How is the economy affected by certain age groups?

Question

How is the economy affected by certain age groups?

Answer 1

1. The richest people in the country are over 65. They have had the most amount of time to amass & inherit wealth.

2. The government is subsidizing the health care sector by spending billions each year on Medicare, Medicaid and giving companies tax deductions for providing health benefits to employees. This has led to a lot of growth in this industry.

A similar effect occurred in the 50s and 60's when the Interstate Highway system was inaugerated - the gov't began spending massive billions on building new roads. This was, in effect, a subsidy to the civil engineering and construction industry.

Answer 2

It's kind of obvious, really... Children and the elderly don't work. Children receive publicly-funded education, the elderly, publicly-funded retirement benefits and healthcare. So the more children the society has, the more it has to spend on education; the more elderly the society has, the more it has to spend on retirement benefits and healthcare...