The geriatric state

One of the many lies the boosters tell is that Arizona is a youthful state. Yet according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18.3% of the state's residents are 65 years or older. That compares with 16.8% nationally and — among peer Western states, 15% for Colorado, 16% for Washington, yet surprisingly 18% for Oregon (home of Portland, "where young people go to retire").

Either way you slice the baloney, Arizona is a state with a sizable cohort of older people. It's not surprising. Since 1960, when Del Webb built his pioneering Sun City development west of the Santa Fe Railway tracks and Grand Avenue northwest of Phoenix, Arizona has marketed itself to retirees.

One of our long-lost commenters — I believe it was Concern Troll — made the point that a huge piece of the state economy is dependent on retirees, including their Social Security and pension checks, and the vast system of hospitals, medical workers, and caregivers who serve them.

According to the Social Security Administration, nearly $1 billion was dispersed in Arizona in 2021, the latest data available (Thanks, Rich Weinroth for the catch). The average monthly check is modest: 574.76. And not all this goes to seniors. Still...

It's only one window into the advantages and disadvantages of being a retirement destination.

Advantages include a built-in economic engine with local spending, supporting large numbers of medical establishments, and the incentive to build more retirement "communities." But disadvantages loom large.

For example, retirees paid taxes for schools, parks, and infrastructure "back home." That's where their charitable dollars and arts contributions go, too. No wonder a study in the 2000s showed metropolitan Phoenix giving to the arts 32nd in the nation, even though the population showed it the 13th largest metro. I'm painting with a broad brush, but generally I've found this true. Exhibit No. 1: The scandalously underfunded Dysart School District, where Sun City voters always act against school bonds.

Also broad-brush-but-true: Retirees vote Republican, which today means the hard-right. Not surprisingly, Sun City and other high-income suburbs nearby heavy on retirees are represented in Congress by Debra Lesko of the GOP and originally from Wisconsin. It's the big sort, where like gathers around like.

It's amazing that Arizona turned purple, and that thanks to more Democrats coming to Maricopa County and Pima County keeping its blue bastion — but little of it is because of retirees. And, most important, the Legislature, the most powerful branch of government, continues to be controlled by Republicans, as it has for decades.

Now the Legislature is studying a "state dementia plan," with an alarming rise in Alzheimer's disease. “We call it the silver tsunami,” state Rep. Jennifer Longdon, D-Phoenix, said Wednesday at a news conference at the state Capitol, according to Arizona Public Media. “The number of folks who are projected to experience Alzheimer’s in the coming years is going to be significant.”

Discuss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Cal Lash]

WHAT, WHERE, WHEN

[DoggieCombover]

Before getting too deep into this topic, I highly recommend reading the NYT piece on homelessness in Phoenix John has tabbed in his "Front Page" above. Downright chilling, and a far more daunting problem than a bunch of oldsters with dementia milling about.

Having had a parent with dementia, I don't see the social fabric being shredded by them, compared to the breakdown occurring our cities.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/us/phoenix-businesses-homelessness.html?unlocked_article_code=t63Gu392m1Ks-U7SRc2_XnWlsPPTWzIAzOSMOSbNKgunz51CSQOQg4tmMgZhPMglsHlh-8eVT1VUMPMIQf5IH5J5OQ5Qf033JZLJF2dzeRudIr_LoWQyzwENiAs2m2sgqb0KOmrGFeTygOnOM9x1tmdRALv3Ry3i3Tm9xHzT_-uu3wmisJ6MbllNgPoid6G981xJV5t3GkHfhPUyOBpGd9eYNgn9zuu5ZJlfs7gxzt7rGFvqeIpQy20w0jHCTPIIlhaPbG0J2YZDAyAXHXqXGTYy3t6wnPwVQU2x_Z7dEm-6DTtlLGXHv6tVep6MY75quWT9nR4HWndrtaJW7PSloZjU1w&smid=url-share

[Diane D'Angelo]

Lots of thoughts on this. The era of retirees with pensions from their Rust Belt union jobs is at its end. And despite the attention paid to wealthy denizens of Sun City Grand, most late Boomer-era and Gen X folks have spent the second half of our lives trying to build some semblance of financial security with "at-will" employment. The Great Recession wiped lots of us out. Retirement? Hah!

What we face instead is trying to stay employed despite firmly entrenched ageism that leads to hyperbolic cliches like "Silver Tsunami," that assume ubiquitous dementia among older people. Not only is it inaccurate, it compounds ageism in finding and keeping employment after 50.
Moreover, it deflects from the bigger issue - the wholesale eradication of a social safety net. It's time to put a stake through wretched heart of free market economics.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

I agree with DoggieCombover: The New York Times story about the massive homeless encampment just west of downtown Phoenix is shocking.

I worked downtown 2002-2009, and there was a concentration of street people on and around west Madison Street during those years. It sounds like their numbers have increased dramatically since then.

