The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years' Worth of Progress on Life Expectancy

Re:The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years' Worth of Progress on Life Ex... by Gareth321 on Tuesday October 18, 2022 @08:48AM (#33246353)

Society exists for the betterment of its constituents. Life expectancy is considered an important success metric because people generally like living long. While you're right that old people are less productive, the health of the economy is not the goal of a society. The economy is a tool we use to better our lives. We should never be beholden to the tool itself. The moment the economy stops making our lives better, it's time to make some changes.

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Re:The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years' Worth of Progress on Life Ex... by philliphaydon on Tuesday October 18, 2022 @08:58AM (#33246444)

Living longer generally has a negative affect on the economy so the quality of life in some ways is worse for the younger generations. So it seems it’s only useful as a metric of short term success of a country.

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Re:The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years' Worth of Progress on Life Ex... by fullshark on Tuesday October 18, 2022 @09:28AM (#33246786)

All those laborers working, enabling greater return to capital, are doing so based on a social contract. One that doesn't send them to the glue factory the second they no longer are capable laborers.

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Re:The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years' Worth of Progress on Life Ex... by P5fRxh5kUvp2th on Tuesday October 18, 2022 @11:44AM (#33249130)

That can't be true, the free market is efficient and if killing off your parents increases that efficiency then it obviously should be done because nothing else matters.

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