One big challenge I see with the whole business about pension reform (and government spending in fact) as a public debate is that two sides are talking on totally different planes. In France, and someday very soon, here in the US. And the public in a certain sense, will problematically have to end up voting a simple yes/no on extremely complex topics which are incentivized to push buttons on single issues. cf. Brexit…
Pardon my language but where the f** is all this money going? Is it even humanly possible for a group of regular joes to audit where all the money is going? I think thats the first thing that HAS to happen, a clear transparent audit down to the penny. As a coder, this kind of complexity just drives me up the wall. Also on a side note, I love how sneaky that NY Times article leaves out the option to cut defense . Afte…
French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
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Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#222One big challenge I see with the whole business about pension reform (and government spending in fact) as a public debate is that two sides are talking on totally different planes. In France, and someday very soon, here in the US. And the public in a certain sense, will problematically have to end up voting a simple yes/no on extremely complex topics which are incentivized to push buttons on single issues. cf. Brexit…
Pardon my language but where the f** is all this money going? Is it even humanly possible for a group of regular joes to audit where all the money is going? I think thats the first thing that HAS to happen, a clear transparent audit down to the penny. As a coder, this kind of complexity just drives me up the wall. Also on a side note, I love how sneaky that NY Times article leaves out the option to cut defense . Afte…
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every single pension system has the working population pay for the retirees. Where do you think the money comes from? Thin air? Any increase in the value of pension funds (for example) is coming from the workers.
> Every single pension system has the working population pay for the retirees. Where do you think the money comes from? Disagree. Counter-examples: 401k in the US Second pillar in Switzerland. The money comes from the people saving and investing their own money for their old age. Shocker, I know.
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#224The idea of relying on the government for your retirement is insane to me, for exactly this reason. You're willing to bet your life that the government is always going to do right by you? Save your own money. If Social Security exists by the time I retire, great. I'm planning as if it won't.
Its crazy that we give 6.2% of our paycheck (and another 6.2% from our employer) and we can't expect much in return.
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then people don't invest in France as much for fear of having their wealth nationalised and invest in neighbouring countries instead. Then the middle class leaves to the better jobs in the neighbouring countries.
Are you under the impression that most wealth in a country comes from rich people? Because observation over the past few decades strongly suggests it's the reverse. Rich people drain money out of the economy; working people create value, and thus wealth. Or what do you think is going to happen? The billionaires will pull out, but they'll make sure to retain ownership of all the businesses they ran—and fire everyone,…
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#226That's what you get when 60%+ of the wealth generated in the last two years went to the top 1% and you ask the bottom 80% to work two years longer to cover for an imaginary deficit fyi taxing the 40 richest people in France 2% more would cover the same amount of money as having the entire active population work 2 more years. edit: since it's not clear, I'm talking about pension related debt (the main argument of the…
> fyi taxing the 40 richest people in France 2% more would cover the same amount of money as having the entire active population work 2 more years. My back-of-the-envelope calculations: Sum of wealth of top 40 richest people in France: 556 billion [1] Annual income of top 40 richest people in France, assuming 10% growth of wealth: 56 billion 2% additional tax on that income: 1 billion Size of active working populatio…
Unrealized capital gains aren't "income". Are the words "wealth tax" scary or something?
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where in your link does it say taxing the ultra wealthy would be enough to cover the pension shortfall? I'll give you a hint: nowhere.
> Oxfam France a calculé que seulement 2% de la fortune des milliardaires français suffirait à financer le déficit attendu des retraites.
> taxing the 40 richest people in France 2% more...
That quote is about a 2% wealth tax.
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#228Top 10% wealthy of population in France holds almost 50% of net wealth of the country, which is around $16 trillion. That gives $8 trillion that could be taxed at higher rates, which is a far greater pool to extract from than just billionaires discussed throughout this thread.
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every single pension system has the working population pay for the retirees. Where do you think the money comes from? Thin air? Any increase in the value of pension funds (for example) is coming from the workers.
The money is just an entry in the accounting ledger allocating society's labor. The pension fund can increase to trillions and quadrillions, and it will not make a difference if there is not enough people willing to change bedpans for as low of a price as was originally expected.
If caring for the elderly is made more valuable than say, slinging JavaScript, that’s where some of the labor will go.
Re: French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every single pension system has the working population pay for the retirees. Where do you think the money comes from? Thin air? Any increase in the value of pension funds (for example) is coming from the workers.
> Every single pension system has the working population pay for the retirees. Nope. At least not completely. Canada switched away from a pure pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system in the 1990s: > Move towards a hybrid structure to take advantage of investment earnings on accumulated assets. Instead of a "pay-as-you-go" structure, the CPP is expected to be 20 per cent funded by 2014, such funding ratio to constantly increase t…