Posted on 01/20/2023 2:53:27 AM PST by blueplum
More than a million people have joined a day of protests and strikes, according to France's interior ministry, against plans to push back the age of retirement from 62 to 64.
Some 80,000 protesters took to the streets of Paris, with demonstrations in 200 more French cities.
President Emmanuel Macron called the reforms "just and responsible" - but they are facing a make-or-break moment....
The head of the big CGT union, Philippe Martinez, put the total number of protesters at beyond two million...
...The prime minister invoked the principle of "inter-generational solidarity" to justify the decision to make people work longer. Under the French system, very few people have personal pension plans linked to capital investments.
Instead, the pensions of those who are retired are paid from the same common fund into which those in work are contributing every month...
... the ratio between those working and those in retirement is diminishing rapidly.
From four workers per retiree 50 years ago, the ratio has fallen to around 1.7 per retiree today, and will sink further in the years ahead.
Nearly all other European countries have taken steps to raise the official retirement age, with Italy and Germany, for example, on 67 and Spain on 65. In the UK it is currently 66....
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Just more evidence that Europe is running out of other people’s money.
Our scumedia in this country have been given orders not to report what goes on around the world for fear of solidarity. ABC world report is a carefully filtered line of bullsh##
Lazy frenchmen demand other people take care of them.
What’s the workweek in France? 35 hours. What’s short in hours is long in years.
I’m surprised this is even an issue in a European country. They figured out the solution a long time ago. Set the retirement age at 55 and then euthanize people when they start to cost the government too much.
People can still retire at 62. They just have to pay for it themselves.
In the USA they keep raising the retirement age to keep SSN solvent. NOTE: after SSN cashes in the store of government bonds they have bought over the years and hits PAY AS YOU GO, Everyone takes a 20% cut in their SSN check.
That 20% cut was included in the original 1930’s Act and is still law.
Here is the promise made for Americans back in 1964...Bookmark these links as they are very hard to find on the SS web page!
https://www.ssa.gov/history/ssa/usa1964-2.html
“Self-Supporting”
“The program is designed so that contributions plus interest on the investments of the social security trust funds will be sufficient to meet all of the costs of benefits and administration, now and into the indefinite future—without any subsidy from the general funds of the Government.
Both the Congress and the Executive Branch, regardless of political party in power, have scrupulously provided in advance for full financing of all liberalizations in the program.”
And here is where your money went! Read and Weep!
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html#n4
What’s the workweek in France? 35 hours. What’s short in hours is long in years.
Which, like Obamacare, is no guarantee, except guaranteed to make things more dysfunctional, convoluted, expensive, and destructive.
The nationality is immaterial. It's the mindset.
When the root operating principle is that the government gives because government rules, soap box --> ballot box --> benefits box --> pine box.
So many fresh flowers!
Old mentalities die hard.
I was just referring to the government-devised standard:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/35-hour_workweek
Government anything should be treated like fire.
Controlled, highly supervised burns only. It has no self control.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.