Elizabeth brightman final

The globalization and changes in the demand for labor, and services have redefined employ-ability and have retrenched many who would other wise have been gainfully employed even in their age of seniority. The Aging of the population is a global process and a problem faced by all countries. Poverty results from aging when the person reaches an age considered unemployable and also is not having resources to meet the ever growing needs that aging brings with it. The problem was anticipated decades ago, and the attempt to classify the issue began in the last few decades. The aging society must be viewed in a new light. The new aging reflects a change that must be brought in to the definition of aging and revamp the system with which we have attempted to provide for the elderly over sixty years of age. The vision of the community to the old people will alter the community life style and family values. The interpersonal relationships will also be redefined. The new aging scenario is slowly incorporating these ideas in employment and many other programs. (Torres-Gil, 41) In the period prior to 1990 the concepts to aging was quite different and the changes over the last few decades occur because of the increase in the life span of the people and there fore there is a different view of the aged today. However poverty and aging are factors or social ills that plague America now and will continue to do so in the coming years. As far back as in 1992 there were over four million elderly persons in the US who were officially declared poor. At that time the poverty was calculated to be over thirteen percent. The poverty of people as head count tells us the individual numbers, but do not tell anything on the nature of the poverty. For the measure of poverty among the elderly, different set of variables have to be considered. The importance of their living arrangements ought to be taken into account. (Wise, 169)

Defining poverty in America There must be a reason for the existence of poverty in such a rich country like America. The genesis of poverty amidst plenty is a complex thing. The population who are poor are diverse, and vary in an age, sex, race, and the place they are situated all play important roles. The street people are generally classified as poor. But in reality we can find the elderly, couples and whole families with employed parents, and even healthy young men in the poor bracket. There are poor people in cities, villages and all places. The factors that cause poverty to people are varied, and the reason for there being an aging population that is getting poor is quite different from the other causes of poverty. (Rodgers, 115) The two sections of the society that are benefited unequally in the economic and political changes including globalization that has occurred are children and senior citizens. At the beginning of the last century there was a great risk of poverty. Today children still run the risk of being poor. The elderly in contrast, ran the risk of being poor in the last century have now a better deal in the sense that the aged population experienced absolute poverty in the beginning of the century, and was better or middle level in the middle of the century have actually become better at the end of the century. From the 1990s a shift in the nature of the state and the welfare measures have given the seniors the benefits of security against poverty. Children are yet to gain benefits but we can note that there need be more consideration in the distribution of resources between these two sets of people to achieve welfare in the state. (Cheal, 173)

The modern Information age and poverty

There is no doubt that America is aging and the shift can be seen in the marketing policies of companies which now include elderly citizens in advertisements and extol the virtues of the aged. The spending power of the sizeable chunk of the population of the country which has gone beyond the prime is the target of the commercial entities. There are many advertisements that apart from leisure also promote rejuvenating drug and so on which are targeted at the aging population. This is ample proof that the age of grey America is fast approaching. There will be poverty among the aging people, it is an inevitable fact. The aged persons, those above fifty now will benefit from the transfer of estates from parents, return on investments, and in the reverse will be also burdened with the task of supporting still older parents but the opportunity to create wealth is now more. (Riggs, 74) The greater change and probably the cause of poverty among the aged is the change in the nature of work and the workplace. Today s younger generation is what is called the joystick generation. The later generation is more equipped to handle the new technology and information revolution that has cause changes in the workplace to the earlier seniors. One experiment showed that the thirteen year old of today can outperform a surgeon. The increasing sophistication in technology has created the next generation which can use the gadgets more efficiently and with speed as compared to the earlier generations. Today s youngsters are more competent in handling the communication technology and information than adults. (Riggs, 81) Elders tend to be silent over their life s experiences an dare more seen than heard. All systems are geared for the young and therefore the aging society finds itself out of place. The movies for example target the youth and not the aged, even though they form a sizeable chunk of the population. Thus, in all the walks of life the aged persons slowly see that they get marginalized and tuned out. (Riggs, 103)

Ethnicity and poverty It is not just the technology boom that is likely to cause poverty among the elderly. It is believed that ethnicity will also play an important role. The elderly Asians living in the United States for example have a different pattern of family and existence that is quite different from the rest of the .population in terms of the family structure and the joint family. The extended family lifestyle is the community s response to the problem of poverty. There thus is a greater shield for such communities and heterogeneity which can help define the needs of the elderly. (Phua; McNally; Park, 73) To a great extent the family systems and values will determine the poverty level and impact. It is always necessary therefore to consider the effects of aging on families and the burdens and the problems that the family as a whole unit will face with the demands of the elderly growing day by day, and the costs rising similarly.

