Tomorrow's child

摘要

Bully for America's kids, those gifted heirs to the boomers' crown. But what about everyone else? The simple answer is that, as with so many other things, what is happening in California today will be felt in Berlin tomorrow and Budapest the day after that. Yet in truth the progression is more complicated than that, even though the trends that are transforming America are already beginning to show up in one form or another nearly everywhere. Consider the rest of the developed world first. These are for the most part top-heavy, ageing societies, some of them with shrinking populations. Politics, business and the economy are dominated by the post-war generation. These societies are becoming increasingly worried about how a relatively small younger generation will be able to pay for the pensions of a larger old one, and with good reason. In countries such as Germany, Japan, Italy and Spain, the population aged over 65 already exceeds that under 15, creating a frightening imbalance between past and future.