Go to 3:30 in this video to see how sad and disabled people are at age 71
Author: Keith Humphreys
Keith Humphreys is the Esther Ting Memorial Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and an Honorary Professor of Psychiatry at Kings College London. His research, teaching and writing have focused on addictive disorders, self-help organizations (e.g., breast cancer support groups, Alcoholics Anonymous), evaluation research methods, and public policy related to health care, mental illness, veterans, drugs, crime and correctional systems. Professor Humphreys' over 300 scholarly articles, monographs and books have been cited over thirteen thousand times by scientific colleagues. He is a regular contributor to Washington Post and has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Monthly, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian (UK), The Telegraph (UK), Times Higher Education (UK), Crossbow (UK) and other media outlets. View all posts by Keith Humphreys
I can't see Fred Astaire without having "Putting on the Ritz" going through my head the rest of the day. Yes, a remarkable dancer, and more coordinated in his seventies than I was in my twenties.
I realize this sort of thing is usually planned in advance to look spontaneous, but Astaire's apparently hesitant entry into the routine, his seeming to have to figure out where the music is going and what he's going to do with it, and what sounds like an honestly sarcastic "Thanks!" at the end suggest that perhaps he didn't know this was coming.
If so, that means he not only danced like that at age 71, but did it without having a chance to warm up first!
Frank and Bob have a long history together, and scripted sarcasm was a big part of it.
Wow, wonderful, I love watching Fred any time! It's a good reminder, though, about things like SS and Medicare. The older we get, the more our health differentiates us. What is possible in the way of earning money for us olders who have had mostly desk jobs and who have remained relatively healthy and free of painful, or debilitating conditions is simply not possible for others. At 70+, and much younger for many, even assuming sharp mental health, there are just too many who don't have the ability to stand on their feet in a store or stock shelves or do so many of the jobs they might be able to get once they've officially "retired." This old BS of raising the age for SS and Medicare based on longer life spans is pretty bogus, if it doesn't take into account the actual physical and mental health of the majority of people in that age group. Ever seen even middle aged guys who've been miners or factory workers or construction workers all their lives limping around on their bad knees with their bad backs? Or a woman that age who's been a server, carrying food trays and being on her feet all day every day 30+ years? Sure, some of them are like Fred, still going strong with few health problems. But there's a lot more to ability to continue earning a living past 65 than the statistical potential of living a few years longer than your parents or grandparents did.
I've been thinking about this ever since an acquaintance died a few years back. He was a smoker and jack-of-all trades at a granite quarry and a few other handyman jobs besides. In the 5 years or so that I knew him, I always thought of him as this grizzled old guy, and then when his obit came out I found out he was 53.
(Also, Astaire had practice in dancing as an old man for a long, long time. If you look at him in movies from the 50s he's already skeletal.)
Yet, the politicians are going to have to something about Social Security and Medicare sooner, not later.
• Reduce benefits.
• Means test.
• Raise taxes.
• Print a lot of money.
Or various combinations there of.
Raising the salary cap would do for starters.
In a way, Astaire is comparable to Michael Jordan: performers with one-in-a-million natural ability who somehow ended up being overachievers because of their fanatical dedication to improving and perfecting their skill sets.