August 29th, 2004
Retirement Is Already Broken
An article at the New York Times demonstrates the current model of retirement to be broken. In a world of lengthening healthy life spans, static retirement ages would cause economic hardship. Attitudes towards older workers (and old age in general) will have to change. This article is a prime example: it assumes that older folk are dependants of the state, incapable of looking after their own interests, work is something that people are forced to do, retirement is a right, and longer life spans are a bad thing. Fortunately, employers and employees are far more pragmatic than writers at the NYT. The culture of entitlement and government meddling will only interfere in progress towards a society of greater and productive longevity.