That’s the subtitle of a Newsweek article by contributing editor Eliot Cose, which cites bleak employment statistics for workers over 55, a jump in age-discrimination complaints, and a recent Supreme Court ruling that weakens the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

Betty Soskin and I have been in touch, and she pointed me to this video about her life and work as an outreach specialist  and interpreter at Rosie the Riveter WWII/ Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond, CA. Her long history in the area makes her an invaluable asset, not least because, as she puts it, “I’m at an age where I know how all the stories turned out.”

Wincingly titled “The Loin in Winter,” a story on the front page of the New York Times describes Hugh Hefner’s work-, travel-, and fun-filled life.  Granted, not too many octogenarians would have a slew of 20-somethings eager to move in, as did Hef after breaking up with his “No. 1 girlfriend” last fall.  (He picked three blondes; don’t miss the photo.)

Judith Warner’s “I Feel It Coming Together” post on her "Domestic Disturbances" blog, excerpted in Sunday’s New York Times, bemoans the fact that it’s all downhill after age 44. “I now see the passage of time more as a kind of bell curve,” she writes. “Years of ascension, soaring anticipation, followed by a plateau — which is not so bad, really — and then, no way to sugar coat this: a rather precipitous decline.” So long forever to “excitement, discovery, intensity.”  

Oh please.

I’ve blogged several times about “U-shaped happiness curve” studies  that show Americans to be most content at the beginning and end of their lives. Another one, the “August National Well-Being Index,” was released by Gallup on September 10th.  (Great news: Americans’ grip on their flotation cushions has relaxed by .07% since January!)