How Older Americans Hoard the Future
Summary
Ross Douthat interviews Yale law professor Samuel Moyn about his new book, *Gerontocracy in America*, which argues that the concentration of power and wealth among older Americans is a critical, overlooked crisis. They discuss how aging politicians and CEOs resist retirement due to fear of mortality, leading to policies that favor stability over innovation and skew against younger generations’ interests in housing and climate. Moyn proposes solutions like mandatory retirement for officials, tax reforms to address the age-wealth gap, and fostering intergenerational solidarity rather than war…
Topics discussed
Introduction: The underestimated force of stupidity in international relations
The psychology of aging politicians refusing to retire
Compression of morbidity and gerontocracy in politics and business
Gerontocratic power in universities and the existential cost of holding on
How older voters skew public policy on climate and immigration
Entitlements, tax revolts, and the protection of acquired status
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The shifting fortunes of older Americans and the abolition of mandatory retirement
Housing hoarding and the stinginess of the Boomer generation
Millennials, wealth gaps, and the waiting game for resources
Intergenerational solidarity and the unique size of the Boomer cohort
Proposals for age limits, youth quotas, and proxy voting for children
Rethinking the tax code and class advantage in an aging society
Means-testing Medicare and the debate over economic innovation
Activating younger Americans as a political constituency
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The rationality of hoarding resources due to poor end-of-life care
Imagining an ideal old age and passing on resources
Assisted suicide as a human right versus a societal pressure
The dystopian vision of pressured exits and the reality of elder care
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