"Why Do Such Elderly People Run America?-Sanders is too old. So is Biden. Trump too." Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, March 5, 2020
The casual ageism in this article is fascinating. Maybe all of us old guys should just die!
"Finally, the most important challenge before the U.S. and the world—climate change—is profoundly intergenerational. Solving it requires a farsighted approach to diplomacy, invention, and technological deployment that a creaky old country will simply never master. This crisis urgently requires the input and ideas of the generations that will be most affected by it. If government of the elderly, by the elderly, and for the elderly will not perish from the Earth, the rest of us might suffer instead."
Go here -> https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/why-are-these-people-so-freaking-old/607492/


"Should there be an age limit for voting?" Debating in Europe, February 2, 2020
Ideas from Europe. Interesting platform.
"Should there be an age limit for voting? Should we abolish age limits for voting completely? Or lower the age limit to 16? Or introduce a maximum age for voting? Or would that undermine basic democratic principles? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!"
Go here -> https://www.debatingeurope.eu/2020/02/24/should-there-be-an-age-limit-for-voting/#.XmQGEahKhPb


"White House: He didn’t really mean that-Following his Fox News town hall, Stephanie Grisham and Kellyanne Conway denied that Trump said what he said," By Aaron Rupar, Vox, March 6, 2020
Watch and listen for yourself.  Older folks and their allies should be very concerned about his real intentions!
"During his Fox News town hall on Thursday night, President Donald Trump said he planned to propose cuts to government benefit programs like Medicare and Social Security in his second term. The White House spent the hours that followed trying to walk those comments back.

Trump’s remarks came in the context of a discussion about the national debt, which has ballooned to historic levels under his presidency despite his 2016 campaign promise to eliminate it entirely. After Trump claimed that cutting the debt would be a focus of his second term, host Martha MacCallum pointed out that “if you don’t cut something in entitlements, you’ll never really deal with the debt.”
Go here -> https://www.vox.com/2020/3/6/21168038/trump-on-entitlements-fox-news-town-hall


"Trump Budget Seeks Deep Non-Defense Appropriations Cuts, in Break With Bipartisan Agreement," David Reich and Jennifer Beltran, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 5, 2020
"The Trump Administration’s 2021 budget calls for major new cuts in programs funded through non-defense appropriations. This budget category, often called non-defense discretionary (NDD), supports veterans’ medical care, aid to education, environmental protection, low-income housing, scientific research, infrastructure, public health, national parks, justice and law enforcement, job training, and many other important services and investments."
Go here -> https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/trump-budget-seeks-deep-non-defense-appropriations-cuts-in-break-with


"Trump Administration Inviting Medicaid Block Grants, Undermining Access to Behavioral Health Care," Kyle Hayes, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,  March 5, 2020
"The Trump Administration’s new guidance inviting states to apply for federal waivers to convert their Medicaid programs for adults into block grants — with capped federal funding and new authority to cut coverage and benefits — would put coverage and access to treatment and recovery services at risk for millions of people with behavioral health conditions, including mental health and substance use disorders (SUDs)."
Go here -> https://www.cbpp.org/blog/trump-administration-inviting-medicaid-block-grants-undermining-access-to-behavioral-health


"Scams are taking a heavy emotional toll on senior citizens," Brett Arends, Market Watch, March 5, 2020
"In the movie “Paper Moon,” a con man during the Great Depression travels from town to town and trawls the deaths notices in the local papers. Then he turns up on the widow’s doorstep, trying to deliver an expensive bible supposedly ordered by her husband just before he died.

The movie, which won Tatum O’Neal an Oscar at the age of 10, is a comedy. But the reality of elder financial abuse is no joke.

Elder Americans are cheated and defrauded out of billions of dollars every year by family, friends, unscrupulous advisers, and independent con artists."
Go here -> https://www.marketwatch.com/story/scams-are-taking-a-heavy-emotional-toll-on-senior-citizens-2020-03-05
And here -> https://www.aicpa.org/press/pressreleases/2020/emotional-stress-of-elder-fraud-outweighs-financial-impact.html?mod=article_inline


"Social Security scams are on the rise. Here’s what you need to know to stop them," Lorie Konish, CNBC, March 5, 2020
"If your phone rings and someone says it’s the Social Security Administration, it probably isn’t. By now, you may have received one of those calls, or know someone who has.

And because these scams, which try to dupe unsuspecting individuals into coughing up money are becoming more prevalent, the government is taking action. The agency has dubbed Thursday, March 5, as “Slam the Scam Day,” in a campaign to raise public awareness.

