US Politics

[Wisbech Eagle]

I would say your house is your asset....don't take out any shared equity loans.

Fingers crossed on your public pension but I wouldn't have any expectations. I would say forget retirement as something permanent, work on your health so you can keep 'working' to some extent.....though obviously not full time.

Yeah, I know....it's pretty grim.

That's the future....generations of politicians have spunked up the wall for us. They thought turning your towns into the third world was some kind of future.....As if the third world were going to be workaholics and form German type trade guilds or something.

Low quality and ideological elites.

50 years ago the company I was working for, which was part of Bayer, could clearly see the way the future was likely to be and adapted strategies accordingly. They knew that with improved health care we would all live much longer, but at a big cost. They also knew that with a declining birth rate there wouldn’t be enough working age people to keep society functioning, let alone provide the care that the elderly needed.

Of course there was also talk about a leisure revolution, a time when automation took care of all routines, but this was dismissed as just wishful thinking.

For much of my life people could look forward to perhaps 10 or 15 years of retirement. Not today. Most expect much more than that, and to be active for most of it.

The solution is staring us in the face but we have only played with implementing it, because it is so politically unpopular that it’s a sure vote loser.

We need to increase the retirement age to a minimum of 75 for the fit and healthy, with part time provision made for those who aren’t. After 75 those who remain fit should be expected to work helping the less able retired for a few hours each week as a condition of receiving their state pension.

Something like this should have been gradually introduced 30 or 40 years ago so that by now it would be normal. Now it would be near to impossible to do enough quickly enough.

It would though greatly reduce our need for legal immigration, even if not eliminating it completely.

 

[Teddy Eagle]

50 years ago the company I was working for, which was part of Bayer, could clearly see the way the future was likely to be and adapted strategies accordingly. They knew that with improved health care we would all live much longer, but at a big cost. They also knew that with a declining birth rate there wouldn’t be enough working age people to keep society functioning, let alone provide the care that the elderly needed.

Of course there was also talk about a leisure revolution, a time when automation took care of all routines, but this was dismissed as just wishful thinking.

For much of my life people could look forward to perhaps 10 or 15 years of retirement. Not today. Most expect much more than that, and to be active for most of it.

The solution is staring us in the face but we have only played with implementing it, because it is so politically unpopular that it’s a sure vote loser.

We need to increase the retirement age to a minimum of 75 for the fit and healthy, with part time provision made for those who aren’t. After 75 those who remain fit should be expected to work helping the less able retired for a few hours each week as a condition of receiving their state pension.

Something like this should have been gradually introduced 30 or 40 years ago so that by now it would be normal. Now it would be near to impossible to do enough quickly enough.

It would though greatly reduce our need for legal immigration, even if not eliminating it completely.

This again? How many are capable of doing manual labour after the wear and tear of 50 years of it? I know several whose knees, backs and hips are wrecked well ahead of them being 70 let alone 75.
Most people experience cognitive decline at 70. What jobs are they,supposed to do?
Apart from being President of America of course.

 

[cryrst]

50 years ago the company I was working for, which was part of Bayer, could clearly see the way the future was likely to be and adapted strategies accordingly. They knew that with improved health care we would all live much longer, but at a big cost. They also knew that with a declining birth rate there wouldn’t be enough working age people to keep society functioning, let alone provide the care that the elderly needed.

Of course there was also talk about a leisure revolution, a time when automation took care of all routines, but this was dismissed as just wishful thinking.

For much of my life people could look forward to perhaps 10 or 15 years of retirement. Not today. Most expect much more than that, and to be active for most of it.

The solution is staring us in the face but we have only played with implementing it, because it is so politically unpopular that it’s a sure vote loser.

We need to increase the retirement age to a minimum of 75 for the fit and healthy, with part time provision made for those who aren’t. After 75 those who remain fit should be expected to work helping the less able retired for a few hours each week as a condition of receiving their state pension.

Something like this should have been gradually introduced 30 or 40 years ago so that by now it would be normal. Now it would be near to impossible to do enough quickly enough.

It would though greatly reduce our need for legal immigration, even if not eliminating it completely.

75 too old. I would go 70-72. That buys a bit of time. Just because you are fit and and healthy not everyone is.

 

[Spindle]

Tariffs on China.....

