Human resources managers must be prepared to respond to numerous issues that result from the anticipated increase in the elderly population in the United States. Their decisions must reflect an understanding of the key actors in the process, including the diverse interest groups, Congress, the executive branch, and state and local governments. In making these decisions, they must also recognize the stringent limitations on available financial resources, the crowded policy agenda facing policymakers, the existence of substantial differences among the elderly over the content of public policy, and the negative perceptions held by many younger citizens about the elderly. Taken together, these factors suggest that proposals that threaten existing senior citizen benefits probably will be resisted fiercely, and that proposals for new programs as well as those to expand existing programs will face severe obstacles before enactment.
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