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.