GRAY DAWN

The good news is that we are all living longer. That’s the bad news, too. According to all the unequivocal signs, there will soon be more grandparents than grandchildren. It’s happening even more precipitously in many other developed countries than it is in the US. There’s no stopping the certain ripening of the world population. The baby boom will inevitably become a senior boom, points out graybeard Peterson, a seasoned policy wonk (Will America Grow Up Before It Grows Old?, 1996), and it will land us in a world of trouble. The scary demography is not news, of course, but only recently have we begun to take the challenge seriously. For those who haven’t heard, it is clear that Social Security, born in 1935, will have to file for bankruptcy well before its 100th birthday if help doesn’t come. It’s clear that Social Security is not a trust fund but a well-intentioned Ponzi scheme. The generous policies of other advanced nations will collapse even before our own scheme reaches senility and dysfunction. Only uninformed optimists foresee a happy world of superannuated Floridians, with 4 p.m. suppers and half-price movies. Peterson is a realist. He demonstrates fundamental changes with many convincing statistics and clear charts. Health care can’t continue as is; economic growth will slow; fiscal policies will implode; third world countries will beat us; and intergenerational strife may become the norm. The author has a few suggestions: Work longer. Have more children. Stress filial obligations. Save individually for retirement. Pay benefits on the basis of need (though one can hear cries that thrift and industry would be penalized). His peroration is an open letter to world leaders. “Convene a global summit and establish an Agency on Global Aging,” he urges. The geezers are coming, and they are us. A book a bit prolix but quite sagacious on an urgent topic, that might serve as a handbook for a new world agency.