[lit-ideas] Re: Growing Old the Hard Way: China, Russia, India

  • From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 16:54:02 -0700

Judy,

 

Did you read the article?   In China with a low per capita income there
isn't going to be money available to take care of all the old people.  This
is becoming true also in Europe but for a different reason.  In Europe
entitlements were promised, cradle to the grave, but with an aging work
force and a dependence upon young workers paying for the retired workers
pensions, European governments are anticipating trouble in meeting those
commitments.  France has a different sort of trouble.  France could be out
of trouble if its people would vote themselves more reasonable entitlements.
There per capita income is high enough, but they don't seem willing to do
that.  China's per capita income isn't high enough.

 

I fail to see what American rest homes have to do with any of this.  Susan's
stepmother (who was childless but was nevertheless loved by Susan), Nita,
had a decent pension and could afford to stay in her own place, but she
became too weak to do so.  She had fallen and Susan wasn't strong enough to
pick her up and had to call for help.  We put her in a nice rest home near
us and Susan visited her almost every day.  In our case, money was no
object.  We let Nita pick a place where she could be in a room by herself
and have her own stuff around her.  Someone was on call 24 hours a day and
Susan checked to make sure the rest home was living up to their commitment.
This strikes me as a good thing and it is something most of the aged in
China are not going to have available to them.  China could have had this if
they had made a different economic choice at the time that Japan was being
tutored in Liberal Democracy, but as we know they had their own ideas about
economy.

 

Lawrence

 

  _____  

From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Judith Evans
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 3:33 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Growing Old the Hard Way: China, Russia, India

 

LH>Thus, while China as Europe looks down upon the crass 

LH>materialistic society of America, they are increasingly 

LH>ill-equipped to provide the entitlements that help them to feel superior.

 

So Americans have stopped granny-dumping?  (and nursing homes suddenly 

became affordable there?)

 

 

 

Judy Evans, Cardiff

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