Gerontology - Economic Aspects, General & Miscellaneous Social Policies, General Economic Policies, Gerontology - Social Aspects, Demography - Age Distribution

Gray Dawn

Name: Gray Dawn
Author: Peter Peterson
ISBN: 9780812931952

by Peter Peterson

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Overview

The major economies of the world are on a collision course toward a huge, as-yet-unseen iceberg: global aging. Increased longevity is a blessing, but it carries with it costs and questions few countries wish to deal with. This looming demographic challenge may become the transcendent issue of the twenty-first century, affecting not just our economies but our political systems, our lifestyles, our ethics, and even our military security. In Gray Dawn, Peter G. Peterson, the respected statesman of Washington and Wall Street, sounds the warning bell and prescribes a set of detailed solutions that, if implemented early, will prevent the need for Draconian measures later.

About the Author, Peter Peterson

Peter G. Peterson is chairman of The Blackstone Group, a leading investment bank. He chairs the Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute for International Economics. He is also a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and is one of the founders of The Concord Coalition. A former secretary of commerce, Peterson has advised presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton. He is married to Joan Ganz Cooney, founder of Children's Television Workshop.

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Editorials

Alan Wolfe

When the sky does fall, those once denounced as Chicken Littles suddenly become prophets. Peterson may turn out to be one of them....Americans may someday rue the fact that, back when the emerging problems were so clearly and compellingly described in Gray Dawn, they did not pay attention. —WQ: The Wilson Quarterly

David Kusnet

...Gray Dawn explores the aging of the entire developed world and offers a provocative introduction to an issue whose explications extend well beyond government budgets....Bringing so many children into the world [in the baby boom generation] was an act of faith by families who believed that their fellow citizens would honor their obligations...across the lines of class and generation. —The New York Times Book Review

Robert J Samuelson

[Peterson] is an admitted alarmist on aging....The book [refutes] all the reasons that we have been given not to worry.
—The New Republic

Library Journal

The elderly constitute an increasingly larger share of the population, particularly in the most industrialized countries. Peterson (When the Boomers Retire), co-founder of the Concord Coalition and adviser to governments at various levels, warns that steps must be taken now to avert the crises, primarily financial, that demographic changes could bring. The near future will see each elderly person supported by fewer workers. Social programs differ around the world, as do current and future demographics, but none of the industrialized countries seems prepared for the upcoming demographic changes. Peterson also reflects on the world's political and financial power and how both might shift to countries with younger populations. He calls on leaders around the world to convene an Agency on Global Aging to discuss the issues and find global solutions, offering few answers but doing a tremendous service in keeping the issues open. -- A.J. Sobczak, formerly with California State Univ., Northridge

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

...Peterson is an incurable fretter....[but] Gray Dawn is hardly to be dismissed. It contains a great deal of information and much clear thinking, and presents a number of reasonable objectives toward which we should strive.
— Commentary

David Kusnet

Robert J Samuelson

[Peterson] is an admitted alarmist on aging....The book [refutes] all the reasons that we have been given not to worry.
— The New Republic

Kirkus Reviews

The good news is that we are all living longer. That's the bad news, too. According to all the unequivocal signs, there will soon be more grandparents than grandchildren. It's happening even more precipitously in many other developed countries than it is in the US. There's no stopping the certain ripening of the world population. The baby boom will inevitably become a senior boom, points out graybeard Peterson, a seasoned policy wonk (Will America Grow Up Before It Grows Old?), and it will land us in a world of trouble. The scary demography is not news, of course, but only recently have we begun to take the challenge seriously. For those who haven't heard, it is clear that Social Security, born in 1935, will have to file for bankruptcy well before its 100th birthday if help doesn't come. It's clear that Social Security is not a trust fund but a well-intentioned Ponzi scheme. The generous policies of other advanced nations will collapse even before our own scheme reaches senility and dysfunction. Only uninformed optimists foresee a happy world of superannuated Floridians, with 4 p.m. suppers and half-price movies.

Peterson is a realist. He demonstrates fundamental changes with many convincing statistics and clear charts. Health care can't continue as is; economic growth will slow; fiscal policies will implode; Third World countries will beat us; and intergenerational strife may become the norm. The author has a few suggestions: Work longer. Have more children. Stress filial obligations. Save individually for retirement. Pay benefits on the basis of need (though one can hear cries that thrift and industry would be penalized). His peroration is an open letter to world leaders."Convene a global summit and establish an Agency on Global Aging," he urges. The geezers are coming, and they are us. A book a bit prolix but quite sagacious on an urgent topic, that might serve as a handbook for a new world agency.