Some context for non Dutchies: We recently got a new government, and one of the main pieces of legislation they are proposing is a significant increase in retirement age. They are proposing to raise retirement age with 1 year for every 1 year of increase in life expectancy. Understandably this has made a lot of people quite upset.
The kicker is that we *just* reached a major agreement about retirement reforms, that got the support from both employers and unions after a very long process of negotiations. They are throwing that all out now with the ink barely dry. Even employer interest organizations are scratching their heads about that one, while the unions are, obviously, furious.
Key_Duck_6293 on
Up the unions. Solidarity from Ireland.
Guyana-resp on
The real concern is the amount of boomers being payed for doing nothing, having payed for no one except those 2 guys not dead at war (because « we payed all our life »), and wanting us to continue to pay them.
Our generation should stop paying for retirement.
Ill_Specific_6144 on
As much as I dislike increasing pension age, what can the government realistically do? Millenials and genz dont have children. Who is going to play for pensions? Government money aint endless – if you spend 30 years working, when 30% of your income is spent on pensions, how do you expect they will pay your wage for 30 more years?
Truffely on
Keep it up, we have the same here in Germany but nobody cares. Merz is removing the social state and gets a treat from the orange buffoon.
Oh and btw. everyone I know loves it and blames the immigrants. Germany is transforming back to its roots pretty fast 🙁
[deleted] on
[deleted]
eerie_space on
> Under current proposals, individuals in their 20s could have to work until age 72.
Wow that’s just terrible. An increase in life expentancy does not imply an increase in quality of life, grandma is pushing 90 but she has alzheimer’s disease.
KappaSmert on
Are we really surprised that our welfare state honeymoon is coming to an end when we’re at crossroads with close to zero birth rates?
We don’t even have a totally independent defense system and russian aggression is no longer an If, but a when.
Maybe we needed a buffoon like Trump to realise that we need to strap our boots and change the way the economy has been handled for the past 50 years.
LaurestineHUN on
Anything but tax the rich
DKHTBH on
The fact is that the system is unsustainable with a declining population. Anyone who is retired and didn’t have 2+ children is a net drain on the system and screws over future generations.
We need massive reform, but this will NEVER happen in a democracy where a plurality of voters are 60+ years old. Infinitely increasing immigration for the rest of time is also obviously unsustainable in the long term. Workers will be sucked dry until the system collapses.
Charlesinrichmond on
At some point, what a lot of people in Europe are really protesting is math and demographics and the brutal truth that a lot of the current system is unaffordable
Silent-Act191 on
Fuck paying for the pensions of people who could actually buy homes on a single salary.
The retirement system is unsustainable long term, like i want to pay so people can make use of it in the short term while the youth never will.
PRKP99 on
Just because people LIVE longer, that doesn’t mean that they can WORK longer. And that there is a job for them…
We need big shift when it comes to retirement – just increasing retirement age for everyone without acknowledging differences in social classes is nothing other than sentencing working class blue colar people to work till they are death. Also white collars can work longer, but I don’t think that the same can be said about people working in construction.
White collar workers have longer lifespan, have better health and earn higher monthly pension payments. That means that they are bigger burden on the system and for longer. Meanwhile blue collars get less money for shorter time – how it is fair that we want to raise retirement for BOTH of those groups? And what about gender differences? Women live longer after they retire.
People hate all those retirement reforms because they never acknowledge those differences. Just becuase my boss will live long in good health after he retire, that doesn’t mean that it is fair for my working class parents to never retire because „on average we live longer”.
13 commenti
Some context for non Dutchies: We recently got a new government, and one of the main pieces of legislation they are proposing is a significant increase in retirement age. They are proposing to raise retirement age with 1 year for every 1 year of increase in life expectancy. Understandably this has made a lot of people quite upset.
The kicker is that we *just* reached a major agreement about retirement reforms, that got the support from both employers and unions after a very long process of negotiations. They are throwing that all out now with the ink barely dry. Even employer interest organizations are scratching their heads about that one, while the unions are, obviously, furious.
Up the unions. Solidarity from Ireland.
The real concern is the amount of boomers being payed for doing nothing, having payed for no one except those 2 guys not dead at war (because « we payed all our life »), and wanting us to continue to pay them.
Our generation should stop paying for retirement.
As much as I dislike increasing pension age, what can the government realistically do? Millenials and genz dont have children. Who is going to play for pensions? Government money aint endless – if you spend 30 years working, when 30% of your income is spent on pensions, how do you expect they will pay your wage for 30 more years?
Keep it up, we have the same here in Germany but nobody cares. Merz is removing the social state and gets a treat from the orange buffoon.
Oh and btw. everyone I know loves it and blames the immigrants. Germany is transforming back to its roots pretty fast 🙁
[deleted]
> Under current proposals, individuals in their 20s could have to work until age 72.
Wow that’s just terrible. An increase in life expentancy does not imply an increase in quality of life, grandma is pushing 90 but she has alzheimer’s disease.
Are we really surprised that our welfare state honeymoon is coming to an end when we’re at crossroads with close to zero birth rates?
We don’t even have a totally independent defense system and russian aggression is no longer an If, but a when.
Maybe we needed a buffoon like Trump to realise that we need to strap our boots and change the way the economy has been handled for the past 50 years.
Anything but tax the rich
The fact is that the system is unsustainable with a declining population. Anyone who is retired and didn’t have 2+ children is a net drain on the system and screws over future generations.
We need massive reform, but this will NEVER happen in a democracy where a plurality of voters are 60+ years old. Infinitely increasing immigration for the rest of time is also obviously unsustainable in the long term. Workers will be sucked dry until the system collapses.
At some point, what a lot of people in Europe are really protesting is math and demographics and the brutal truth that a lot of the current system is unaffordable
Fuck paying for the pensions of people who could actually buy homes on a single salary.
The retirement system is unsustainable long term, like i want to pay so people can make use of it in the short term while the youth never will.
Just because people LIVE longer, that doesn’t mean that they can WORK longer. And that there is a job for them…
We need big shift when it comes to retirement – just increasing retirement age for everyone without acknowledging differences in social classes is nothing other than sentencing working class blue colar people to work till they are death. Also white collars can work longer, but I don’t think that the same can be said about people working in construction.
White collar workers have longer lifespan, have better health and earn higher monthly pension payments. That means that they are bigger burden on the system and for longer. Meanwhile blue collars get less money for shorter time – how it is fair that we want to raise retirement for BOTH of those groups? And what about gender differences? Women live longer after they retire.
People hate all those retirement reforms because they never acknowledge those differences. Just becuase my boss will live long in good health after he retire, that doesn’t mean that it is fair for my working class parents to never retire because „on average we live longer”.