 Apparently
Otto von Bismarck did not set retirement age at 65 as the legends tell us. He
set it at 70 (he was 74 at the time). In 1889, Germany set up old age security
pensions. And this may have seemed an easy thing because only about 2% of
Germany's population reached that age and average life expectancy was 72. Was
this the grand birth of entitlements - or at least maybe that's when it got
it's smelly foothold. Compare in your imagination their simple program in 1889
to programs in 2019 when so many of the apparently poorly prepared boomers are
fully into those so-called retirement years. Government-addicts are going to
love such an opportunity.
In 1916 the age was lowered to 65. Most people today will reach well beyond age
65, so what are they going to do? More of the same apparently. An AFP story
says that Americans love to work, especially after retirement age.
Three-quarters of those working after age 65 expressed high satisfaction with
their jobs.
I'm not sure if "jobs" is the right word. Maybe careers - or if they've changed
careers in their later years, re-careers. It seems that retirement is for
people who had jobs, not careers. Quite often something they fell into, or
stayed in it with reluctance but still had responsibilities to keep getting
checks. The study notes that unskilled workers were the least satisfied with
their jobs. I would imagine their list of dissatisfactions would go far beyond
just work.
Brings to mind the Latin words, vocarè and educatè. Vocarè means "a calling"
and educatè means "to draw out what is already there." The better allignment of
those two characteristics would almost certainly reduce the need for
retirement. This also means that as far as I'm concerned career counselors have
a much bigger role to play in the future - I would even say they are essential
for a well designed economy (Full disclosure - my brother is a career
counselor). I worry about the ones who lack imagination, but these people
really are futurists - practical ones who help others decide and design their
own futures.
Here's some speculation on some options. They think OvB would have had to raise
the retirement age to at least 78. Today retirement in Germany is at 60 and
average life expectancy is 80. Why should the state or anybody else for that
matter pay for those "sunset years" as they were called in OvB's days?
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