Boomer Generation Needs to Hurry Up and Die!

There have been several articles on birth rates and death rates in various publications THE GUARDIAN reads on a regular basis.  The birth rates in developed countries as well as China have dipped below 2.0.  This means there are fewer and fewer people to pay all the bills governments generate as well as the costs of what has come to be called "entitlement costs". 

The Prime Minister of Japan who is in his 70's just wants older people to die as they are costing the government and Japanese taxpayers too much money.  We hear it on a daily basis; the high costs of "entitlements" is going to bankrupt our county.  The blip in the rapid descent of birthrates of the early 20th century called the boomer generation are likewise going to cost a fortune to keep them all pulling air no matter the ever increaseing costs of their collective medical care. 

Americans in general operate under the assumption that there is a cure for old age and that eventually death will be optional.  The big question in all of this is; at what cost all this will be to younger people and the wellbeing of society.  The Republicans in Congress argued against Obamacare due to the "death panel" approach to preauthorizing extreme measures to keep grandma and grandpa alive no matter the costs.  Sen. Mitch McConnell called it tantamount to "throwing grandma under the train".

In a WSJ article this weekend there is a very good article on falling birthrates and taking care of the older generations.  For example in Japan they sell more pampers for old people than they do babies.  Again the Prime Minister sees the way out of all this if only the old people in Japan would hurry up and die.

At the age of 66 THE GUARDIAN has given long and hard thought to the fact that the median life span for a male is around 78 years of age.  Now that means that 50% have reached their expiration date prior to 78 and 50% of us will expire at some unknown date post our collective 78th birthday.  What we don't know is how and when all this will unfold for each of us as we move to our demise.

In chatting with a couple of people who have had the traditional burial experience, the tab for the living runs to about $20,000!  A simple cremation runs less than 1/10th of that cost.  Another aspect is do you have a living will with directives for maintaining your existance on life support or do you want to cease medical heroics.  The deal here is to let your wishes be known and make the process a prepaid event for your survivors.  Otherwise, it becomes an emotional event way out of your control.  Here's a link to the Idaho Attorney Generals website on LIVING WILLS AND DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY.  This set of documents is free and shame on you if you don't have one  http://www.ag.idaho.gov/livingWills/livingWills_index.html