That’s as individuals reported losing almost $153 million to government imposter schemes in 2019, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Of that, more than $37 million was attributed to Social Security scams."
Go here -> https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/social-security-scams-are-on-the-rise-how-to-protect-yourself.html
And here -> https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/this-is-the-social-security-scam-you-dont-want-to-fall-for.html


"Fragile safety net leaves U.S. economy vulnerable to coronavirus hit, Jonnelle Marte, Heather Timmons, Reuters, March 4, 2020
Consider the implications for the chronically underpaid direct care workforce.
"The spreading coronavirus outbreak poses a double-barreled threat to U.S. workers who face not only the prospect of lost wages if they are forced to stay home during a quarantine but also a fragile safety net to fall back on during such a crisis.

Unlike in other rich countries, the United States provides thin and uneven social assistance for its 130 million full-time workers, and even less for the country’s nearly 30 million part-time employees.

There also are no federal laws requiring companies to provide paid sick leave, or paid time off to care for sick relatives, leaving workers at the mercy of their employers and local governments.

Low-wage and part-time workers, in particular, are likely to lack some of the workplace benefits that make it possible for them to stay home if they contract the flu-like illness or if they need to care for a family member who becomes sick."
Go here -> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-economy-analys/fragile-safety-net-leaves-us-economy-vulnerable-to-coronavirus-hit-idUSKBN20R2IM


"The Rich Are Preparing for Coronavirus Differently-Concierge doctors, yachts, chartered planes and germ-free hideaways," By Alex Williams and Jonah Engel Bromwich, New York Times, March 6, 2020
"The new coronavirus knows no national borders or social boundaries. That doesn’t mean that social boundaries don’t exist.

“En route to Paris,” Gwyneth Paltrow wrote on Instagram last week, beneath a shot of herself on an airplane heading to Paris Fashion Week and wearing a black face mask. “I’ve already been in this movie,” she added, referring to her role in the 2011 disease thriller “Contagion.” “Stay safe.”

Ms. Paltrow did not pose with just any mask, unlike, say, Kate Hudson and Bella Hadid, who also recently posted selfies wearing cheaper, disposable masks. The Goop founder and influencer of influencers instead opted for a sleek “urban air mask” by a Swedish company, Airinum, which features five layers of filtration and an “ultrasmooth and skin-friendly finish.”

Never mind that the surgeon general, Jerome M. Adams, begged people to refrain from indulging in mask mania on Twitter last weekend. Priced from $69 to $99, the Airinum mask, which has been popping up on Instagram stylistas, is sold out on its website until April. (The MoMA Design Store, which carried the mask, is also sold out.)"
Go here -> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/style/the-rich-are-preparing-for-coronavirus-differently.html?referringSource=articleShare


"Amid outbreak, Trump admin's proposed rollback of nursing home regulations faces criticism," Suzy Khimm and Laura Strickler, NBC News, March 3, 2020
"The Trump administration last year moved to roll back regulations aimed at preventing infections from spreading in nursing homes, a decision that is facing renewed criticism for endangering the elderly amid the coronavirus outbreak.

With older, vulnerable residents living in close quarters, nursing homes face a heightened risk from the coronavirus — a majority of the nine deaths reported in the U.S. so far from the virus were residents of a long-term care center in Washington state. But over the last three years, the Trump administration has advanced — with the support of the nursing home industry — an effort to ease regulations on long-term care facilities and has taken significant steps to reduce fines for violations."
Go here -> https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amid-coronavirus-outbreak-trump-administration-s-proposed-rollback-nursing-home-n1147661
And here -> https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/05/812359226/trump-administration-announces-new-scrutiny-of-nursing-homes


"Advancing Family Caregiving Research,"  The Gerontologist, Volume 60, Issue Supplement_1, March 2020
Special supplement with a number of articles.
"This supplement describes the content, processes, and outcomes of the Research Priorities in Caregiving Summit convened by the Family Caregiving Institute (FCI) at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis in March 2018. As described in the editorial introduction and the supplement’s four papers, the summit sought to integrate and cross-pollenate the already compendious work on family caregiving to describe ways forward in the field."
Go here -> https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/issue/60/Supplement_1


"Best Practice Caregiving," Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging and Family Caregiver Alliance, 2020
Best Practice Caregiving is a free online database of proven dementia programs for family caregivers. It offers a searchable, interactive, national database of vetted, effective programs that offer much-needed information and support. The database is an invaluable tool for healthcare and community-based organizations, as well as funders and policymakers to discover and share high quality programs for caregivers.

In the Best Practice database you will find detailed information about:
  • focus of each program
  • (e.g., reducing stress, understanding dementia, planning care, skill-building, health & wellness, etc.)
  • program implementation
  • research findings
  • direct utilization experiences of delivery sites
  • program developer information.
Go here -> https://bpc.caregiver.org/#home


"Towards an intergenerational society,"  Juan Luis Rod, Equal Times, 2020
From Spain. Mind the spelling.
"Josep Anglada, a 19-year-old student from Menorca, has been living with María Teresa, a 96-year-old from Barcelona, for more than two years.

