Sunday, February 27, 2011

Pensions Again: Raising the Retirement Age

I agree with thoe who say (a) in a world where we all live longer, it is only reasonable to raise the retirement age and (b) (inconsistently?) that it's an outrage to try to solve our fiscal problem on the backs of those who work the hardest for the least money at the worst jobs.  There is a good end run around this problem, though I don't expect anybody to be pushing it soon: means testing.  The people least able to provide for themselves are the ones most likely to work in the kinds of jobs where they are least able to take care of themselves.  A lucky few (that would be me) have the disposition and the opportunity to keep working indefinitely at jobs they love and might well (but don't tell my boss) be happy to carry one with for far less money.    For the most part we are the ones that shouldn't be part of a state safety net scheme anyway (except by way of contingency) and you could save a lot of bucks if you'd just cut us off.

1 comment:

Ebenezer Scrooge said...

You would be quite right in a world of pure policy, without politics. But we don't live in Singapore. If the well-to-do don't get their state pensions in America, nobody else will, either.