[quote=davelj][quote=davelj]This whole notion of “retirement” is a mid- to late-20th century industrial economy phenomenon that will soon be looked back on as an historical anomaly. It cannot and will not last – the math is overwhelming. 90%+ of folks in the US should be prepared to work at least part-time until a few years prior to dying… and living with relatives in their old age. Learn to love it.[/quote]
Yes, I’m repeating myself. Forget about “retirement” and focus on the fact that the vast majority of folks will likely be working well into their 70s. People need to dramatically readjust to reality, which has been obscured by governments/municipalities/corporations kicking the can down the road for several decades now. The jig is up.
Here’s a pretty good synopsis (sections 4 and 5 deal with more current issues):
Pension plans date back to at least the Roman Empire when soldiers were given pensions when they retired from the army. There is a very long history of pensions for soldiers, and this extended to other government workers as time progressed.
As your link points out, the notion of a formal “retirement” primarily came about as a result of industrialization and urbanization. Before that, people would live with their families, and were cared for by relatives. In my own family, which has a long documented history going back hundreds of years, I have yet to find a single instance when an elderly person was thrown out on the streets to fend for him/herself.
Many elderly people spent decades living with, and being cared for, by younger relatives all throughout human history. Industrialization has changed all of that. We can either go back in time where most people worked on farms or in family businesses (which I wouldn’t really mind), or we can deal with the consequences of what we have created in this lovely capitalist system of ours. We cannot neglect the elderly simply because they have become an “inconvenience” in this capitalist system we are all supposed to love and embrace.
Another thing to consider is when youth un/under-employment is so high, are we really doing society any favors by keeping elderly people in positions that they are no longer really suited for (especially in jobs requiring physical work)? Is it good for society to keep young people — especially young men — out of the productive workforce, earning meager wages IF they do manage to find a job, and with a lot of time on their hands?
With a few tweaks, we can largely fix our retirement systems, but it will require sacrifice on the part of those who have (wrongly and unethically, IMHO) benefitted the most over the past ~30 years. We will also need to re-evaluate how the Federal Reserve works, and consider whether or not inflation/inflation-targeting is part of the problem (I think it is). We need to see a reversal of the economic trends seen over the past ~30 years WRT income/wealth inequality and the power shifts between labor and capital.
