Brits to 'work until they drop' ?

[marmar]

from the Independent UK:



Men's pension age up to 66 from 2016
By Alan Jones, Press Association

Thursday, 24 June 2010


The Government was accused today of making people "work until they drop" under plans to increase the pension age.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith was providing more detail on plans to scrap the default retirement age which allows employers to get rid of staff when they reach the age of 65.

The state pension age for men is set to rise from 65 to 66 from 2016 - nearly a decade earlier than the last government was planning.

Ministers will raise the possibility of extending the pension age to 70 and even older in the following decades to "reinvigorate retirement".

Unions reacted with anger to the news, accusing the Government of showing its "class bias" just weeks after gaining power.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, said: "The Government knows that manual workers in the industrial regions of the UK do not enjoy anything like the same life expectancy as professionals or other classes or employees. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mens-pension-age-up-to-66-from-2016-2009087.html

[xchrom]

1. it's going to get very interesting in britain over the

next few months.

let's see if people really wanna go back to thatcher.

[dipsydoodle]

2. General demographics

are litte different here in the UK than elsewhere. The state pensions are in effect are paid by those still working which are a diminishing percentage of the population.

[SheilaT]

15. In the U.S., social security

is paid by those still working. The age to get full benefits has already gone up from 65 to 66, although you can choose to take reduced benefits as early as age 62.

[treestar]

3. Overall people are in better health at older ages than 50 years ago

This could be something to point out that having a national health plan helps, too.

[Flatulo]

4. Pension? That's a fucking laugh. There's no such thing anymore in the States.

I'll be working up to the monent I die, and that's only if I'm lucky enough to keep a job.

[marmar]

5. True.....Pensions are a novel 20th century concept here in Los Estados Unidos.

nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. They abolished Social Security already?

I'm surprised it wasn't noted on DU at the time. :shrug:

[Tailormyst]

8. My only pension will be social security- if that hasn't been "reformed" yet

I'll probably work until I can't work any more and then wander off somewhere.

[whyverne]

6. With unemployment at 8% they want to raise the retirement age?

Brilliant!

I'm scared it's going to happen in the States too. I lost everything to divorce and the Great Recession. One of the only things keeping me going was the thought if I could make it a few more years, till Social Security, I'd be all right.

Now I'm wondering if that rug is about to pulled out.

[RKP5637]

10. I had all of my ducks lined up for older years, did all the right things, the whole

bit, and now I've watched one by one fall apart through no fault of my own. I also paid into SS, did all the right stuff, and now I'm wondering if that will be around, or even health care. The politicians destroyed SS with their stupid IOUs.

About the only product this country has anymore is ignorance and war. I really doubt I will have anything in older years, I too am wondering if that rug is about to pulled out. In USA, Inc., people come last. I feel so sorry for the youth, I think they are really going to get screwed.

As many of my friends have said and I completely agree, the US has a good run of it after WWII, but now the US has fully screwed it all up and clings to an obsolete capitalistic system and maximized greed.

Oh, I keep forgetting, none of us want to work, we're just loafers, all those jobs around none wants... we're just a bunch of lazy fu**s.

[Javaman]

9. Meh, welcome to my world.

My "retirement plan" is to die at my desk.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. I see no problem with people working longer as they live longer. I'm 62 and have absolutely no

desire nor reason to stop working.

[sufrommich]

13. What kind of job do you do? A factory worker who started at

20 probably would not feel the same way.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. I'm in system analysis and programming. I've already retired from the corporate world after 30

years and am now in the academic world. Love my mainframes. Maybe somebody who has done the same repetitious work would like to retire earlier, and if a union worker, probably would have the opportunity to do so at an earlier age

[sufrommich]

12. Are state pensions in the UK comparable to social security here?

Are there private or union pensions too?

[dipsydoodle]

16. There are state and private pensions - not union.

Any money paid into private pensions isn't taxable subject to certain limits based on age. On retirement funds in a private pension are used to buy an annuity which then pays the pension.