" (Congressional Budget Office Testimony, 2001) Complicating the problem is the fact that Social Security is not only a retirement program but in fact approximately 2/3 of Social Security beneficiaries are retired workers" with the remaining being disabled workers, survivors of deceased workers, and workers' spouses and minor children." (Congressional Budget Office Testimony, 2001) III. REMEDIES TO HELP ALLEVIATE IMPLICATIONS

There are various strategies that could be pursued by policymakers to assist in preparing for the aging population coming of retirement age and these are stated by the Congressional Budget Office to include options such as: (1) paying down federal debt; (2) creating private retirement accounts; and (3) changing the benefits or revenues of the Social Security program. (Congressional Budget Office Testimony, 2001) However, it is clear that each of these remedies contain both advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, in light of recent government spending the option of paying down the federal debt does not appear to be a likely solution to this problem.

Furthermore, as noted by the Congressional Budget Office in its (2005) report even if all the federal debt were paid off there would still be pressures created by Social Security as well as Medicare and Medicaid spending over the long-term. The idea of creating private retirement accounts has been proposed however, there would necessarily be many varying types of accounts with widely varied effects and furthermore, the practical issues needing to be addressed include those such as the cost to administer the system...

It has been suggested that the elderly population who are able could continue to work at least part-time past retirement age.
IV. IDENTIFICATION OF THREE LOCAL SME'S THAT MIGHT BENEFIT FROM THESE LIFESTYLE CHANGES

As already stated one remedy for alleviating the problem of the aging population vs. The current working age population is to allow those over the age of retirement to continue working past the age of retirement. Three local small to medium enterprises that could benefit from this type of lifestyle change among retirement aged individuals include those of housing, transportation and education services which will be needed to accommodate the lifestyle change occurring in the group over the age of fifty years of age in the near future. As more workers remain in the workforce there will be a need for computer and technology training. Many of these workers will be in need of community or assisted living arrangements and will need transportation to and from school and work. Small to medium enterprises stand to gain from the growth of the aging population.

Bibliography

Testimony of Dan L. Crippen, Director: Social Security Challenges of an Aging Population (2001) Congressional Budget Office before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate. 10 Dec 2001. Online available at: http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=3214&type=0

Bongaarts, John (2005) "Population aging and the rising cost of public…