Volvo announces strategic plan to skirt US tariffs — and it could be a game changer for affordable EVs

In an effort to skirt steep tariffs on Chinese-made goods, Volvo plans to move some production of its electric vehicle stock to Europe — and will debut a new model in its wake.

www.thecooldown.com

 

[Spindle]

Get in. This is what needs to happen.

 

[Forest Hillbilly]

This again? How many are capable of doing manual labour after the wear and tear of 50 years of it? I know several whose knees, backs and hips are wrecked well ahead of them being 70 let alone 75.
Most people experience cognitive decline at 70. What jobs are they,supposed to do?
Apart from being President of America of course.

Gas appliance engineer ?

 

[Stirlingsays]

Get in. This is what needs to happen.

He should have done this fecker last term.

Democrats are in bed with looters and criminals.....antifa.

 

[Spindle]

Fair play those placards are hilarious😀

Jeremy Clarkson joins backlash as JD Vance holidays in the Cotswolds

Locals have expressed their frustrations and demonstrators have lined the streets after the US vice president and his motorcade arrived in the tiny hamlet of Dean.

news.sky.com

Clarkson no self awareness as usual, his bloody shop rams the place with all his "fans"

 

[Badger11]

This again? How many are capable of doing manual labour after the wear and tear of 50 years of it? I know several whose knees, backs and hips are wrecked well ahead of them being 70 let alone 75.
Most people experience cognitive decline at 70. What jobs are they,supposed to do?
Apart from being President of America of course.

It's an accounting exercise. Raise the retirement age and tell the public you are saving money meanwhile the number of people going onto benefits has increased by 1m. Some maybe are scamming it but as you say many are just too unfit to carry on.

 

[Rudi Hedman]

Fair play those placards are hilarious😀

Jeremy Clarkson joins backlash as JD Vance holidays in the Cotswolds

Locals have expressed their frustrations and demonstrators have lined the streets after the US vice president and his motorcade arrived in the tiny hamlet of Dean.

news.sky.com

Clarkson no self awareness as usual, his bloody shop rams the place with all his "fans"

These ones 😂

 

[Stirlingsays]

Those lefty idiots irritate me though....It's not their attitude towards Gaza or the protesting.....they have a right to both and I agree, it's a better class of clever placard.

What irritates me is what the area represents....these lefties live in some of the nicest areas yet advocate for policies like pro immigration that ruin other parts of the country and 'diversity' anti white stuff that hates the history and symbols of Britain and wants to replace them.

But because the house prices in their area isolate them from the chavs and most foreigners they feel no ill effects themselves....so woke is painless for them.....As a stereotype it's usually the white liberal middle class women, mostly older, who have nothing important going on in their lives so feel they need a cause.

It's coming for them though, their areas will get turned to sh1te like all the others.

 

[Stirlingsays]

It's an accounting exercise. Raise the retirement age and tell the public you are saving money meanwhile the number of people going onto benefits has increased by 1m. Some maybe are scamming it but as you say many are just too unfit to carry on.

Islamic immigration is particularly bad for employment as the women mostly stay at home.

As a social conservative I don't really have an issue with that as a policy, however if you're actually an economist and you're interested in getting us out of this disastrous hole that irresponsible politicians in both parties have put us you'd only be letting in productive populations as immigrants.

Even Blair said himself, non European immigration isn't sensible.

That's the problem....parliament literally has ideological idiots sitting in it. Labour couldn't even get their light touch benefit reforms though.

 

[Common Sense Club]

These ones 😂

I don't understand. These people are protesting about a foreigner in their midst; where is the Socialist Workers Party and Anti Fascist Brigade counter protesting against the local residents?

 

[Wisbech Eagle]

This again? How many are capable of doing manual labour after the wear and tear of 50 years of it? I know several whose knees, backs and hips are wrecked well ahead of them being 70 let alone 75.
Most people experience cognitive decline at 70. What jobs are they,supposed to do?
Apart from being President of America of course.

Who mentioned manual labour? The point is that most people are now having a much longer, much healthier retirement period than even the previous generation. Backs and knees ached then too. These days knees and hips get replaced. We all ought to contribute for longer, with part time working being the standard first step before full retirement and for those unfit to do their previous job for lesser demanding work to be found.

 

[Stirlingsays]

Who mentioned manual labour? The point is that most people are now having a much longer, much healthier retirement period than even the previous generation. Backs and knees ached then too. These days knees and hips get replaced. We all ought to contribute for longer, with part time working being the standard first step before full retirement and for those unfit to do their previous job for lesser demanding work to be found.

