University of Wisconsin students, picture your daily routine. Think about the people who live next door to you, the TA who grades your homework and the guy who delivers your pizza. Throw in everyone with whom you have a fairly solid relationship — acquaintances or better. Notice anything?
Almost everyone you know is 25 or younger.
In a city like Madison, a textbook example of a "college town," this isn't a big surprise. Every cheap fast-food joint and funky clothing store has zeroed in on the tastes of our particular demographic. On campus, the services required to keep a school of more than 40,000 running smoothly are often staffed by the students themselves. We live in a bubble — a bubble with a narrow age range. The big surprise will come when we finally exit this academic bio-dome with all its hip youth culture and enter a world that caters to … old people.
Wait, what?
We all came to this university — I hope — with the goal of expanding our horizons, learning what this world has to offer and other fluffy stuff like that. Yet, there are certain realities our education leaves us unprepared to deal with. It is curious that the closest thing most students have to an intergenerational relationship — outside of their own families, that is — is a quick chat with a professor after class, or maybe a professional understanding with a boss or co-worker. When we leave Madison for good — and the vast majority of us will — we would be wise to direct our energy and innovation toward serving retirees and other older Americans. We need to appreciate them on a personal level and follow their lead on a political and financial level. This is where our economy is headed, especially since trends like outsourcing and overseas manufacturing have become widespread.
According to the Center for Community Economic Development, in 1920, less than five percent of Americans were at least 65 years old. It is expected that one in five Americans will be 65 or older by 2030. These senior citizens will neither fit nor accept the "old fogey" stereotypes. They will be our parents, and empty nesters at that. They will spend the latter part of their lives in a stage of ever-increasing duration, traveling, consuming, voting and doing whatever they want to do. A large chunk of them will have planned well for retirement, and they will be computer literate and socially active. Frankly, it would be a wise career move to knuckle under and anticipate the needs of the baby boomers, starting immediately.
As a taxpayer, you will be supporting an impossibly massive number of social security recipients. As a lawyer, you will be hired to combat age discrimination in the workplace and draft prenuptials for remarrying divorcees. As a teacher of some kind, you may find yourself teaching night classes as demand for continuing education grows. Doctors and researchers will never have a free moment as they search for ways to keep people healthier, longer. Senior citizens in general will not be shy about writing their congressman or asking for fair treatment in the sphere of retail. In fact, every product in existence from discount cotton swabs to luxury real estate will increasingly be designed for the comfort and convenience of people older than 65.
People in Wisconsin at large are well aware of the economic power of older Americans. Statistics from the Rural Policy Research Institute in 2006 show a significant drop in the urban population of residents aged 55 and older. Wisconsin Sen. Mary Lazich, D-New Berlin, in a legislative column, noted the correlation between national tax ranking and the most popular states for retirees. She lamented Wisconsin's failure to be named an ideal retirement location by U.S. News & World Report, saying that "retiree flight" was largely due to high property taxes. Florida, for example, does not have personal income taxes.
These are policies we need to reconsider, and soon. If we, as the current and future supporters of Wisconsin, fail to hold the interest of its citizens as they approach retirement age, we will likely miss out on billions of dollars' worth of industry potential. We need to take care of our predecessors, so when the time comes, the next generation will have the infrastructure to take care of us. I know I have certain expectations about how I spend my declining years. And I'm going to live to 100 or die trying.
Carla Dogan ([email protected]) . is a junior majoring in economics
