Retirement age and youth unemployment

[Vague_Boy]

Due to the mis management of pension funds,coupled with increased life expectancy

The latter rather more than the former.

 

The underlying reason is that medical advances over the last few decades have greatly prolonged our life span, forcing the pensions industry to support a greater number of pensioners for longer periods.

 

Government figures show that average life expectancy in the UK rose by five years for men and four years for women between 1980 and 2000.

 

But the problem has been exacerbated in recent years by dwindling stock market returns.

 

Pension funds depend on steady stock market returns to pay policyholders.

 

And when share prices fall - as they have been doing for the last two years - it becomes harder for funds to meet their obligations.

LINK

 

Although Gordon Brown (yes, it's that man again) and his pension raids didn't help.

 

Brown's raid on pensions costs Britain £100 billion

[RJRB]

I agree with most of the considered points rased by 1978,and it really is a complex subject.

We cannot argue with the fact that people live longer,and there is therefore an increased cost in pensions.

The trouble is that the extra years are added on at the end of your life and does not mean that there is a healthier population of 50/60/70'year olds.

It is still at these ages where the population starts to get creaking joints,failing memories and all the issues that the ageing process brings.

The most productive years for most people is in their 30s to 50s,where they have the drive and experience .

Medical advances have done more to extend old age than to improve the general health of the population.

This is great if it is coupled with a good quality of life.

I am fortunate in that I was able to retire in my early 60s,not because I wanted to do nothing,but because I wanted to do more of what I enjoyed.This suited all concerned because I was also aware of a bit of a gap between me and the next generation who were itching to have their day.

When I was young it seemed that a large number of people retired worn out ,and then died within a short time.

From this we progressed to having a working life followed by a healthy retirement period.

We now seem to be heading back the other way which I think is not the ideal model.

[grafikhaus74]

I agree.

 

I love the way the fact that most of us will need to keep working till we drop has been dressed up as an 'opportunity'

 

I would not want to work past 65 for the simple reason that I'm knackered, as are many people of that age. (And I don't smoke or drink.)

 

Neither do I appreciate people being told they 'must save more for their pension.' I'm sure they would if they could, but people's finances are having to stretch in every direction and they have little extra cash to spare for a pension. Besides in the current situation would you trust a bank to look after your money?

 

Well said (as usual), Anna B.

 

Things like arthritis, rheumatism - even Alzheimer's aren't being considered with this oh-so-generous offer to work till people drop.

 

And the 'we're not saving enough for our pensions' is classic politician-speak - laying the blame firmly at our door when over half of what you earn has gone before you even see it on tax and taxes-on-tax. And any bit we can save is subject to criminally-low rates of interest or other ways the banks can get their hands on more of our money. Politicians, on the other hand, have no such worries. They've made sure the system they set up will serve them well. Even when they get kicked out, they get a five-figure 'hardship' payment - even if the reason they got kicked out was their own criminality (Heather Blears, Jacqui Smith and soon Chris Huhne).

 

This is just the start. We're being softened up for a Greek-style austerity that will surpass anything we've seen before.

 

Who is to blame? The politicians and banks. And who will escape all this? You guessed it.

[cuttsie]

Well said (as usual), Anna B.

 

Things like arthritis, rheumatism - even Alzheimer's aren't being considered with this oh-so-generous offer to work till people drop.

 

And the 'we're not saving enough for our pensions' is classic politician-speak - laying the blame firmly at our door when over half of what you earn has gone before you even see it on tax and taxes-on-tax. And any bit we can save is subject to criminally-low rates of interest or other ways the banks can get their hands on more of our money. Politicians, on the other hand, have no such worries. They've made sure the system they set up will serve them well. Even when they get kicked out, they get a five-figure 'hardship' payment - even if the reason they got kicked out was their own criminality (Heather Blears, Jacqui Smith and soon Chris Huhne).

 

This is just the start. We're being softened up for a Greek-style austerity that will surpass anything we've seen before.

 

Who is to blame? The politicians and banks. And who will escape all this? You guessed it.

One of our Sheffield recently retired socialist M.p,s got a six figure sum resettlement grant even though he had lived in the same house for 40 years.

This on top of all the other massive pension entitlements, talk about we are all in it together.

[Uptowngirl]

You cannot have people being retired for even longer periods without finding a magic way of funding it.

We are currently exporting record amounts of manufactured goods, but we are also importing even more. If some of the 80% of people who buy imported cars bought British buillt ones, or folks drank British beer instead of crap from Mexico we would not only create hundreds of thousands of jobs but would also contribute billions in taxes.

It is a very simple solution to a difficult problem. It doesn't help the UK economy very much when someone buys a new Hyundai.

[Anna B]

You cannot have people being retired for even longer periods without finding a magic way of funding it.

We are currently exporting record amounts of manufactured goods, but we are also importing even more. If some of the 80% of people who buy imported cars bought British buillt ones, or folks drank British beer instead of crap from Mexico we would not only create hundreds of thousands of jobs but would also contribute billions in taxes.

It is a very simple solution to a difficult problem. It doesn't help the UK economy very much when someone buys a new Hyundai.

 

The trouble is we don't make our own cars anymore (Morgan is the exception I think, but it's tiny.) We've sold them all to other countries.

 

We build cars here for other countries, so while we might get the jobs, Japan et al will get the profits.

 

Same story with lots of products. It's very difficult to actually buy British these days

[Uptowngirl]

The trouble is we don't make our own cars anymore (Morgan is the exception I think, but it's tiny.) We've sold them all to other countries.

 

We build cars here for other countries, so while we might get the jobs, Japan et al will get the profits.

 

Same story with lots of products. It's very difficult to actually buy British these days

 

That hardly matters. Making a Nissan here meand jobs at the factory, in component maufacture and in the UK steel industry. Nissan also pay corporation tax here. It is far better for our economy for someone to buy a UK built car than buying a Renault or VW.

[RJRB]

That hardly matters. Making a Nissan here meand jobs at the factory, in component maufacture and in the UK steel industry. Nissan also pay corporation tax here. It is far better for our economy for someone to buy a UK built car than buying a Renault or VW.

 

We tried the "I'm backing Britain " campaign many years ago and it didn't work.

Consumer good manufacture ,such as cars,white goods, electrical equipment largely disappeared from these shores because of quality issues or price.

Successive governments have allowed our manufacturing base to shrink.

It would be a good example for the government to lead the way and give contracts to what is left of our industry.

[Rupert_Baehr]

We tried the "I'm backing Britain " campaign many years ago and it didn't work.

Consumer good manufacture ,such as cars,white goods, electrical equipment largely disappeared from these shores because of quality issues or price.

 

 

Successive governments have allowed our manufacturing base to shrink.

 

But you said in the first part I quoted that people were unwilling to buy consumer goods manufactured in the UK because the price was too high and the quality was too low. How is/was the government responsible for that?

 

It would be a good example for the government to lead the way and give contracts to what is left of our industry.

 

Would you like them to spend more of your money on inferior goods? - Or should they spend your money wisely on high-quality goods?

 

British manufacturers of mass-produced low-tech goods can't compete with manufacturers of the same items in emerging economies , but they can - and do - compete successfully against foreign manufacturers in high-technology manufacturing.