I am forming a theory. It used to be that people used to go to war and die at the drop of a hat. Why not? If you lived passed 40 it was a miracle. If you had five children, you were lucky if three survived, and if they did, they might die in war or some horrible plague. One wonders how much of human behavior was dominated by this. Today, we are on the cusp of Regenerative Medicine: <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9RMx31GnNXY?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9RMx31GnNXY?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object> Ramsey Theory proposes that "the rate of saving plus the marginal utility of consumption should always equal bliss minus actual rate of utility enjoyed." That basically means we tend to value spending now than later and discourage saving, at least if marketed to. But, what if we knew we were going to live longer, and live longer when "being young" meant until you were well into your fifties and sixties, and I mean look young too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans_model Put the two together, and it is obvious that current economic thinking is shot. Run the model forward on these assumptions....Consumption cannot be 70% of our economy for long as we live longer and are forced to save. Our future economy may be, save so that we can spend on being young longer and spend on new organs. On the other hand, you might be needing True Religion jeans for a lot longer.
I just picked up this book: The Stem Cell Hope: How Stem Cell Medicine Can Change Our Lives by Alice Park http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stem-cell-hope-alice-park/1100224928 Very well written quick read.
What is going to happen to your ability to move up the corporate latter when all the top layers are well into their 100's and still going strong? I have relatives in the medical end of that business, and they say it is not fiction, it's now, and those who can afford it are changing their views on every part of life because of it. And those who can afford it appear to be changing their views perhaps, of those who can't afford it. With the worlds population, would you want it availible to all? Insitute a zero birth rate? Eak! How will it all play out? At any rate, these changes are affecting all of us. Some think it's the biggest shift of our generation. Opportunity and risk. Hey, we are traders, we can handle it!