Constructive Paranoia

The World until Yesterdayを第7章、275ページまで。

第6章の年寄りの扱いのところに、高齢化社会の問題についてのライティング問題の回答例のようなコンパクトな説明があったのでメモ。

One obvious negative consequence of those demographic facts [population pyramid's inversion] is that society's burden of supporting the elderly is heavier, because more older people require to be supported by fewer productive workers. That cruel reality lies at the root of the much-discussed looming crisis of funding the American Social Security system (and its European and Japanese counterparts) that provides pensions for retired workers. If we older people keep working, we prevent our children's and our grandchildren's generation from getting jobs, as is happening right now. If, instead, we older people retire and expect the earnings of the shrinking younger cohort to continue to fund the Social Security system and pay for our leisure, then the financial burden of the younger cohort is far greater than ever before. ...