The Geriatric Economy

Someone said to me today, "Old people don't benefit the economy; they should all be shipped to an island."

Shipped to an island to do what? Rot? I think that a lot of industries rely on the older population to be successful. Many drug companies, and cruise line companies, I think would miss a huge percentage of their business if they didn't have customers over the age of 55. So in this sense, the economy is helped. More businesses are able to do more business. Older persons who have saved a lot of money over the course of their life are able to spend it on health care and leisure.

Even today we all save money that we'll spend in our old age. So, psychologically, if there was no old age to look forward to, then we'd all spend our money now rather than later. We save for the days when we're too old to work. Then our life's savings will help us survive. If we have no old age to save for, then we're more likely to spend our money on leisurely pursuits, earlier in our lives, for example on travel, computers, cars, and better housing. So, while different sectors would have greater cash inflow, the economy overall wouldn't necessarily change that much, would it?

Tell me what you think.