The IMF wants to kill pensioners!

[Doggy Styles]

Up the state retirement age to 70 instead.

In fact, link it to the average life expectancy, set at working for 70% of our lives.

[doodab]

This is why I have never understood governments obsession with stopping people smoking, speeding, over eating etc. We are not short of people, in fact we have too many.

The trouble is they don't just die they tend to cost a small fortune first.

[Doggy Styles]

The trouble is they don't just die they tend to cost a small fortune first.

But tobacco duty brings in a large fortune to pay for smoker illnesses, with plenty left over (for doctors 'n' nurses etc...)

[BrilloPad]

Yup.

Stop feeding them pills like the pills were smarties.

Its not just the pills. Its the operations.

[Gonzo]

The trouble is they don't just die they tend to cost a small fortune first.

They spend a lot in taxes and don't get to claim a pension for long - it's a win-win situation.

[lukemg]

This is why I have never understood governments obsession with stopping people smoking, speeding, over eating etc. We are not short of people, in fact we have too many.

Totally agree, there is clearly no way of sustaining the expected numbers in old age, plus I would much rather a decent innings then keel over quick than 10 years sat in my own fluids watching the world go by...

[KaiserWilly]

This is the point. Whem my grandmother was 94 she had totally outlived her usefulness to society. But she still meant alot to me. I miss her alot. Despite her being a cantankerous old bag, she had good advice.

Possibly.

My wife's granny is 91. She can't hardly move. She needs assistance 24/7. She is being taken care of in a nursing home. Cost: 800 GBP per week. She sold her house to pay for the residence.

Fine, you'll say. She saved / invested for the old age and she deserves it.

Or you'll say that in a last act of selfishness, she's eating my wife's inheritance.

Both sides are right. Old people deserve some comfort if they want to. But that also prevents young people from "enjoying" now. Resources are finite, and if they go into old people, they don't go into young people. Not to mention the army of carers imported from Africa to look after the old.

My plan, when I am 91, a cyanide pill und auf Wiedersehen.

[escapeUK]

Or you'll say that in a last act of selfishness, she's eating my wife's inheritance.

With today's life expectancy by the time I get any money from mine it will have ceased to matter.

[TheBigD]

Up the state retirement age to 70 instead.

In fact, link it to the average life expectancy, set at working for 70% of our lives.

Good idea, but with only a finite number of jobs, we end up with more young people being unemployed if older people work for longer.

Increasing the size of the economy would sort this.

[AtW]

Cheap solution to the pensions problem - increase retirement age to 100.