The death of generations

I've been thinking about exactly this; thanks for posting on it. It amazes me that no one really had the foresight back in the mid-20th century in the US and Europe (and especially Britain) to see that crafting and forming large welfare states at the same time one is instituting pro-abortion and pro-contraceptive policies is a bad idea.

neither the Baby Boomers, nor their children, had sufficiently large families

America is relying on immigration to save the day. It's going to be interesting to watch the boomers being taken care of by a majority minority population.

Just like schools always lack financial support in older communities (hey, but my kids are all grown!) it's going to be interesting how a minority population will view the support of old people who are rich, white, and used to getting things their way, right away. It sure won't be their parents the nurses are changing bedpans for. I have a feeling support for the elderly will be at about the same level these elders gave to the unborn in their time. That is, nada.

LeeAnn, many Chinese are sterilized after the birth of their one legal child, not only because this means no more visits from the local birth control enforcement officer, but also because economic and other privileges are tied to sterilization.

In addition, a Google search of the phrase "China Forced Sterilization" will turn up many reports of women being forcibly sterilized, especially if they were suspected of either having an illegal second child or of attempting a second illegal pregnancy--following a forced abortion many women are routinely sterilized as part of their "punishment" for violating China's one-child law.

So the sad truth is that many of these couples have indeed lost the only child they will ever have.

The actual average life span when SS was enacted was 58, which meant that if you made it to 65 you were an old person of hoary hairs with both feet already in the grave.

Look, this article is rediculous to hang its hat on the one-child policy of china, and calling it barbaric. I love China. I have been there twice now. The history behind the one child policy is, it was put in place to control a population explosion that their land could not support. Whixh is better, to be impoverished to the extent of Africa where people starve, or limit your family to having only one child so that everybody could live? Go to China, look at the billions of people they have. You would not believe the pollution, or the crowding in all of their cities. This pollution from China is contributing to global warming more than anything.. the whole world should be thankful they have a one child policy, because they have been too large and too poor, and grown too fast to keep up with putting the necessary restraints on industry and keeping track of it all until just recently. They are beginning...

Not to mention this is about a natural disaster, which cannot be avoided, and there will always be deaths in such a situation. How does that have anything to do with the policies of any government?? You claim to care about the people, but you obviously really haven't looked beyond your opinion and wrote the article to fit that.

I expect in coming years the US and other countries will ration medical interventions at the end of life as a response to the swelling ranks of the elderly.

Personally, for myself, I'd welcome this. I reject euthanasia. But I'm not at all sure that successive, expensive medical interventions in one's 80's or 90's are morally necessary, or a wise use of taxpayer dollars. In fact, I'm skeptical that many common medical treatments even succeed in the limited goal of extending the patient's life expectancy.

Bottomline: Not being able to afford the repeated medical interventions borne by the elderly today could be a good thing.

Eleazar, you might consider sparing the rest of us your weary attempts at projection, mind-reading and anti-Christian bigotry. You might consider emulating posters such as Franklin Evans, Daniel, Jillian and many others who can make a point and defend it without reverting to the winning style of the village atheists of yore. You might want to read the post just below yours, where the estimable sigaliris makes a point similar to yours without once being pissy. It's called "writing". Many people have learned how to do it. You can, too.

Thanks, sigaliris.