Many elderly people spent decades living with, and being cared for, by younger relatives all throughout human history. Industrialization has changed all of that. We can either go back in time where most people worked on farms or in family businesses (which I wouldn’t really mind), or we can deal with the consequences of what we have created in this lovely capitalist system of ours. We cannot neglect the elderly simply because they have become an “inconvenience” in this capitalist system we are all supposed to love and embrace. [/quote]
I don’t think this is a capitalism vs. socialism issue, nor an issue of industrialization vs. agrarian. After all, this country was – for better or worse – considerably more “capitalistic” prior to the New Deal. Recall that the “elderly being cared for by younger relatives” was still a characteristic of the Industrial Revolution. I would argue that industrialization has little to do with this discussion. Also arguably… the socialization of elder care (via Social Security and Medicare) has engendered the notion that families don’t need to care for their elderly relatives because… wait for it… the government is doing it for them. Also, a tried and true capitalist would be suggesting that we need to find a way to put the elderly to some reasonable form of part time work, not just pay them social security to remain idle. So, I agree with a lot of what you’re saying here, but you lost me once you brought capitalism into it. Again, arguably, socialism plays a big role here.
