“In the first half of 2011, the U.S. economy grew at a meager 0.8 percent annualized rate; investors appear increasingly nervous that a so-called double-dip recession is becoming more likely. Those worries were exacerbated this week by the debt-ceiling accord reached in Congress, which will seek $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts by year’s end—a particularly rocky period for the recovery. The long-term trend toward a declining average age of retirement has reversed itself. The decline started in the 1880s and accelerated in the post World War II era, falling for men from an average age of 70 in 1950 to 62 in 1985. Yet since the mid-1980s increasing numbers of older men and women have kept working. The labor force participation rate for men age 65 has risen 43 percent over the past quarter century. For women 65 and older, the participation rate has nearly doubled over the same period, to 13.4 percent in June 2011.”