How old is enough? 99 years?

In previous posts, I wondered about old age: will medical advancement make death optional, and whether politics is becoming the tyranny of the old. And then the impact of pensions and benefits pretty much bankrupting GM, and perhaps public agencies real soon. Additional links on this "old" topic:

• Should old faculty retire when they are eligible for retirement so that the younger ones waiting for a (tenure-track) job can get one?
• At what age--80+,90+, 100+--do advanced medical treatments for the old become wasteful expenditures?

The typical argument in India, when I was young, was that the older folks were respected and well-treated in India, and that the US and the west condemned them to old-age homes. That was then. Now, old-age homes are a rapidly growing market in India. I know of at least three in such developments; one is in his late 80s. It is a simple matter of demographics--life expectancies have shot up in three decades.

Here in the US, the elderly are a powerful bloc--both economically and politically. Slate has been looking at different aspects in its geezer special. Slate has also listed the most powerful 80 who are over 80, and are highly active. Who are the top-ten in this group? Here is that list:

1. John Paul Stevens, 88. Associate Supreme Court justice since 1975. Justice Stevens is currently the court's oldest and longest-serving member and wrote the most-cited opinion in American law, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
2. Kirk Kerkorian, 91. President and CEO of investment company Tracinda Corp.; majority owner of Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage. As of March, the Armenian-American Kerkorian was the 41st-richest person in the world.
3. T. Boone Pickens, 80. Chairman and founder of the hedge fund BP Capital Management. Pickens' fortune stands at $4 billion and growing. A famous Texan wildcatter, Pickens is now turning his attention to alternative energy.
4. Si Newhouse, Jr., 80. Chairman and CEO of his family's privately held Advance Publications, which owns Condé Nast—home of fancy titles like The New Yorker and Vogue. According to a recent New York Times profile, micromanager Newhouse personally hand-counts ad pages in both his magazines and in their competitors
5. Sumner Redstone, 85. Chairman and CEO of National Amusements Inc., which has controlling interests in Viacom, the CBS Corp., MTV, and Paramount. Redstone's net worth is currently estimated at $6.8 billion.
6. Robert Byrd, 90. Senior senator from West Virginia and a vociferous critic of President Bush and the Iraq war. As president pro tempore of the Senate, Byrd, a Democrat, is third in the line of presidential succession
7. Henry Kissinger, 85. Secretary of state under President Nixon; guardian of realpolitik theory, practitioner of détente. Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his role in arranging a cease-fire between the United States and North Vietnam
8. David Rockefeller Sr., 93. Grandson of John D. Rockefeller; patriarch of the famous clan since 2004. In his own right, he is the former chairman, president, and CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank. Rockefeller's lifetime charitable donations are approaching $1 billion
9. Edward Albee, 80. Hailed as America's greatest living playwright. Albee's most famous plays include Zoo Story, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Seascape, and Three Tall Women. When asked how it felt to have won three Pulitzers, the famously cantankerous Albee replied, "Hmmph! It's not very many."
10. Liz Smith, 85. New York gossip columnist, at various publications, for 32 years. Her 2000 memoir, Natural Blonde, was a best-seller

BTW, I am far from being in this 80+ club :-)