I noticed a number of talking heads on Youtube from various news agencies (CNN, FOX, NBC, etc....) all crapping on about how Greeks retire at 53 and THIS is the "real" reason why Greece is going down the tubes. It got me to thinking about how we're raising our retirement to 78 or whatever, while at the same time have an unemployment rate around 20+ percent :bugeye: Can someone explain why its so important we work and consume all the way up to the end.... when we have such a high unemployment rate? It reminded me of another talking head carping on about how we should rip down all these extra houses... you know, so we can build them again, to get the economy going :bugeye: Are people REALLY THIS moronic? Whose in favor of flushing this debt driven pile of a conundrum for an economic system and making something better?
We can rest assured in these safe assumptions of the future: --Those over 80 years old still drink alcohol, have sex, eat pork rinds, and watch T.V.(to some degree)...they share a commonality factor in that they continue to work (to some degree). --People can survive nutritiously (even if not salivatingly satisfied) on a lot less than one would realize. --One green-thumbed farmer can grow enough food to feed a whole village, on less land than one would realize. --There are those with extreme enough a wealthy lifestyle, that they would commit suicide, if they were down to their last $100,000.
Here in Yukon, Canada, I observe that many folks do not have sufficient savings set aside to retire early, as their pension/retirement income would put them in an impoverished position compared to the cost of living. Meanwhile, we have social assistance programs that are more generous than the CPP and OAS combined, so less incentive for many young people to work, as they are considering welfare and employment insurance programs as an alternate to working for a living. There are still plenty of jobs requiring manual labor, as there is yet no technology developed to address these tasks. Many of today's youth have been raised with a lot of luxury and technical toys and want to start their employment careers at the top of the wage scale, without going through the 'school of hard knocks.' So, for a couple of reasons I see older people remaining in the work force. The older folks need to make ends meet and a lot of the younger folk are not interested in breaking a sweat. It's going to be interesting in the future when the remainder of these retirement age people are finally forced by declining health to pull the pin. Even now, trying to find a plumber, carpenter, electrician to service your home infrastructure is an exercise in frustration and in the retail trade, getting the food and goods to the store shelving is a difficult task to find employees for. Most of the replacement for the work force is going to come through immigration, in this country, and that will possibly force some interesting changes. People arriving here from countries without such social programs are willing to work two and three jobs in this relative land of opportunity compared to where they have come from. It's very competitive in the rest of the world, just to stay alive, and IMO, many in North America are going to find themselves at a disadvantage, as new Canadians and immigrants to North America willingly step up to the plate, doing the work that many disdain. Control the food and the infrastructure and you effectively control the population. Everyone eats, poops and squawks, only at present they are doing too much squawking and not enough working toward a sustainable future. Just my opinion......
That's not the really big problem but it is adding to the entire mess they have there. Greece needs to lay off about 30 percent of its government work force to really make a difference because that amount of people would save over one third or more of their budget. Since those people aren't being paid Greece wouldn't need as much to take in to pay the rest of the workers. Americas retirement age, in order to recieve social security and medicare, is now at 65 and will go up soon to 67. You can't raise the retirement age to 78 because the average death is about 78 for women and 75 for men in america. So if you increased the retirement to 78 over half of those who invested into the system wouldn't recieve anything from social security or medicare because they would be dead. Whatever age you are you still need to live and that cost money. Food, shelter, transportation, clothing, insurances and many other things are needed no matter how old you become. So in actuality those not working and buying stuff help out by making more things needed to be made for them and that means more employment for younger people. Destroying new homes that are already built then building new ones in their place is a very stupid idea because no one can afford the costs of the existing homes as it is so they won't be able to afford the new ones either because they would boith cost the same to buy. You first have to pay back the debts that you have accumulated before another economic system can ever be instituted. Can you please tell us how to make a better economic system than we have, I'm sure many people would be very ointerested in how to improve the way things are with something better.
