If everyone over 70 died

[mollyanna58]

I saw the headline for this article, and my first thought was: Medicare and Social Security payments would plummet, and politicians could no longer blame budget woes on these "entitlements". It would show exactly how small a portion of the budget these items are in the first place.

My second thought was: many, many politicians would be among the deceased.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/12-things-that-would-happen-if-everyone-over-70-died-tomorrow/ss-AA1iWdne#image=1

[Tennesseer]

And so would I.  

[shelley413]

Me too.

[dondubble]

😎

[djAdvocate]

more than half this board, i would wager.

[NastyWoman]

Oct 27, 2023 14:51:24 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

And so would I.  

Me too! Maybe we can gang up and start haunting all those MAGA ***holes? Good times to be had after all

[chiver78]

Oct 27, 2023 15:09:30 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

more than half this board, i would wager.

hush, you.   

[chiver78]

Oct 27, 2023 14:22:31 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

I saw the headline for this article, and my first thought was: Medicare and Social Security payments would plummet, and politicians could no longer blame budget woes on these "entitlements". It would show exactly how small a portion of the budget these items are in the first place.

My second thought was: many, many politicians would be among the deceased.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/12-things-that-would-happen-if-everyone-over-70-died-tomorrow/ss-AA1iWdne#image=1

I saw this thread title and had a completely different thread angle in mind. I'm commenting as much a placeholder, as I'll collect all my thoughts before posting. I'm in a good mood, and would like to stay that way today. remembering details is going to piss me off. 

BUT, my jr HS played this awful Lord of the Flies trick on my grade 7 class. and, if FB comments 30y later are any weight, the kids that thought it was fun had minimal recollection of it. those like me, on the fringe, remembered every detail of those awful 2w. 

[haapai]

My first thought was the politicians too.  Would we even have a quorum in the Senate?  The courts would be decimated too, and not just SCOTUS.  Can you imagine what kind of unsuitable for prime-time would be pushed forward just to fill a spot and almost impossible to remove either due to lifetime appointment or a lack of replacements? 

On a more practical level, burying the dead would be an early-covid-like nightmare.  We'd probably be pushing cremation hard just to get through the backlog and to be able to use cheap pine caskets for the task.  I kinda pity anyone whose religious beliefs require burial since they'd be bidding on a scarce supply of occasion-appropriate caskets and and a shortage of undertakers and officiants.  Even if you were practical and chose cremation, it might take years to actually get the ashes into a plot and a monument put on top.  Whatever funerals took place would be strange and late affairs.  On the other hand Dia de los Muertos might really take off, especially since the death industry would be really stretched for work for a decade after the glut. 

I'm not entirely sure that the housing market would crash, at least outside of age-restricted communities.  A whole lot more housing would be available but a lot of it would be paid off and their would be a huge wealth transfer occurring at the same time.  There might not be as many foreclosures as you might expect.  It may be impossible to hire anyone to execute an estate, but banks and tax authorities might suddenly become a lot more helpful. 

Anyone who survives but loses a partner a few years older than them is going to be a mess.  Some of the younger heirs are gonna be messed-up too but have a harder time talking about why. 

I have no happy thoughts about how we might re-allocate our governmental spending as a result of such a tragedy.  I saw a smaller surplus once gobbled up into a prescription drug plan, so I have little belief that this hypothetical one  wouldn't get gobbled up just as fast.  I'm cynical enough to believe that the heirs might be so outraged about having to pay taxes on inherited traditional IRAs and 401(k)s that they'd demand relief and actually get it. 

[haapai]

Honestly, I don't know which is more distasteful, the question that the pixicle asks or how little work was put into it.  It doesn't take a whole lot of googling to figure out how many lives we're speculating about here.  Maybe there once was an article but once it was read, it was found to be so squicky that they omitted it and just ran the pix and the captions?

[laterbloomer]

Oct 27, 2023 18:10:12 GMT -5 haapai said:

Honestly, I don't know which is more distasteful, the question that the pixicle asks or how little work was put into it.  It doesn't take a whole lot of googling to figure out how many lives we're speculating about here.  Maybe there once was an article but once it was read, it was found to be so squicky that they omitted it and just ran the pix and the captions?