I visited Seattle for the first time in August of 2021, and didn't expect the massive numbers of homeless people and closed/boarded-up/graffiti-covered businesses I saw there. Phoenix seemed so much more orderly, clean, and safe than Seattle at that time.

Apparently, this national surge of urban homelessness and related social chaos is not going to go easy on Phoenix.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

One segment of the aging population in Arizona and the nation that doesn't get much press is the aging population of undocumented immigrants. Yes, they get old just like the rest of us. And many of them get heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.

I worked for 12 years (until September 2021) in a community health center with three locations and 13,000 patients in Yavapai County. Nearly half of the patients were Hispanic, and about half of those had no proof of U.S. citizenship or legal residency. Many of those undocumented patients were over the age of 65 and had major medical conditions, but unlike our other "senior" patients, these folks had no Social Security income or Medicare. Yet they had usually lived and worked in the USA for decades.

I spent countless hours trying to find affordable cancer treatment services for these patients. Often, there were no affordable treatment options for them in Arizona. Some returned to their country of origin. Others stayed here and utilized the hospital emergency rooms when their symptoms became unbearable.

Whatever one thinks about illegal immigration, this is going to become a huge issue. In 30 years, we are going to have millions and millions of elderly undocumented immigrants in this country, with no health insurance. A significant number of them will be here in Arizona. What are the possible social and economic implications of that?

I don't think a lot of these folks will have the money to live in retirement communities and play championship golf. I know from experience that the health care "industry" will turn a blind eye to them unless they have to help them in exchange for federal funding. And, also from experience, I know that federal funding hasn't fully covered the cost of caring for undocumented patients. The costs get indirectly passed on to insured patients.

[Cal Lash]

The planet has more than 150 million homeless. And more than 1.6 billion with inadequate housing.
Migration by all species is about Survival.
Welcome to a preview of the Sixth Extinction.
Few will be able to buy a Elon Musk hut on Mars.

[Kevin in Preskitt]

P.S. - According to this evening's news, a burned, dead body was found in a dumpster on Madison Street in Phoenix today, near "The Zone" homeless encampment that was described in the NYT article.

[Cal Lash]

Sleeping in dumpsters leads to death by compaction.
However possibly
Accidental self immolation or Soylent Green Cannibals on the loose.

[Rich Weinroth]

Jon, according to the Social Security Administration website, the total February 2023 Social Security payments in Arizona were about $77 million. So I think the $69 million for 2021 was probably the average monthly total, not annual total. Those payments are approaching $1 billion per year, and obviously Medicare payments also are significant in Arizona.

Anyway, older people vote, and if the 65 and older population is about 18% of Arizona, then the percentage of the older electorate that votes will be well over that number. The statistics I could find showed that over 27% of the voters in Arizona in 2020 were 65 and over. Not sure about 2022, but it was probably in that range. So the political power of older people is much higher than their share of the total population.

[Cal Lash]

Not a lot of new news.
Laurie Roberts and others have documented for years Arizonas lack of support for wayward and delinquent Children. The mentally ill.
Education. The Homeless.
The statistics almost always show Arizona among the worst of caring about others.
Last weekend the Phoenix Country Club, a Maricopa County island in
Phoenix hosted a big event.
Lots of new expensive fancy
Automobiles clogged the residential streets while a number of homeless slept on and under the nearby bus benches.
Rewarding law enforcements actions which include involment with homeless folks i note the GOP Legislators so far have given Govenor Hobbs selection for the head of DPS a thumbs up. Enforcement related to the homeless will continue.

[Cal Lash]

NOTE: Outlaw Capitalism

Grady Gammage defends Wall Street Purchase and sale of Colorado River water in a CNN article.

Coming to your neighborhood, The right to take a breath. Air for sale.

[Cal Lash]

NOTE: ALBANIA SAVES EUROPES LAST WILD RIVER.
CREATES A NATIONAL PARK.
PER ARTICLE IN TREEHUGER

https://www.treehugger.com/europes-last-wild-river-national-park-designation-7367784?hid=472cb782ee0af2158af2c6d4026d265022f3051f&did=8634647-20230322&utm_source=treehugger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=treehugger-daily_newsletter&utm_content=032223&lctg=472cb782ee0af2158af2c6d4026d265022f3051f

[Bill Wald]

The biggest problem in AZ will be clean drinking water.

Congress must address the social Security problem. I suggest that because SS has survivor benefits, it is a form of whole life insurance and our pay monthly payments should be invested under insurance law requirements.

The loss of automated low wage jobs is a more serious problem. If the standard work day was cut to 4 days for 5 days pay, people could work a 2nd job at home for extra pay.

[Cal Lash]

In 1969 i wrote a memo to my Sergeant and Lietenant recommending the Phoenix Police Department adopt 4/10's as opposed to a 5 day work week and terrible rotating shifts.

My memo was a result of a study I had read in a New Jersey labor organization article.

4/10's were eventually adopted.
Now cops like firefighters can have second jobs.

