This is a great question to throw out to the public in the midst of the coronavirus hysteria, don’t you think?
Why not? Let’s go with it!
If a plague killed every person in the world over the age of 65, how would the world change?
AskReddit users weighed in on this question.
1. Cons and pros.
“Both my parents would die which is a bummer.
Would gut the hierarchy of a whole bunch of companies.
Not a bummer.”
2. Deep thoughts.
“Well first, there would be an enormous amount of bodies to deal with, which would spread disease and kill many younger people anyway.
A huge amount of knowledge and profession would be lost with all those people, with many of them political leaders, head doctors and scientists, CEOs, etc…
In terms of a population reset though, hardly. It would set the population back maybe a decade or 2, by 2050 we would have recovered the numbers we have right now and probably have even more.”
3. No kidding.
“Almost all the US Presidential candidates would be gone.”
4. But for how long…?
“GOP would be powerless for a while.”
5. Bring out your dead.
“600+ million.
That’s how many bodies there’d be to deal with.
The stench of death in cities would be unbearable.”
6. The whole state is gone.
“RIP Florida.”
7. In a huge way.
“Pension payments would decrease.”
8. This is probably true.
“To be honest, i think a mass panic would start.
It would be like in one of those dystopian or post-apocalyptic books. Scary shit.
The world would go crazy.”
9. Looking for jobs.
“Soooo many nursing homes would stand empty. The shift in jobs would be insane.”
10. But then, there’s this.
“We created a lot of new jobs for body removal and disposal.”
11. Probably not a joke…
“The French would protest to lower retirement age.”
12. No more China?
“Thanks to their past one-child policy and their uneven demographic, most of China would be wiped out.”
13. Good for you!
“I’d probably be able to buy a house.”
14. She might make it.
“Betty White would somehow survive.”
15. Ouch!
“A lot of neckbeards would be homeless.
They wouldn’t be able to afford the mortgage to mom and dads house, and would have to move out of the basement.
Net positive.”
16. An interesting perspective.
“Realistically there would be a short term crisis of dealing with the bodies and all that then after a few months there would be an economic boom like we’ve never seen before. Tons of real estate opening up and money moving around.
People that age are a drag on the economy. They take money out and horde it often or use it to take advantage of younger people via real estate and such to further enrich themselves in wealthy countries. In poor countries they’re a burden on young family members eating food that could otherwise be sold or given to those who work.
There would be a solid 10-15 years of economic prosperity like the world has never seen probably. All those old racists and the older generations and their “fuck you I got mine” mentality would be gone so politics would change a lot but probably not as much as we might think but overall probably a pretty solid shift to the left.
Politics in the US might clean up a little as so many of the current politicians would be cleaned out. President, most of the Supreme Court, and a huge chunk of congress are gone. Same for most states with their judicial systems.
Oh, Russia is finally free of Putin. That’s something.”
Okay, remember to wash your hands and keep yourself healthy, okay?
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