated by the elderly people. As a result, the older generation forms part of American culture authenticity and development. The cultural values of elderly people are continually respected and applied by the current generation in different ways
Conclusively, there are increasing numbers of elderly people in United States. Consequently, high life expectancy increases economic and political burden to the nations. The issue of high dependency ratio increases the taxation of the working class. On the other hand, elderly generation forms the foundation of American culture, in relation to human right movements, liberalization of gender and appreciation of modern lifestyle.
