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UK state pension age will soon need to rise to 71, say experts (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 9 months ago by CAVOK@lemmy.world to c/europe@feddit.de

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The way I see it there are three realistic choices a country can make.

Raise the pension age. Not very popular with the public as illustrated by protests everywhere this has been mentioned.
Increased migration. Not very popular with the public as seen by the rise of far right parties in both Europe and outside.
Lowered living standards. Not very popular because who wants to pay the same taxes but get less out of it?

This isn't a UK problem. It's the entire western world. And no, the populist idea of "just have more kids" doesn't solve it.

Any ideas?

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[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 25 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Option 4: tax the shit out of the rich.

This is the answer to most of the problems in most 1st world countries, but since the rich own all our governments the rest of us get a little less each year.

[–] letmesleep@feddit.de 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is the answer to most of the problems in most 1st world countries

A lot, but not this one. The rich are simply not rich enough to offset the demographic issues we have. In the last decades life expectancy rose months per year and even in America billionaires "only" own some 13k per person. With that you could offset ageing population and life expectancy changes for, two years maybe? It would be little more than a drop in the bucket.

[–] CAVOK@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Yeah, it's not popular but it's the truth.

I don't mind taxing the rich more, but that doesn't solve the problem as you say.