There are two issues with the French system that are of note, and I am aware of these things because of my partner living in Paris, and a friend who is an expat in Montreal:
- culturally, the French feel they have paid into a system, and what is rightfully theirs has been stolen
- the system allows for gross inequity—a person who joins the system at 18, and a person who joins at 33, upon retirement, will receive the same pension
What is happening there is happening in every Western nation because of inverted population pyramids as caused by the rapid decline of birth rates to below that necessary to maintain the population.
Of course, the biggest reason people are not parenting children, as said by the normative reproductive cohort themselves, is economic.
I appreciate the French anger, but at the same time, I understand that the numbers simply do not work. That’s divorced from all else. It’s the numbers, nothing personal.
Regarding the United States, I’m Gen-X, so I say whatever. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But not really—I care, but there is nothing I can do. I was born right before the post-WW2 economic boom was in its final breaths before death.
This is perhaps not the end of capitalism, but it is going to be one of the great resets. I’m not sure what that’s going to look like.
The social contract was slain on the altar of Mammon, and I don’t think one can come back from that.
Retirement is only for those who are privileged. SS is a social safety net to protect the young, as it keeps the aged docile enough to not absolutely lose their shit.
Mass wealth extraction always comes with a societal bill, and it is necessarily expensive. Goings-on will be predicated upon ever-narrowing margins, until the veneer itself is stripped away, and the true cost is revealed.
The Plan™—do these things, in this order, so as to eat the sweet fruit of the tree—has been shown to be a scam, because as people did each step, the rug was pulled from beneath them.
The poor of Gen-X, Millennials, Gen-Z, Alphas, and those who will follow, will not work until they die unless they die of overwork (likely). The agism bugaboo will prevent that, and it’s only getting worse.
To what end? I don’t know, but it seems a right and proper dystopia.
Cheers,
Ian