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Pastimes : Laughter is the Best Medicine - Tell us a joke

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To: Mike 2.0 who wrote (15608)	8/8/2000 5:50:41 PM
From: PMS Witch	Read Replies (2) of 62549

Pension Ponzi ... Winners and losers: The really BIG winners are today's retired people. They will collect several times their contribution. The big losers are those who will contribute to the plan for a lifetime and never collect a cent. Fortunately for them, they've had ample warning that the plan is, or soon will be, bankrupt. They are also young enough that if they take their future into their own hands, they could still achieve a secure retirement. This isn't fair, but it is survivable. The really BIG pain will be felt by those who contributed for a lifetime fully expecting to retire comfortably. Many of these people also did not put into place any alternative. Their time has run out. They will reach retirement age soon and without provisions for support. The challenge, as I see it, is that we're heading for a society where fewer and fewer producers support more and more retired people. Current levels of support simply cannot be maintained: We simply can't afford it. The solution is to curtail benefits by either lowering the amount paid to each or paying the same amount to fewer retired people. When the current pension began (in Canada) the life expectancy was a little over sixty with payments beginning at seventy. This guaranteed many small contributors supporting few. Also, benefit levels were never meant to meet living needs entirely: They were to supplement private provisions. Today, people expect to live until eighty after retiring at fifty-five. We cannot possibly earn enough in a twenty-five year career to support a twenty-five year retirement. (Unless we're prepared to live our entire lives at a level of half our income during earning years.) You do have a good point. AARP members vote, politicians listen to voters, and the correct course of action requires tremendous courage: A commodity in short supply in politicians. Cheers, PW.

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