Post BAARAwMzfRz5ckjlBY by IngaLovinde@embracing.space
 (DIR) More posts by IngaLovinde@embracing.space
 (DIR) Post #BAARAwMzfRz5ckjlBY by IngaLovinde@embracing.space
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       @futurebird 401ks and generally the way how the money are "invested" is just a very small part of the picture. You cannot eat money after all.The retired people need to eat, need healthcare etc. Someone has to grow food, provide healthcare etc.Things were fine when there were like ten workers per each retired person (due to lower expected lifespan _and_ higher birth rate), and so maintaining decent quality of life for retired people was just a small fraction of the total output.But when there are e.g. two retired people per each worker, the math just doesn't math. No matter how you juggle the finances and what is the interest rate on savings etc; calculating monetary values is just a tool that loses its usefulness at this scale and at this time frame. We can somehow perform some financial tricks and ensure that every retired person in the era of "two retired persons per worker" will be getting ten thousand dollars per months, but this will just mean that the loaf of bread will now be several hundred dollars (you can try to derive the exact price from inflation, and derive the exact inflation from a bunch of other indicators, or you can just consider that X% of the workers are employed in bread factories and that bread output is Y loaves per worker per month).Sure we can talk about how retirement funds are defrauded, or how the country is not very great, etc, but this doesn't change the main reason behind changing retirement age. The main reason is that people now live longer lives, but more importantly, that the birth rate is just not the same (not sure about USA specifically, but this is especially the case in Europe).
       
 (DIR) Post #BAAUwn1i0b0iPPHzTU by cshlan@dawdling.net
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       @IngaLovinde @futurebird The answer to that is immigration but they hate that, too.
       
 (DIR) Post #BAAWQcSpwaOKI8lXe4 by Jestbill@mastodon.world
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       @IngaLovinde @futurebirdMight need a tad fewer real estate agents .....Automation produces more bread with fewer bakers.