Longevity crisis? Kill Grandma

The Orlando Sentinel ^ | June 8, 2005 | Barbara Ehrenreich

[MsGail61]

Longevity crisis? Kill Grandma By Barbara Ehrenreich Special to The Los Angeles Times June 8, 2005

A specter is stalking the Western world, and it looks a lot like Grandma. As President Bush has repeatedly put it, the problem with Social Security is that "baby boomers will be living longer." Not "too" long, he's careful to say, but long enough to create a fiscal catastrophe.

And it's not just Social Security. Medicare, as well as any company rash enough to have offered pensions, may eventually sink under the weight of its obligations to the elderly. A welfare state designed in the era of bacon, eggs and Lucky Strikes cannot expect to survive in an age of "active seniors" who wash down their Viagra with soy milk and think a six-pack is something you get at the gym.

So far, the policymakers' response has been to gut the welfare state before the greedy geezers can plunder it. For example, the Bush administration has achieved deep cuts in Medicaid, which supports many middle-class people in their post-golden nursing-home years, and it continues to fight for the evisceration of Social Security.

But can such namby-pamby solutions really get to the root of the problem? Isn't it clear that there are just too many old people around, luxuriating in their assisted-living communities and expecting the government to support their statin and beta-blocker habits? Does no one have the courage to confront the longevity crisis head-on?

[MsGail61]

Don't know if Rush covered this yet, since I've just started listening online, but it reminds me of when he's said in the past that people have a duty to die, tongue-in-cheek of course.

[Restorer]

With one hand, the Republicans held her (Schiavo) feeding tube firmly in place, while the other hand reached for the ax to cut off the flow of Medicaid dollars that were keeping that poor shell of a woman alive.

As I understand it, her expenses were being paid by the proceeds of a lawsuit, not by Medicaid.

What an idiotic article. She starts out by bringing up some really serious demographic concerns, then twists it into an attack on Bush and conservatives, without even trying to offer any proposals of her own.

[Millee]

"Former Governor of Colorado Richard Lamm had lit a firestorm of controversy when he suggested that old people have a duty to die. This concept has been elaborated by others. The reasoning is that our society, at least in the Western world, have no good financial plans for long-term care for the aged when they become incapacitated because of illness or mental debility. Often these persons become a financial and emotional burden for family members and may require family members to alter their own lives and goals simply to care for their aged relatives. It has been suggested that these burdens are not acceptable and that the aged should find a duty to terminate their lives before they have reached such a dependent state. This means that an elderly person while mentally competent and not terminally ill should arrange to die. The argument is that their life is almost over naturally and they should not interfere with the lives and careers of others who have yet many years of life ahead. Also implied is that society's monetary costs for caring for the elderly infirm could better be spent on children and younger people."

Anyone remember when former CO. governor Lamm made this statement??

[basil]

One thing this person hasn't considered is that these days, many of these "grannies" have guns and can defend themselves---LOL! I know that for a fact!

Bring it on!!!

[mewzilla]

I so didn't care for the Schiavo crack. That was beneath you, Ms. Ehrenreich.

[peacebaby]

My grandmother is 102 1/2 - no longer a viable life, but she lives. Long outlived her savings which were vast at one time. Will my father, her son, live as long a life, and will I watch his fortune dwindle? Will I - a baby boomer - live as long a life? I hope not.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I so didn't care for the Schiavo crack. That was beneath you, Ms. Ehrenreich.

No it wasn't.

[gridlock]

This is all good for a "ha ha ha" right now. But just you wait. The right to die is morphing into the duty to die right before our very eyes. Utilitarian arguments are being applied to the question of human life, on stem cells at one extreme and the persistently camatose on the other. It is only a matter of time before the "quality of life" becomes the measure of the value of life. Once that attitude is firmly entrenched, look for the bar to be consistently lowered.

Eventually, people will be expected to commit suicide for the most trivial of reasons. This is where the culture is headed.

[mewzilla]

No it wasn't.

Sigh. I think you're right.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I'm investing now in companies that provide assisted living, recreation, joint replacement and other medical devices, opthalmological therapy, and drugs....just to list a few.

And don't forget funeral services.......a bigtime winner in the next 40 years.

[Incorrigible]

Sounds like the French solution.

[peacebaby]

"I so didn't care for the Schiavo crack. That was beneath you, Ms. Ehrenreich."

This is assuming Ms. Ehrenreich is above making such a crass, disrespectful and inappropriate comment. Evidently she is not.

[muawiyah]

Or, the really unlucky ones will be found to have perfectly viable and useful adult stem cells. They will be flensed whole; their stem cells decanted; and needy younger people will get another lease on life.

Yes, I can see it now ~ the big debate is really about embryonic stem cells, but rather about reducing Social Security rolls faster, and keeping productive folks working better and longer.

[Snoopers-868th]

I don't remember it but I do believe that is exactly what the complaining generations want. Seems to me there was some movement about appreciating and valuing the elderly; getting them involved in the schools as helping grandparents etc. I would say that has turned on a dime as there seems to be no value of the elderly. Congress gave the family leave act for what--these folks don't WANT to take care of their family--they truly want them to find a way to kill themselves to relieve them of any obligation --wrong word these people are not obligated to do anything. EXCEPT, these same folks expect a day care program, free school lunch program, and vacations.

Personally, I hope the elderly live many years and make 'em pay--they too are on the receiving end of what they complain about.

[roylene]

What do you mean - "no longer a viable life"?
It is my hope you do not mean that she has no value.

[spectre]

What you said... Unfortunately, few people reading this thread can ever imagine what you are talking about. I can.

sw

[George Smiley]

Shades of "Blade Runner".

[peacebaby]

of course not.

viable: a : capable of working, functioning, or developing adequately

[George Smiley]

Not to mention hearing aids, in a rainbow of colors.

: ^ )

[Nyboe]

the baby boomer's in the end will get theirs for all the grief they've caused when their children pull the plug on their butts.

You reap what you sow.