It wouldn't be quite as bad for these folks if the hiring side of things also didn't discriminate on age. There's a really good business profit-oriented reason

It wouldn't be quite as bad for these folks if the hiring side of things also didn't discriminate on age. There's a really good business profit-oriented reason to discriminate: older workers ask for more money, defend their interests better, and generally are less open to things like death marches, on-call and such. I don't know what the solution is. I'm pumping my money into income-producing real estate assets as a hedge, while I sell myself as a consultant. But I can already smell the difficulties that lie ahead. Some friends climbed the corporate ladder into senior management. That works, too, but it's a slog and you better enjoy it.