Note: My memo disappeared until a later promotion of a supervisor to the Planning and Research bureau. My name didnt come up as the department went to 4/10's.

[Bill Pearson]

Diane is spot on with one exception; no longer Sun City Grand, just the Grand. The coming generations of non-retirees are coming and one can only speculate, is the weather good enough to draw non-Arizonians to our state.

Everything we know about Gen X is they will work later in life than their parents and grand-parents. They will be less financially stable and more inclined to quit their crappy jobs and look for greener pastures. I doubt they will measure the state they move to being depended on it being blue, red or purple.

I walked away from this site when i realized how much disdain there was for Sun City and in a smaller amount towards Del Webb. As a Sun City historian i know the ugly battles over the Peoria school district that ended in 1973 with Sun City invited to leave.

It's still the rage for everyone outside the community. I get it, but i also know this incessant love affair Rogue has for green treed streets and that old sense of community he enjoyed as a youth.

I am in the minority who still long for a community where we cling to our roots and Sun City's weren't all that deep (beginning in 1960). However they were ingrained in the belief that when we moved here (from wherever) we accepted the concept that we were the owners, that we were responsible and accountable for our success or ultimately the failure the experts projected.

Sun City survived because of the value and values built into our existence. As much as some have tried to change us, we are pushing back and working towards that sense of community. Nope, doesn't do much for those of you outside the walls, but inside them average working men and women of average means are enjoying a quality of life they could not have afforded anywhere else in this country, or in this state.

Rich and red, hardly. Blue and contented for sure.

[Cal Lash]

Well said.
Glad to see your post.

[Cal Lash]

Bill,
"12450 years ago what today is Folsom New Mexico 36 humans killed and butchered 32 giant bison (Bison Antiques)."

A lot has occurred since then including human developments beyond the banks of the Salt and Auga Fria rivers.
Not sure there were any shade trees at Central Avenue and Roosevelt prior to 1600.
Currently i am reading my (yes Ruben,signed) copy of
"Wild New World"
by Dan Flores.

Bill i think you would enjoy these billions of years of history.
Particulary the chapter
"How are you enjoying the Anthropcene?"

Other good reads by Flores is Coyote America and Natural West.

[Cal Lash]

SHADE TREES
"THE LIVING PANTRY" a Guardian news article posted in Rogues Phoenix and Arizona section is a good read that includes Ak-Chin water run off farming, water conservation along with the cooling effects provided by trees.

[Ruben]

Kevin, we can't solve a problem with 500,000 homeless in the US. The solution is beyond our capability.

You just brought up a problem with 10 to 20 million aging illegal immigrants.

I hadn't thought of it. I wish I hadn't thought of it.

The suffering, the cost, the failure on our part will be off the scale.

[Salvatore Ingrezza]

Mr. Lash,

You were born in the wrong decamillennium. You should have been born when you could be out hunting mammoths, giant sloths, saber tooth tigers along with a woman in every cave.

A pity.

[Cal Lash]

Ok Helen
ANOTHER alias?

[Cal Lash]

Deliberate intentional obstruction.

OLD WHITE GOP ER'S SITTING ON RENEWING FUNDS FOR ARIZONA SCHOOL FOR BLIND AND DEAF KIDS?

THIS LEGISLATION HAS BEEN IN PLACE SINCE STATEHOOD!

The continuing lesson here is to "teach" the Hobbs of the world to not run for political office.

[eclecticdog]

That Queen Creek article was truly awful. There is nothing rural about the town except in its hallucinations. It's a suburb of Mesa and Chandler. Phoenix is a faraway danger zone filled with the homeless, people of color, and Democrats.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/23/queen-creek-rural-urban-divide-arizona/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjMzMTMzMDAiLCJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjc5NTQ0MDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjgwODM5OTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2Nzk1NDQwMDAsImp0aSI6IjBhZGI2MmU0LTUwOWUtNDQ3MS05M2E3LWU2ZjNmNzJmMzkyNiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDIzLzAzLzIzL3F1ZWVuLWNyZWVrLXJ1cmFsLXVyYmFuLWRpdmlkZS1hcml6b25hLyJ9.XHT26BV6dK3baOGPWOiid3ZWtPSg-hQljjIHGU-ZIu0

[AzRebel]

E-dog,

There’s a saying out here in rural AZ:

“That boy’s got a whole lot of hat and not a lot of cows”

These sorry ass wanna be cowboys are the worst.

Trouble is some of these dumb asses use the hat to get elected. Finchem for one.

If you see a politician with a cowboy hat, he’s a dumb ass.

If he were a real cowboy:

1. He wouldn’t be wearing his hat indoors.
2. His momma would have taught him to take off his hat.
3. After all, he wasn’t born in a barn.

P.S. real life cowboys working ranches as we speak wear ball caps. Their Stetsons are too expensive to accidentally fall in cow shit.

[Michael]

Re: The bums downtown...Plenty of farms and ranches always looking for help, but that work is hard. Easier to snort fentanyl and go insane.