Germany is weighing sweeping pension changes, including raising the retirement age to 70. Meanwhile, football fans are celebrating after the men's national side qualified for the World Cup knockout stage.
Then I want to to retire earlier, so fewer years worked
While I believe, that even a 4 day week and earlier retirement is possible, that was not the premise in our discussion. The premise was, that one could reduce work time. And if you can do a 4 day week, you could also do a 5-day week and retire earlier. After all, the output produced during your lifetime would be the same. So, if one is possible, the other is as well.
The society has means to supply them at a basic level of sussistence, no more
Even more. Do you think Amazon would run out of flatscreens in our hypothetical scenario? I doubt it. Probably not everybody could receive a 70 ft Yacht, but the vast majority could not afford that nowadays or if they worked, idk, three years longer ¯_(ツ)_/¯. We could easily sustain the hypouhetical retirees life standard, ez.
not just because the state redistributed wealth left and right.
That was the main contributing factor, though. It is easier, when the country is in ruins and everybody is piss poor. But after the recent years we approach the latter once again. But with what the redistribution helps: money is spend fast. That is important for the economy to flourish and everybody profiting from it. Right now, the surplus is pocketed and ‘invested’ in real estate, or shares. That does not help anybody. If you hand that money to people with no assets, they buy shit. Cars, food, gardening tools, whatever. Then production is expanded, workers are paid more. As a government you have to make the money flow around. Easiest way to achieve that? Be Robin Hood and give to the poor. They will spend the money.
While I believe, that even a 4 day week and earlier retirement is possible, that was not the premise in our discussion. The premise was, that one could reduce work time. And if you can do a 4 day week, you could also do a 5-day week and retire earlier. After all, the output produced during your lifetime would be the same. So, if one is possible, the other is as well.
Even more. Do you think Amazon would run out of flatscreens in our hypothetical scenario? I doubt it. Probably not everybody could receive a 70 ft Yacht, but the vast majority could not afford that nowadays or if they worked, idk, three years longer ¯_(ツ)_/¯. We could easily sustain the hypouhetical retirees life standard, ez.
That was the main contributing factor, though. It is easier, when the country is in ruins and everybody is piss poor. But after the recent years we approach the latter once again. But with what the redistribution helps: money is spend fast. That is important for the economy to flourish and everybody profiting from it. Right now, the surplus is pocketed and ‘invested’ in real estate, or shares. That does not help anybody. If you hand that money to people with no assets, they buy shit. Cars, food, gardening tools, whatever. Then production is expanded, workers are paid more. As a government you have to make the money flow around. Easiest way to achieve that? Be Robin Hood and give to the poor. They will spend the money.