HUFFINGTON
07.15.12
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CHRIS LIVINGSTON/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX; GERARDO MORA/
GETTY IMAGES; CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES; TODD HEISLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
TWILIGHT IN THE SUNSHINE STATE
Just a short drive away by golf cart, the Villages hosts a number of campaign rallies each election
cycle — typically for Republican candidates such as Florida Gov. Rick Scott (top right) and Mitt Romney.
of wrinkled faces crowding the
aisles at the Publix grocery store
in Boca Raton now, just wait. By
2030, one in four Floridians will
be older than 65, up from one in
six today, with the 85-plus set
the fastest-growing group, according to projections.
Lest you may have thought otherwise, Florida needs more senior
citizens like it needs more tanning
beds. “What you want is a college
educated 30-year-old worker,”
says Dowell Myers, a demographer
at the University of Southern California who is also a Miami native.
“This is not what is happening.”
In the short term, seniors,
who typically inject cash into local markets by bringing money
from the sale of a previous home
and through their retirement or
pension plans, will help ease the
economic crisis in Florida. But as
they age, older residents contribute less to the tax base, demand
more services and tend to vote
against such economically optimal things like education expenditures. After all, they came here
for the sunshine, not to pay for
the schooling of a younger generation that is far more racially
diverse than they are, and with