ABSTRACT
There is a contradiction between the two strands of current British and indeed European population policy. This policy confusion is also reflected on the other side of the Atlantic. On the one hand there is the “apocalyptic demography” which suggests society will be overwhelmed by the needs of elderly people; on the other, there is the fear of being overwhelmed by movements of “economic migrants”. These themes stand in contradiction to each other and to the proclaimed ideological basis for current government policy, namely that of the free market. To put the idea of an international free market in labour on the agenda reveals the racist nature of immigration policy, the ageist approach to pensions policy and the essentially reactionary nature of government policies. The identification of elderly people as a problem is designed primarily as a strategy to undermine the role of the state in providing its citizens with pensions and welfare services.
