Word: boom
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...residences in the past few years have popped up in nearly every suburb and city. Today there are at least 10,000 facilities, 90% of which have been built in the past decade, according to the American Seniors Housing Association. They house nearly 800,000 elderly Americans. But the boom has been accompanied by widespread allegations of substandard care, neglect and even preventable death. Year after year, Washington politicians take aim at problems in nursing homes, often proposing scores of new guidelines for an industry that is already heavily regulated. Yet Congress has thus far largely ignored assisted living, which...
Trade-group chief Wayne admits that during the industry's boom, "many companies did not have time to focus on the infrastructure," including training of staff. But the growth, especially in big cities, happened so quickly that many facilities could not fill their beds. So companies have put on the brakes: construction is at its lowest level in five years. This has allowed facilities, says Wayne, "to focus on what's important." But the slowdown has left many assisted-living companies short of cash. And allegations of neglect have sparked a surge of liability lawsuits, driving up liability-insurance costs...
...went public--that the industry exploded. Wall Street investors, eyeing the impending retirement of millions of baby boomers (the number of elderly needing long-term care is expected to double over the next 20 years, to 14 million), fell all over themselves trying to catch a piece of the boom...
...whole story. Since the last big commission met in 1983 (and if you're keeping score, that one was Type A--it deadlocked completely), Social Security has been collecting higher payroll taxes from workers to build up the trust fund in preparation for the baby boom's retirement, which starts in 2008. Year after year, the trust fund lent that extra money to the Treasury's general kitty to pay for things like the Marine Corps, national parks and all those deficits during the 1980s and '90s. So it's fair to say--and the commission says it over...
...Consumer, in continuing to go where Mr. and Mrs. CEO fear to tread - namely, the marketplace - have kept the economy?s pulse going since January and will likely have to keep it up for the rest of the year if we?re to avoid paying for the dot-com boom with a bona fide recession...