Worse Than I Thought

I remember a year or two back somebody ridiculing me about pointing out our dropping labor force participation rate.  He said it wasn't because of socialist policies deterring people from working, or because of a lack of economic growth promised by Barack Obama, but because old people were retiring.  He even sounded pissed about it suggesting us fools didn't know what we were doing AND if I recall correctly, he claimed to be an economist.

I believed I had already looked it up to confirm what was happening with labor force participations rates between the young and old, but I had a nagging twinge in the back of my mind that I didn't.  That it may have slipped my mind.  And sure as worthless people majoring in the humanities, I was right!  It did slip my mind!  Here it is:

I would have remembered this chart because it not only proves the guy wrong, it is the OPPOSITE of what he claimed.

Not only are things so bad, young people are dropping out of the labor force, OLD PEOPLE WHO SHOULD NORMALLY BE RETIRED BY NOW ARE RETURNING TO THE LABOR FORCE!

Why?

Well, the politically correct answer is what Time, Newsweek and CNN will tell you-

Tilly and Herman are just so active nowadays and they're just so intelligent that they can't stay at home and enjoy a life of leisure, relaxation and retirement.  Heavens no!  They WANT to go back to the labor force.  They don't really need the money.  They're just doing it to keep their minds stimulated!  How hip and cool they are!

The truthful answer is -

They didn't save up enough for retirement and HAVE TO go back to the labor force.  They were very poor at financial planning and even with social security and medicare they still don't have enough to retire.

I'm just wondering how long a country can last where it's dying/near dead population is returning to work while the "children who are our future" are dropping out.

Oh well, enjoy the decline!