Law Commons^™

Aging America, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

Professor Sarah Harper's assessment of the legal, political,

medical, and economic issues associated with old age in the

United States heralded the theme for this Symposium, "Aging

America." Her analysis turns, as she puts it, on "a fundamental

shift in the demographic structure of society. No longer will it be

the norm to have large numbers of young and small numbers of

old,"1 as it was when I was a boy (age 11 on V.J. Day, 1945).

"Rather, we are entering a world where age groups will be distributed

more or less equally across society-an age-symmetric society."

2 Soon, America …