The productivity of labour in the west has increased multiple times since the introduction of universal pensions. That is people today make multiple times more goods and services per unit of labour time. It’s why about three working people today feed, clothe and care for 1 pensioner, compared to 10 for 1 decades ago. That along with feeding and entertaining a historically obese ruling class. This alone puts serious doubt in the argument that life expectancy rising making pensions unaffordable. Sure paying less in pensions is one way to resolve the higher cost. Another is to reallocate more of the higher productive output of workers from yachts to pensions. Only one of those is sustainable in terms of social stability.
This is what German productivity looks like just in the last 35 years. It’s ~3x.
The productivity of labour in the west has increased multiple times since the introduction of universal pensions. That is people today make multiple times more goods and services per unit of labour time. It’s why about three working people today feed, clothe and care for 1 pensioner, compared to 10 for 1 decades ago. That along with feeding and entertaining a historically obese ruling class. This alone puts serious doubt in the argument that life expectancy rising making pensions unaffordable. Sure paying less in pensions is one way to resolve the higher cost. Another is to reallocate more of the higher productive output of workers from yachts to pensions. Only one of those is sustainable in terms of social stability.
This is what German productivity looks like just in the last 35 years. It’s ~3x.