In 2025, the American business outlet Business Insider launched a series titled “80 Over 80.” The series features interviews with a growing demographic of Americans—those aged 80 and older from across the country—who are forced to keep working just to survive, despite decades of labor and earned retirement benefits. The data accompanying these stories suggests that such cases are no longer isolated incidents but a widespread phenomenon. This reality stands in stark contrast to the late 20th and early 21st-century image of the American retiree: a well-to-do individual finally able to devote themselves to hobbies and travel. What has happened over the last few years or decades to make the “golden years” so precarious for so many? Let’s take a closer look.

The Story of One Retiree

The interview with 90-year-old Vince Scidone reveals the life and career of a man who began assisting his father, a construction contractor, at the age of seven or eight. By his teens, Vince was trained as a carpenter. Following a stint in the Marine Corps, he spent 20 years in the construction industry and another 20 working for a labor union representing construction workers.

Retiring in 1998 at age 64, Vince began receiving a fixed pension. He enjoyed his retirement in Missouri and later Florida, spending much of his time on the golf course and at his church [1]. After being widowed, he remarried in 2022 at age 88. Upon deciding to buy a new home, Vince and his second wife exhausted nearly their entire $50,000 in savings on the purchase and renovations. It was hardly a reckless decision—they lived in Oklahoma, a state known for its low cost of living and affordable real estate. However, in just three years, their property taxes jumped from $2,000 to $5,000 following a local reassessment.

Despite a combined fixed annual income of $104,000, by the summer of 2024, the couple faced monthly expenses for housing, transportation, food, and healthcare totaling $7,000. To bridge the gap, Mr. Scidone was forced to seek supplemental income. At age 90, he took a part-time job as a cook for a convenience store chain.

In his words, “the economy started getting very bad for us around 2023–2024,” and he sees no end to his working life in sight. Given the couple’s fixed income, his definition of a “bad economy” clearly refers to high inflation, which has eroded their purchasing power.

The Fed vs. The President: Who Wins?

Indeed, this period saw the highest U.S. inflation rates since the late 1970s: 8% in 2022 and over 4% in 2023, per official data [2]. However, the cracks in the American economy run deeper than a temporary inflationary spike. Since the post-pandemic recovery of 2021, the Federal Reserve has struggled to bring inflation down to its 2% target. Furthermore, the Fed has found it increasingly difficult to balance its dual mandate: maintaining price stability (the dollar’s value) while ensuring low unemployment.

This struggle is epitomized by the protracted friction between Fed Chair Jerome Powell and President Donald Trump. While Powell advocated for keeping interest rates high to curb inflation and maintain the dollar’s stability, Trump demanded rate cuts to stimulate business activity and lower unemployment—even at the risk of further devaluing the currency [3].

Currently, there are no “good” solutions: since the start of 2025, the dollar has lost approximately 10% of its value [4], inflation remains above target, and unemployment is ticking upward. The mass closure of businesses and shrinking profit margins over such a short horizon suggest that this isn’t merely a shift in consumer preferences or an AI-driven labor market disruption. For example, Wendy’s announced the closure of hundreds of locations in late 2025, following 240 closures in 2024, citing a “pullback” from inflation-weary customers [5]. Since these chains serve low-to-middle-income earners, this decline in aggregate demand signals a widespread crisis of disposable income.

Las Vegas and Beyond

Another indicator of falling demand is the slump in Las Vegas tourism—the “Disneyland for adults.” In August 2025, passenger traffic at Las Vegas International Airport dropped 6% year-over-year. Crucially, the decline was sharper among domestic travelers (-5.9%) than international ones (-3.7%), suggesting that the primary driver is the domestic economy rather than trade or immigration policy.

This waning interest from international tourists also suggests that their own economies—Canada, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, and Western Europe—are facing similar headwinds. Hotel occupancy in Vegas plummeted by a staggering 17% to 66.7% by July 2025 [6]. These signs are accompanied by a chilling labor market. Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that October 2025 saw the highest one-month job cut total since 2003, while hiring reached a 14-year low [7].

In essence, the American economy is once again grappling with stagflation—the simultaneous occurrence of high inflation, rising unemployment, and stagnant output. This combination is a symptom of a deep structural crisis. Curiously, mainstream economic theory often struggles to account for this; traditional models suggest that inflation should coincide with a booming economy, not a shrinking one.

Ultimately, the plight of American retirees is not an isolated issue. It is part of a broader national—and global—trend of economic contraction and declining living standards. In traditional societies, the elderly relied on their children for support. However, Vince Scidone’s generation built their lives around a different social contract: the pension model. Until the negative trends of stagflation are reversed, delayed retirement and 90-year-old service workers will cease to be anomalies and instead become the new, somber norm.

1.  “I’m 90 and work at a convenience store. I make $14.90 an hour and money is tight, but I hope to retire.”, retrieved on November 11, 2025 from https://www.businessinsider.com/work-convenience-store-cant-retire-aging-social-security-low-wage-2025-9
2. “Inflation, consumer prices for the United States”, retrieved on November 11, 2025 from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FPCPITOTLZGUSA
3. “Trump steps up attacks on Fed’s independence amid interest rates row” retrieved November 12, 2025 from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/01/trump-jerome-powell-tariffs-federal-reserve
4. “The Decline of the Dollar in 2025” retrieved November 12, 2025 from https://www.merceradvisors.com/insights/market-commentary/the-decline-of-the-dollar-in-2025/
5. “Wendy’s to close hundreds more restaurants” retrieved November 12, 2025 from https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-11-11/wendys-to-close-hundreds-of-us-stores-in-bid-to-halt-falling-profit
6. “Las Vegas Tourism Slump Continues As Airport Passenger Numbers Fall” retrieved November 12, 2025 from https://www.newsweek.com/las-vegas-tourism-slump-continues-as-airport-passenger-numbers-fall-10792333
7. “Nov 6 October Challenger Report: 153,074 Job Cuts on Cost-Cutting and AI” retrieved November 12, 2025 from https://www.challengergray.com/blog/october-challenger-report-153074-job-cuts-on-cost-cutting-ai/