The Impact on the Family and genesis of poverty Apportioning of family income into the various needs of the family and the support of the aged will cause tremendous pressure on the family or kin of the aging person. Where the person himself or herself is not adequately affluent to pay for the ever increasing demand for services, there will be a demand on the reserves of the family which causes the family then to be in a state of poverty. The problems mainly will centre on the medical needs of the aged, which is bound to increase with the advancement of age. The most single factor that makes families shift resources to the aged and thus bring about a round of less affluence, with the demands of the others curtailed is the necessity of treating an aged relative for a disease or condition that can involve huge costs. With regard to the aged in the family and the impact on the aged and the rest of the family researches the incidence of sickness like cancer, and the impact of it on the other adults and the family is one aspect that needs to be considered. The second is the age and health related conditions and the well being of the family has a reciprocal relationship. The health conditions of the aged affect the whole family system. There is not only stress for the family but depression for the aged and psychological problems. The risk of geriatric complications is not evenly distributed and change with regions and communities. The health problems of the aged clearly remain still a family affair. (Berkman; D Ambruoso, 168)

Where a family is required to allot the scare resource of income generated to the demands of the family s everyday living, children s demands and the demands of the aged, there will always be a greater demand from the aged group because their needs in terms of requirements, health care and other living amenities increase with the passing of age. Thus it might also come about that the aging society will itself cause poverty in a family or society that other wise would have been better off. The passing of family resources to the benefit of the individual is accompanied by two problems. One is that the share of the resources within the family with the elderly requiring more shares of the resources, and the second is the type of the families. Larger families have resources to share operating on an economy of scale, but the smaller families have the impact of the scarcity of resources with regard to distribution among members where there are elderly persons with more requirements present. (Wise, 170)

Medical Care Issues There are bound to be American aged people who will or cannot afford the medical care and insurance, and there is also no solution to the fact that the requirements of prescription drugs are not covered. Medicare does not cover prescription drugs. There is a rising consumption of prescription drugs by the elderly and this is being paid out of pocket. The less educated elderly do not get the drug prescription coverage and some educated ones do. Most without coverage have family incomes below the federal poverty level. (Xu, 210) Then there are the problems of the poor elderly being deprived totally of medical attention or the family as a whole getting poor in treating and meeting the diseases of old age not covered by the insurance. In other words aging may also cause poverty in families that are at the margin now.

Some steps at a solution There was a prediction far back in 1989 that after the millennium ageing will change the nature of household and family structures on account of aging. There will also be a change in the racial and the ethnic patterns in residence and settlements, and the distribution of income and change in the labor force. There however was not a prediction about the total changes that technology and the globalization will bring. Today the effects of both are telling on a generation that is aging fast. If most of the population falls within the aged bracket the demand for the resources available will tend to rise and this will in turn result in the uneven allocation which is likely to increase the poverty level. There is a great debate on allocating the resources among the different generations of the elderly and between different classes of persons. There is also the question that too many resources are being spent on the ageing population and the increase in the numbers will result in the shifts in paradigm in the economics related to aged people. The financial status of older people and the economic condition of the needy among them is a great question that the country is facing today. It will result probably in the consideration of old age benefits, and some method of generating income and security. (Torres-Gil, 93) One of the earlier legislation that was adopted in this regard, which if expanded further will help in avoiding poverty with relation to the aged is the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act -- PRWORA of 1996 which was the beginning of the history of the American concern for the welfare and following this all the states and districts have formulated welfare plans for the future impact of aging and especially to help the poor, and have brought in schemes to avoid poverty by helping the economically deprived the opportunity of being self employed. (Rodgers, 127) Dread of old age has permeated cultures for thousands of years, although how old age gets defined has been shaped and reshaped by a variety of developments, including advancing longevity. (Riggs, 117) Today and in the future the youth will have to generate the resources because the youth brought up on the digital technology is a far fling from the retiring seniors. What ever the steps taken, it is the youth who rule the day, and the fear of aging, and the consequent loss of income is ever present in the minds of people, in a society that is aging fast and the generation gap creates a vast difference in the employability of people with the innovation and modern technology out of the grasp of the seniors. Aging

America will also have a lot of aged and poor unless the states begin putting in needed welfare measures or we have to agree with Simone de Beauvoir that Old age looms like a calamity. (Riggs, 124)

Conclusion It is thus seen that America along with the rest of the world is facing the aging problem and in the coming few years there will be issues of the aged population and its demand for the resources. One of the problems is the unemployable nature of the aging population in the world that is fast changing. There is also no means of augmenting their income except through the state created plans. The aging population will drain the family resources and reduce the affluence of the families. Further the deprivation of treatment and insurance will also impoverish families, which will result in a series of poverty in the marginal strata. Different communities will be affected by the phenomenon in different ways.