Apparently it's about 20% of the population in Canada.

I wonder what effect it would have on the political makeup of our countries. From what I understand younger people tend to be liberal and get more conservative as they get older.

[billisonboard]

The courts would be decimated too, and not just SCOTUS.

FWIW, The Supreme Court would lose 2 of 9.

[djAdvocate]

Oct 27, 2023 20:25:48 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Oct 27, 2023 18:10:12 GMT -5 haapai said:

Honestly, I don't know which is more distasteful, the question that the pixicle asks or how little work was put into it.  It doesn't take a whole lot of googling to figure out how many lives we're speculating about here.  Maybe there once was an article but once it was read, it was found to be so squicky that they omitted it and just ran the pix and the captions?

Apparently it's about 20% of the population in Canada.

I wonder what effect it would have on the political makeup of our countries. From what I understand younger people tend to be liberal and get more conservative as they get older.

i would be just as happy if congress was GENDERED proportionately.

[happyhoix]

Flash backs to both Soylent Green and Logan’s Run.

[Opti]

Oct 27, 2023 18:10:12 GMT -5 haapai said:

Honestly, I don't know which is more distasteful, the question that the pixicle asks or how little work was put into it.  It doesn't take a whole lot of googling to figure out how many lives we're speculating about here.  Maybe there once was an article but once it was read, it was found to be so squicky that they omitted it and just ran the pix and the captions?

Its not a thought experiment that I want to entertain given my recent experience during Covid. The amount of disease that would crop up because of rotting bodies would be the biggest impact. So many funeral homes and crematoriums could not keep up, only a sadist would think making that worse would be a thing to contemplate. 

[Opti]

I see they sort of addressed what I am thinking about, but not realistically. Layoffs? No a decimation of the assisted living industry as its a rare business that can survive the income reduced by 90% or more. The nursing home industry would shrink as well although those who concentrate more on short term rehab would be in a better position to survive.

The economy would shrink overnight, not just the stock market. Unemployment would be high and it would greatly impact the medical supply market as well. Users of wheelchairs and walkers would encounter first a glut on the market than reduced choices going forward from those in the industry that survived.

[busymom]

A LOT of grandparents here babysit their family members, or at least pick up the kids from school.  If all of those helpers suddenly disappeared, families would be in a world of hurt.


Not to mention the loss of knowledge that MOST folks acquire as they age.  My parents have been gone for years, but even now when a difficult situation comes up, the thought pops into my mind that I wonder what they would've done.   

[billisonboard]

Wheel of Fortune would lose 93.7% of its audience. 

[Tennesseer]

Oct 28, 2023 9:53:50 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Wheel of Fortune would lose 93.7% of its audience. 

My parents lived in Massachusetts. In my parents final years they watched Wheel of Fortune which aired at 1930. After it was over, it was lights out for them.

[thyme4change]

I would get an inheritance of some unknown amount. Whatever the amount - not worth it. 😞

[haapai]

Oct 28, 2023 8:01:50 GMT -5 Opti said:

Oct 27, 2023 18:10:12 GMT -5 haapai said:

Honestly, I don't know which is more distasteful, the question that the pixicle asks or how little work was put into it.  It doesn't take a whole lot of googling to figure out how many lives we're speculating about here.  Maybe there once was an article but once it was read, it was found to be so squicky that they omitted it and just ran the pix and the captions?

Its not a thought experiment that I want to entertain given my recent experience during Covid. The amount of disease that would crop up because of rotting bodies would be the biggest impact. So many funeral homes and crematoriums could not keep up, only a sadist would think making that worse would be a thing to contemplate. 

I think that you are misinformed regarding the disease risk associated with unburied human remains.  Everyone talks about those remains as being a major disease risk, especially if they are exposed to nature and in an area with limited sewage and water treatment but I heard differently after the Aceh tsunami.  Disaster relief agencies prioritize gathering and disposing of the dead because humans find uncared-for human remains highly distressing.  The disease risk is a bit overplayed for practical and emotional reasons. 