If you're talking about lollypop ladies where they are working for a couple of hours a day......but I think your general idea here is kind of ridiculous.

Companies aren't going to employ people who are way past their peak energy, even cognitively let alone physically. Sure it's useful for a minor number of people who are experienced and healthy but those are usually exceptional people.

Retirement happened for a reason.....it wasn't created out of sympathy.

As for people getting knees and backs replaced as if that corrects their health enough to work productively......I think you may be losing your marbles yourself.

 

[Teddy Eagle]

Who mentioned manual labour? The point is that most people are now having a much longer, much healthier retirement period than even the previous generation. Backs and knees ached then too. These days knees and hips get replaced. We all ought to contribute for longer, with part time working being the standard first step before full retirement and for those unfit to do their previous job for lesser demanding work to be found.

Are manual labourers exempt from this idea then? In any case "ached" is a bit different to being completely wrecked. As time passes AI and robotic alternatives will replace more and more of the workforce. It's the future: no point resisting because it's happening.
Anyone who thinks they have the same capabilities in their seventies that they had in their thirties is either fooling themselves or were ineffectual thirty year olds.

 

[Wisbech Eagle]

It's an accounting exercise. Raise the retirement age and tell the public you are saving money meanwhile the number of people going onto benefits has increased by 1m. Some maybe are scamming it but as you say many are just too unfit to carry on.

Nothing to do with accounting. It’s facing up to basic facts. If we are all living longer, and consuming more resources per capita than previous generations, without contributing to the creation of the wealth needed to provide for that consumption, then it removes funding for other things and demands we import the labour to create the wealth needed.

There is a time bomb of a problem in store for the coming generations who are not saving for retirement like I had to. Where will the money come from to keep them in even a basic condition as they age, let alone in the indulgent style many seem to now expect as a right?

Working longer and postponing retirement is bound to happen so I think it needs to be started now.

 

[Stirlingsays]

Nothing to do with accounting. It’s facing up to basic facts. If we are all living longer, and consuming more resources per capita than previous generations, without contributing to the creation of the wealth needed to provide for that consumption, then it removes funding for other things and demands we import the labour to create the wealth needed.

Importing foreign labour is a ponzi scheme....it's been said so many times it irritates me. Imports get old too and I don't know if you hadn't noticed genius but you are living on an island that is smaller than the state of Nevada.....Hell, Texas is three times larger than Britain's landmass.

It's always been automation or bust, for aging western nations. All people like you have supported is the import of future conflict, some of which you see now and your politics is responsible for those inevitable tensions and unfortunate clashes to come.

There is a time bomb of a problem in store for the coming generations who are not saving for retirement like I had to. Where will the money come from to keep them in even a basic condition as they age, let alone in the indulgent style many seem to now expect as a right?

Working longer and postponing retirement is bound to happen so I think it needs to be started now.

You can think it all you like, it's not going to happen on any significant scale.

 

[Wisbech Eagle]

Are manual labourers exempt from this idea then? In any case "ached" is a bit different to being completely wrecked. As time passes AI and robotic alternatives will replace more and more of the workforce. It's the future: no point resisting because it's happening.
Anyone who thinks they have the same capabilities in their seventies that they had in their thirties is either fooling themselves or were ineffectual thirty year olds.

The disabled already receive exemptions. Too many in my opinion. Everybody capable of watching TV or using a computer all day can work. Not humping bricks up ladders but answering phones, giving advice, providing company or transferring data. People with experience can supervise and train. AI is already doing useful work but it has limits. It cannot replace the touch of human contact or provide company.

I was a manager in my thirties. I had a team I led and supervised. I was successful but I was a much better manager in my 60s and streets better now, in my 80s, because of experience and the wisdom of age. I draw pensions but I have never fully retired. The work I do now is unpaid and voluntary but it still contributes.

 

[Stirlingsays]

The disabled already receive exemptions. Too many in my opinion. Everybody capable of watching TV or using a computer all day can work. Not humping bricks up ladders but answering phones, giving advice, providing company or transferring data. People with experience can supervise and train. AI is already doing useful work but it has limits. It cannot replace the touch of human contact or provide company.

I was a manager in my thirties. I had a team I led and supervised. I was successful but I was a much better manager in my 60s and streets better now, in my 80s, because of experience and the wisdom of age. I draw pensions but I have never fully retired. The work I do now is unpaid and voluntary but it still contributes.