Quote:
Originally Posted by bloke57
I do substantially share your views. 
However, I think what is new about our demography is that, at the same time as people live longer, the birth rate has steadily fallen. Add to that the pensionable age has not kept pace - it should probably be higher even than is planned and sooner. Wage rates are also suffering, so tax take inevitably follows the downward spiral.
We have been able to some extent to plug the gaps with high rates of immigration and migrant workers. But then this thing called "brexit" happened....
So now what?  |
I wish I could totally agree, but can you honestly imagine 65 or 70 year old police, fireman or troops? Even if we are generally living longer, most people have simply had enough of work by their mid 60s and think they have an entitlement to an escape from the wonderful world of work. To the best of my knowledge, most of Europe thinks this is the right way to do things and many of our neighbours also pay much better pensions than we do.
And of course, by putting up the retirement age, it also makes things increasingly difficult for much younger people starting out. As I recall, there were well-developed proposals on the table during Thatcher's reign when very high unemployment was a major issue, to lower the retirement age specifically to deal with this.