French workers protest plan to increase retirement age
One big challenge I see with the whole business about pension reform (and government spending in fact) as a public debate is that two sides are talking on totally different planes.  In France, and someday very soon, here in the US.  And the public in a certain sense, will problematically have to end up voting a simple yes&#x2F;no on extremely complex topics which are incentivized to push buttons on single issues.  cf. Brexit.<p>On the one side (hopefully meaningful to this crowd) is a group that when confronted with the sheer numbers involved and tradeoffs that would make any dent in the coming demographic-driven bankruptcy (shorthand name for it), have to keep things running and try to come up with the actually mathematically workable or &quot;implement this decision&quot; plans with the resources they have.  Not aspirations.<p>Take a look at this for example:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;interactive&#x2F;2023&#x2F;03&#x2F;06&#x2F;upshot&#x2F;balancing-budget-painful-spending-cuts.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;interactive&#x2F;2023&#x2F;03&#x2F;06&#x2F;upshot&#x2F;balanc...</a><p>See those numbers&#x2F;scenarios, there is no getting around the severity of the situation.<p>Then on the other plane, there are people (politicians, and people in general in the country) who deal in &quot;symbols&quot; and qualitative statements about what they think who is entitled to, what was promised, etc.  &quot;Eat the rich!&quot; etc.<p>And lately it seems, rarely the twain shall meet.  Or at least, it&#x27;s quite rare to find leaders who are equally incentivized or capable of handling both sides of this adeptly.    Also, the people who don&#x27;t understand the numbers generally tend to shout and insist they&#x27;re right.   On the other hand, numbers people don&#x27;t usually shout (and underplay the severity of coming problems; the type that analyzes is usually civil about it).   Also, and this is an evolving thought -- I don&#x27;t think democracies are very well suited to allocating the pain of a country&#x27;s long-term downturn very well, or having people understand when your country&#x27;s resources are actually decreasing.<p>One thing is for sure -- there is a massive unpleasant reckoning coming in terms of what benefits and tax rates people believed they would experience.   There is no magic getting out of this hole, it will be one of &#x2F; combination of:<p>-- taxes will rise (for whom?)<p>-- benefits will decrease (for whom?)<p>-- retirement age will increase<p>-- borrowing will increase (from whom?)<p>And undoubtedly it will largely fall on the next generations.  Or just in time for my retirement.