On the other hand, our death-care industry would be wildly overwhelmed.  Hopefully, they'd be threatened with having their guild disbanded unless they used their expertise to cope with the situation and forced to allow the number of people legally able to handle dead bodies to increase rapidly and procedures to be streamlined at least temporarily.  If they insisted on their rent-seeking ways, they would deserve to be shoved out of the way. 

[haapai]

Our entire health care system relies on heavy usage by Medicare-eligible persons.  Our entire health care system would be suddenly under-utilized and short on reliable income.  Compared to that, insolvent senior-living communities, empty independent-living homes, and collapsed skilled-nursing facilities are merely cat-scratches. 

[djAdvocate]

the death industry is, for lack of a better term, evil.

i am doing everything in my power to ensure they will not extract one thin dime from me.  not.....one....dime.

[Opti]

Oct 28, 2023 13:19:14 GMT -5 haapai said:

Oct 28, 2023 8:01:50 GMT -5 Opti said:

Its not a thought experiment that I want to entertain given my recent experience during Covid. The amount of disease that would crop up because of rotting bodies would be the biggest impact. So many funeral homes and crematoriums could not keep up, only a sadist would think making that worse would be a thing to contemplate. 

I think that you are misinformed regarding the disease risk associated with unburied human remains.  Everyone talks about those remains as being a major disease risk, especially if they are exposed to nature and in an area with limited sewage and water treatment but I heard differently after the Aceh tsunami.  Disaster relief agencies prioritize gathering and disposing of the dead because humans find uncared-for human remains highly distressing.  The disease risk is a bit overplayed for practical and emotional reasons. 

On the other hand, our death-care industry would be wildly overwhelmed.  Hopefully, they'd be threatened with having their guild disbanded unless they used their expertise to cope with the situation and forced to allow the number of people legally able to handle dead bodies to increase rapidly and procedures to be streamlined at least temporarily.  If they insisted on their rent-seeking ways, they would deserve to be shoved out of the way. 

Maybe you are right about the disease part. However if it was instant death simply because of age, dead bodies would be everywhere not concentrated like a natural disaster or even Covid. Dead people in the subway, in their cars, in stores, on sidewalks, etc. Cleanup would be much trickier than a natural disaster. I can't think of any US disaster that is even close to losing say 15% of our population in one day.

[happyhoix]

Oct 28, 2023 14:03:31 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

the death industry is, for lack of a better term, evil.

i am doing everything in my power to ensure they will not extract one thin dime from me.  not.....one....dime.

This.

Mom was in a memory care facility for the last five years of her life. Nope.

[djAdvocate]

Oct 28, 2023 14:33:02 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Oct 28, 2023 14:03:31 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

the death industry is, for lack of a better term, evil.

i am doing everything in my power to ensure they will not extract one thin dime from me.  not.....one....dime.

This.

Mom was in a memory care facility for the last five years of her life. Nope.

that sounds like a half million dollar trap.

we are all taught from a young age that this is how it is done.
this is NOT how 99% of the world does it.
nor should it be.

we should spend that half million before we die, 
and our death should be free.
i would rather pull a Hunter S. Thompson than deal with
the US death industry.

[haapai]

Yes, dead bodies would be everywhere but we'd still have electricity, water, sewage systems, passable roadways, adequate gasoline, and intact housing.  Telephone, radio, and broadcast media would still be operational.  That's a heck of a lot more than you usually have during a disaster that causes mass death.  

[Tennesseer]

If everyone over 70 died...The Villages in Florida would be a ghost town.

[Tennesseer]

Oct 28, 2023 14:33:02 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Oct 28, 2023 14:03:31 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

the death industry is, for lack of a better term, evil.

i am doing everything in my power to ensure they will not extract one thin dime from me.  not.....one....dime.

This.

Mom was in a memory care facility for the last five years of her life. Nope.

My mom was in a memory care facility too. My dad, who was not in good health, was okay with mom going there because he could finally get some sleep. Dad lasted about three weeks with mom not being around. Dad missed mom.
There was an assisted care facility attached to the memory care section. Dad asked to go to the assisted care facility because he could then walk to the memory care section and have his daily meals with mom and get sleep at the same time.

[djAdvocate]

man, there is just no pleasant words for any of this.  other than these.

get real before you get old.