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Show nalize use he The Salt Lake Tribune NATION Sunday, December26, 1999 A7 BoomersLikely to Work, Disdain Retirement Theyare still vigorous — andthey will need the money this new role model ofpositive and productive maturity are going to cause more and more people to say, ‘Well, maybe I don’t wantto retire,” Dychtwald BY DEBORAH MATHIS GANNETT NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON — When Texas Gov. George W. Bush said he would consider ney4 the Social Secu: rity retirement age to keep the program solvent, some of his fellow Republican presidential candidates scoffed, Steve Forbes, the millionaire New Jersey franpore cailed Bush's proposal a “betrayal.” Asked where they stand on delayed retirement, Democratic candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley both turned thumbs down. To gerontologist Ken Dychtwald, the candidates’ disinterest and objections are foolhardy,the function of either shortsightedness or political expediency. ‘The Social Security trust fundis already facing a $7 billion nett as early as 2013, whenthefirst wave of baby boomers begins retiring. Since the over-65 population will explode in the next three decades as all members of the huge baby boomer generation enter the latter years, Dychtwald “Between 2010 and 2080, the numberof people who will be receiving old-age benefits is going to grow by 70 percent, but the number of people who will be paying in taxes to support ~~ group will only grow by about3 percent,” Dychtwald said. Tronically, that’s because the boomer generation, the country’s largest ever, was one of its least prolific. On average, boomers had as many children as their parents, who averaged 3.8 births per couple. Tn addition to more elders than ever before, the early 21st century is expected to produce medical and nutritional advances that will keep the older Ameri- cans healthier and more vibrantthan their ancestors ever dreamed. “We are to see an entirely new modelof aging,” Dychtwald said. “People are growing old more youthfully, more attractively, with more energy andvitality than ever gined. Thanks to modern miracles, we have dramatically boosted the numberof years to which weall mightlive.” “We are in the midst of what could turn outto be R boast that the sum of all medical advances in the 19th and 20th centuries were mere drops in the bucket compared with whatthe early 21st cen- an absolutely incredible longevity revolution,” Dychtwald said. “But, it’s becomea political trigger point, and we're not dealing with it.” tury will hold. “Tt’s almostlike popcorn in a microwave oven that’s been in there for about 100,000 years without a gives. Accordingto the Census Bureau,nearly 76 million Americans will be at least 65 years old in 2090, mak- lot of action,” said Dychtwald.“Andin thelast cen- ing up more than one-fifth of the population. That tury, it began to pop, but nothing like whatwill happen over the next ides.” Whereas the current century opened with a life Atthe sametime,there will be a shortfall of wage expectancy of 50, health and aging experts say the more than doubles the currentover-65 population. earners, the people who feed Social Security and Medicare with their tax dollars. next onewill see the average life span top 100 years. “The combination of the extra decades oflife and Village Quilt Shop predicted. But researchers at the American Association of Retired Persons said they can find no takers for delayed retirement. “We've routinely found that everybody hates it,” said Jeffrey Love of the AARP Research Group. After tracking public opinion for 18 months, “two-thirds of the population do notlike that proposal,” Love said. “Tt doesn’t matter the age. You're asking people to work longer for full benefits when they’ve come to expect benefits at a certain age.” Like Forbes, the AARP respondents want government to keep the deal it has had with the American workersince 1987: Workuntil your middleto late 60s and oe collect Social Security benefits until you die. Dychtwald concedes the Social Security system provided “a brief period of respite at the endof life that was mostly characterized by physical labor.” But, he noted, when Social Security began, the average American lived to only 63, two years shy of the eligibility age, suggesting the system was never intentedispe a aterm program. from seniors, wheneverthis kind of issue Gee ons are very impassioned and they're very intense, but they're almost always misinformed,” Dychtwaldsaid. “They will say things like, ‘I'm just trying to get out whatI putin.’ But the average senior receives all they've paid in within about 24 months.” Aware of the impending age boom, Congress and the White House havefloated proposals to ostensibly keep Social Security and Medicare safe and ample, but partisan and philosophical differences have turned theissueinto a hotpotato. powerful special-interest groups. They have consis- tently stared down efforts to raise the retirementage, reduce cost-of-living raises and to make benefits contingent on a recipient's financial worth SOcalled meanstesting. Because of the elderly iobby’s power, pet issues like Social Security and Medicare have beencalled “the third rail of politics”; touch them, and you're dead. “The powerof seniors in politics and their ability to influence political leaders has sweetened the deal for them again and again and again," said Dychtwald who, at 49, belongs to the baby boomer group. “Today's generationsofeiders were fortunateto be a small generation and also to be frugal savers throughouttheir lives, so many of them can afford to live on fixed incomes.” In contrast, boomers are not only a huge group, but a financially strapped one. The average household savings rate dropped from 11.7 percent in the 1950s when the boomers were being raised to about 4.9 percent in the 1990s, when the boomers were raising their families. “So not only might we wish to work,” said Dychtwald,“we're going to need to work.” Still, he concedes changing a nearly 70-year-old system will not be easy. Yet, difficulties, tradition and entitlementaside, experts agree something must give. Dychtwald predicts the huge boomer generation will force change by, first, opting to work longer and, then, battling the age prejudice they are sure to encounter, “Boomers are not going to takeit,” said Dychtwald. “They are goingto be so outraged thatthey, the youth generation, are beingcastoff that they’re going to create an absolute war ofage discrimination law- suits. They're goingto rebel andfightit and whatit will ultimately do is call attention to the fact that there is a silver ceiling.” Organization and high voter participation by older Americans place them among the country’s most In the end,he predicts,“the battle will be won by the boomers.” Welt Beat Any Price OR-Your Mattress ls. FREE plus-Reecive-$500!> Hand-Stitched Quilts Choose From a Variety of Styles & Colors Twin Quilts 39° reg. $70 Full ea.pc. $115 Queen Set $265 King Set rex oe Mhean $175 $365 Twin ea.pe.$125 Full ea.pe. $195 King Set RSL MONT SIGN UP FOR ONE OF OUR NETWORK. FRMILY, on ADVANTRG RATE PLANS AND GET 7e START OF SERVICE AND 7¢ FIRST MONTH AG $618 *495 Twin e@.pc.$145 Full ea.pc. $195 £5588 King Set $695 Twin ea.pc.$225 $199 Sri ae)oa aoa Full ea.pc. $265 King Set $788 ale) aida) a We're Utah’s Largest Sealy and Stearns & Foster Dealer! 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