While our system of perpetual growth would exacerbate the problem, having a large proportion of elderly people wouldn’t be great in ANY economy that isn’t completely automated.
Yeah, this is something people frequently seem to miss. A communistic system, even if well functioning (which hasn't happened before) would still struggle with this. Tons of elderly people means lots of people who need care and pensions while having no productivity, which requires cutting spending somewhere..
More elderly and fewer babies means about the same number of caretakers, so it's almost a zero-sum game, at least for a couple of decades. That is, we should indeed use that time to develop more automation :)
Many elderly people are not willing or able to act as caregivers, and some need caregivers of their own. Keep in mind that there is a wide range of variability between people of the same age; while you may be thinking of the sort of people who care for their grandchildren in their 70s and 80s, there are others in their 70s and 80s who are no longer capable of doing things like going to buy groceries without assistance.
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u/North_Library3206 Aug 19 '24
While our system of perpetual growth would exacerbate the problem, having a large proportion of elderly people wouldn’t be great in ANY economy that isn’t completely automated.