The Walton's are Back...Sort of.....

An interesting story in the New York Times yesterday. It seems that extended, multi-generational households are making something of a comeback. And while it's not exactly a return to the Waltons (many of these households are the result of delayed marriage, job losses and foreclosures due to the recession) it is likely the trend will continue for some time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/us/19family.html?hp

Indeed, I have read several demographic-related articles recently and am becoming very interested in the field generally. It is reasonable to suggest that demographics will be the key factor in the soon-to-be-written story of the 21st century.

The headline, of course, is that the human race is rapidly aging and as the century progresses fewer and fewer young prime working-age folks are going to have to, in some respects at least, "support" a very large number of elderly.

Japan, whose population is already shrinking, has marched off the demographic cliff. Much of Europe is not far behind.

Every country has its own unique set of demographic challenges. The cover story in last week's The Economist read: Gendercide - What happened to 100 million baby girls? It seems that in a number of developing Asian countries the number of male children greatly exceeds the number of female children. This most unnatural selection is largely the result of a cultural preference for boys (heirs) coupled with medical technology that allows for early gender identification as well as governmental policy - most notably China's "one child" law. The evidence strongly suggests that females are frequently aborted, murdered at birth, or die of neglect.

The result is a huge surplus of males now in their late teens and early twenties. China, for example, must now figure out what to do with a huge number of horned-up males with scant marriage potential just entering their prime violence and criminality prone years. The Chinese government's obsession with social stability and jobs is pretty easy to understand when viewed in this light... The fundamental question for China in the 21st century is whether or not they will succeed in getting rich before they get old. Before the century is out China's population will almost certainly be falling.

The good news, I guess, is that the U.S. will remain "younger" than many countries. Our birthrate is somewhat higher than most developed countries and immigration, too, has helped. This is not to say we won't have our challenges, however. Us baby boomers are still capable of wreaking plenty of havoc as we get old which gets me back to the issue of housing.

Boomers are going to need to be very creative in their living arrangements as they age. My daughters cannot afford to support all of us in nursing homes and even what we now call assisted living may be too precious. As sick and tired as we will all be of one another us boomers need to figure out how we're going to live together and care for ourselves.

Pretty scary, eh?

In other news, a most excellent St. Paddy's night supper at Joan's. Corned beef and cabbage with carrots and mashed spuds. Tres yummy. And great company.

Tonight there's a little get-together at Alison's mom's place. It's a birthday gig, of sorts. It was Alison's birthday recently and several folks from the legislative halls also just got older.

I just took a "Sicilian Loaf" out of the oven. It's a meatloaf of beef and veal that is spread out as a big rectangle, covered with prosciutto and provalone, and then rolled-up like a jelly roll before baking. It will be served cold on little cocktail bread slices.

Making meatloaf is fun...smooshing it all by hand...

Have a great weekend everybody.