Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

telegraph.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–380 of 1001 posts

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#371

Post by Spivak »

nradov wrote: post #359
joelthelion wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, productivity has improved tremendously. It's not clear that we actually need everyone working.

Productivity improvements have been partially eaten up by cost of living increases. We don't need everyone working, but how do we decide who has to work and who gets stuff for free? Should workers pay higher taxes to support more retirees?

Yes? Old age, and to an extent disability, are great systems for deciding this because unless you die young everyone becomes both.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#372

Post by johnny22 »

cyberax wrote: post #366
neom wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a sense of how you see it playing out?

It'll keep getting worse, as more and more people concentrate into large cities. And large cities are family-hostile. The birth rate in cities is strongly anti-correlated with the city size. People just don't feel content and happy to have children in dense cities. Japan is very illustrative in this regard. Young people are forced into unaffordable cities, where they often live in cramped shoebox-sized apartments. Wh…

> The birth rate in cities is strongly anti-correlated with the city size.

This might be true, but could be for many reasons. There's not enough info in that to promote a specific response.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#373

Post by neom »

cyberax wrote: post #366
neom wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a sense of how you see it playing out?

It'll keep getting worse, as more and more people concentrate into large cities. And large cities are family-hostile. The birth rate in cities is strongly anti-correlated with the city size. People just don't feel content and happy to have children in dense cities. Japan is very illustrative in this regard. Young people are forced into unaffordable cities, where they often live in cramped shoebox-sized apartments. Wh…

Do you envision we will see any forced egalitarian land/wealth distribution?

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#374

Post by wat10000 »

glorygut123 wrote: post #335
gandalfian wrote: post #272

Denmark, 6 million wealthy people, 4% economic growth, 1.5% inflation, 2.9% unemployment, national debt of 25% of GDP and budget in surplus. How did it all go so right?

If they're raising the retirement age, then it obviously didn't all go so right,

That depends on what driving it. If it’s because the budget was unsustainable and needs to be cut, that’s bad. If it’s because people are living longer, then it’s just an unfortunate consequence of good things. I suspect it’s the latter.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#375

Post by codethief »

joelthelion wrote: post #319
droopyEyelids wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re not working like idiots, they have universal unionization and lots of time off.

You can have the best working conditions in the world, it still sucks to have to work if you don't want to.

Well, yeah, life is largely about work. Retirement and living very comfortably off of one's savings/pension is a rather new phenomenon, and I'm not even sure it's a good one (in terms of health impact).

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#376

Post by slater »

nradov wrote: post #359
joelthelion wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, productivity has improved tremendously. It's not clear that we actually need everyone working.

Productivity improvements have been partially eaten up by cost of living increases. We don't need everyone working, but how do we decide who has to work and who gets stuff for free? Should workers pay higher taxes to support more retirees?

> Should workers pay higher taxes to support more retirees?

With what money? The poor folk don't have any by definition, the middle class is being squeezed out of existence, which leaves... who...?

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#377

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Robotbeat wrote: post #295
manmal wrote: post #288

Where I live, people have issues getting hired past age 50, and it’s near impossible past age 60. It’s a stroke of luck if you score a job then. So yes they can raise retirement age, but that will just create misery for all those who can’t cling to a job long enough. There‘s got to be a better way.

Part of the reason employees are reticent to hire someone past 50 is before they worry they’ll retire soon, even if they’re mentally and physically in good shape. So increasing the retirement age might actually improve the ability of folks in their 50s to find work. Not saying this is a great trend, but it’s unavoidable due to the low fertility rate (already a problem everywhere in the developed world and soon to be…

I don't buy this at all. I've hired many people in my career, and:

1. I've never had more than a max 2 year time horizon when thinking about a hire.

2. If anything, I've found younger people more likely to job hop than those 40+.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#378

Post by dkga »

cyberax wrote: post #366
neom wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a sense of how you see it playing out?

It'll keep getting worse, as more and more people concentrate into large cities. And large cities are family-hostile. The birth rate in cities is strongly anti-correlated with the city size. People just don't feel content and happy to have children in dense cities. Japan is very illustrative in this regard. Young people are forced into unaffordable cities, where they often live in cramped shoebox-sized apartments. Wh…

This is a very sensible comment. One thing that could explain why I see (subjectively) a lot more bigger families in Switzerland where I live compared to other places in Europe is that cities‘ size is „just right“, so having a family to start with is much easier than in large, urban areas.

Re: Denmark to raise retirement age to 70

#379

Post by joelthelion »

stevesimmons wrote: post #370
joelthelion wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet they all have to work like idiots until they're 70, whether they like it or not. I feel they could do better than that with all this wealth.

They don't all have to work to age 70. Anyone can stop working earlier, and fund their own retirement.

That's true. But I'd argue that everyone is better off when most people can chose to retire early, rather than the select few who are smart and disciplined enough to plan an early retirement.
Post reply on HN