Update of 8/6/2026: Of course, the lefty Harvard University had to chime in.
Why we need to break the grip of ‘oldigarchy’ "Legal historian’s new book argues older Americans control power, wealth — and lack sense of urgency to fix nation’s most pressing problems"
Why we need to break the grip of ‘oldigarchy’ "Legal historian’s new book argues older Americans control power, wealth — and lack sense of urgency to fix nation’s most pressing problems"
Food for thought! What is democracy by elected representatives? A tyranny of the majority?
Is this Yale professor inciting/stoking an uprising/revolution of the younger against the elderly?
His chosen dichotomy is dubious and very simplistic! His prescriptions are even more dangerous and are calling for big government if not socialism!
According to Google Scholar this professor "Samuel Moyn
Professor of Law and History, Harvard University" has only a total citation count of 14521 (as of 7/30/2026 since 2021), but he has authored over 480 publications. Not very impressive!
Caveat: I did not read his book.
"Yale law professor Samuel Moyn’s new book argues that a “gerontocracy” now holds sway in America, with wealth and power disproportionately concentrated in the hands of older people. In a Q&A, Moyn explains how that happened, why it’s a problem, and how we might fix it."
"What Moyn calls “the great aging” has, he says, transformed America into a society in which older people control a disproportionate amount of political power and wealth [???] and “hoard” jobs and housing [???], depriving the young of opportunity and political say.
Some of the statistics Moyn cites: The median age of congresspeople is more than 60. The median age of voters is 52; in some campaigns, donor ages average as high as 70.
Workers over the age of 55 now comprise nearly a quarter of the workforce, compared to 10 percent in 1990. ...
“If Americans deserve a society that is oriented to innovation and problem-solving, and equips and launches the young into the prime of life, the country is heading the wrong direction,” Moyn writes. ...
His book prescribes a host of possible strategies for wresting control from the aged, from making voting mandatory [???] and boosting public funding [???] of elections to reevaluating age-related tax breaks and bringing back mandatory retirements. Finally, he suggests that a more socialistic model of elder care in America would help reduce the angst around aging that compels older workers to cling to jobs and wealth. ..."
No comments:
Post a Comment