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133 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 4 Jan \ on: Pensions and average wages in low population countries econ

Declining population and high costs compared to productivity are the issues.

In defined benefit pension systems, which I think is what tend to exist in Europe, the current workers pay the benefits of the current retirees. These tend to just be Ponzi schemes and fall apart if the working population stops growing.

US pensions have largely transitioned to defined contribution systems. These are actuarially sounds, because each worker sets aside money (involuntarily) for their own retirement. These retirement funds are often able to be invested as the individually wishes, within a variety of constraints. The issue is that poor investments can lead to insufficient funds to actually support the retiree.

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69 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder OP 5 Jan

yeah, most of Europe , if not all, is current workers paying for retirees, of course, if you tried to do a US-style system, I don't know if people would go for it because Europeans are, generally, terrified of investing, they just want their cash in the bank with 1% interest

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 5 Jan

You could do defined contribution that way. People just wouldn’t have to be really frugal in retirement.

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69 sats \ 2 replies \ @Fenix 4 Jan

Any pension system are a scam scheme. The most common is the Ponzi as you said.

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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 4 Jan

Yes, defined contribution plans are a scam that funnels capital to the corporate donors who own the approved investment vehicles.

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69 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fenix 4 Jan

EXACTLY! Perfect observation.

They paid us bad inflated money and steal a bit to fund the creation of new ones, cleaned and not inflated.

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