I agree with ALL that and what Cosmic said as well. And as usual, you can pretty much disregard anything Michael posts and this is no exception. That's only a tiny part of the Problem in Greece AND there's no better economic system to have. What we need to do about that problem is tighten regulations, enforce them and do what we can to entice companies to return their factories to the U.S. shores. It's already happening to some degree as labor costs are rising in China and productivity is sharply dropping below U.S. standards (output per employee). Also, there's a high - and increasing - cost of shipping finished goods back here. Three or four major U.S. companies have already begun a tentative "return home."
One bright thing about peak oil...we will have to start making stuff again at home. We don't now, this is the problem... As for myself, I like to work. Work keeps me on the rails, gives me a reason to get out of bed. I really don't do well unemployed. I also really don't want to be forced to live on social security, and I doubt I'll be able to save enough to retire comfortably...unless we're talking third-world comforts. I intend to keep dragging my carcass to a job until I am actively dropping dead.
Well I just hope you never have any serious medical problems like many people have when they get older. I've already had 3 heart attacks and 2 mild strokes and serious back and neck problems with my discs and a few other problems as well. I can't work as I once was able to because of my condition.
Already have chronic pansinusitis, asthma and a bad back. The back I do yoga for or it goes out. The rest means that I either work or I get no med money. Trying to convince the county they need to scoop more stuff out of my head.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! From '02 to 07' I basically had flu-mixed-with-bronchitis symptoms. Worked. Was afraid of losing my job, and being too visibly ill to get another, so I went to work. Did not see how I could get meds without money...needed the meds to keep breathing. Survival certainly felt like it was at stake...probably some solution I was too blinkered to see...but...I needed money to pay what my wife calls "lung rent." Which was more than my share of the apartment rent...which we had to give up...anyway... I did call in a lot, the breathing was really constricted, but in the end, it happened too often, so I had to go to work. :shrug: No matter how decrepit I get, I'll find something I'm capable of doing and do it. I need that feeling of self-sufficiency and agency too bad.
:bugeye: As the revolutionaries of 1848 were marching on the palace, Ferdinand asked Metternich for an explanation. When Metternich answered that they were making a revolution, Ferdinand is supposed to have said “But are they allowed to do that?”. Ferdinand I (19 April 1793 – 29 June 1875) Emperor of Austria. North Dakota has it's own Central Bank and interest from loans are returned to the Citizens of the State of ND and not to some douche bags on WallStreet buying hookers and blow. The point being, different systems of finance are being used. Other states are presently looking into ways of changing this broken debt fueled bag of crapola. Only a fool would think anything outside of a mathematical proof is prefect. There are underlying assumptions made with our economic system, such as there always being more productivity to be had, more cuts to be made and an ever ready environmental supply of all resources. Lets see how perfect this system is when Greece and then Italy and then Spain, Portugal and finally the USA defaults on the loans they made Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I'd like to know about the premise that the age of retirement must be raised, while at the same time Greece has massive youth unemployment. How do these two issues relate to one another? Is this another one of those "perfect" economic oxymorons whereby you pay one lot of people to dig a hole and another to fill it in?
If the older people would retire earlier they would open new jobs to the younger generation. By leaving where the older people work opens that door to younger job seekers which are waiting to fill it. When older people retire they will be still buying stuff to live, just not as much , so they will induce a market in which the businesses will be able to capitalize upon and create more jobs as well.
Then there would be fewer jobs for the youth because the older people still buy stuff when they retire and they need help with their medical conditions which the younger people will have more jobs to have in order to fill those needs. Your solution, although I know its sarcastic, isn't a very smart idea in many ways.
But America can just print more and more money to cover its debts whiile Greece, Italy and Spain cannot. The ability to print your own money will be just one way America satisfies all of its debts while the other countries will have to find alternative ways, like cutting government jobs, to bring down their debt.
I'm really becoming concerned about you now. When was your last visit to your mental health professional? :crazy:
And they have mostly young people working in them as well. Wonder what would happen if there were no old people for them to help? Perhaps there won't be any jobs as well for the younger people to work at to earn enough for their families to live.