When I get to the house, which I walked to with Josep, Maria Teresa gets up from her chair, where she has been watching TV, to receive me with a wide smile and words of welcome. Teresa is very chatty and tells me that she has been a language teacher all her life and that her grandchildren speak more than four languages fluently.

For a little over four years now the Barcelonan has been taking part in the Viura i Conviure (‘Living and Living Together’ in Catalan) programme, run by the Roure Foundation in Barcelona. The aim of the programme is to foster relationships between young and old and promote new models of relationships that are beneficial for both sides. This plan, whereby young people – almost always students – choose to share a home with someone who could easily be their grandparent, is not exactly novel."
Go here -> https://www.equaltimes.org/towards-an-intergenerational?lang=en#.XmQIBKhKhPY


"Why Demographic Trends Support Continued Multifamily Growth," Rod Khleif, Forbes, March 4, 2020
"As the current economic expansion enters its 11th year — the longest on record — the “when will it end” speculation continues apace. As cap rates hover near historic lows and properties trade for historic highs, the question is particularly relevant for multifamily assets — one of the major beneficiaries of the current expansion.

It’s impossible to know when a correction will occur, so taking a long-term view is a smart approach. My belief is that there are three demographic trends shaping the future of the housing market that support the investment thesis of continued multifamily growth."
Go here -> https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2020/03/04/why-demographic-trends-support-continued-multifamily-growth/#133f90e16844


'At my age I didn't ever expect to make new friends,' Mandy Appleyard, The Telegraph, February 14, 2020
From the UK.
"A chance meeting at a quiz night led to an enriching friendship, just one of many intergenerational relationships stemming the tide of loneliness among older people in the UK."
Go here -> https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/donate-your-words/intergenerational-friendship/


"Plan to Stay Safe, Mobile, and Independent,"  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020
"Do you or your friends and family have a plan to stay safe, mobile, and independent as you age? Many people make financial plans for retirement, but don’t consider how to plan for potential mobility changes.

CDC created a mobility planning tool, called MyMobility Plan, to help guide you in protecting your mobility and independence as you get older. MyMobility Plan shows how you can take action today to keep yourself—or your friends and family—safe, mobile, and independent tomorrow."
Go here -> https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/older-adults-mobility/index.html


"Is It Time for a Mobility Check?-How to gauge how well you're walking, and when you might need some help," by Barbara Stepko, AARP, March 6, 2020
"You clutch the banister when climbing stairs, need 10 minutes to work out the kinks after getting out of bed in the morning, or cut back your weekend walks to give that wonky knee a break. Hey, we all expect to slow down as we grow older. But is a gimpy joint or teetering balance a normal part of aging, or a sign that you need help? The answer to that question matters — a lot.

A loss of mobility can kick off a cycle of trouble, says Mary O'Connor, M.D., director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Care at Yale New Haven Hospital. “Your knee hurts, you become less mobile and decrease your physical activity, but you're eating the same amount of food, so you gain weight. That added weight puts more pressure on your knee joints, which causes more pain.” And the results go beyond any arthritis, O'Connor notes. “Less physical activity, combined with obesity, can lead to heart disease, diabetes and hypertension."
Go here -> https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2020/assessing-mobility-balance.html


"Creating an Age-Friendly Public Health System," Anne De Biasi, MPH, Megan Wolfe, JD, Jane Carmody, DNP, MBA, RN, Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, John Auerbach, MBA, Innovation in Aging, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2020
"The public health system in America—at all levels—has relatively few specialized initiatives that prioritize the health and well-being of older adults. And when public health does address the needs of older adults, it is often as an afterthought. In consultation with leaders in public health, health care, and aging, an Innovative Framework for an Age-Friendly Public Health System (Framework) was developed outlining roles that public health could fulfill, in collaboration with aging services, to address the challenges and opportunities of an aging society."
Go here -> https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article/4/1/igz044/5688188


"The Public Health Road Map to Respond to the Growing Dementia Crisis," Benjamin S Olivari, MPH, Molly E French, MS, Lisa C McGuire, PhD
Innovation in Aging, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2020
"As the proportion of older adults in the United States is projected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, it is imperative that public health address and maintain the cognitive health of this growing population. More than 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) today, and this number is projected to more than double by 2050. The public health community must be proactive in outlining the response to this growing crisis. Promoting cognitive decline risk reduction, early detection, and diagnosis, and increasing the use and availability of timely data are critical components of this response."
Go here -> https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article/4/1/igz043/5696662