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[–] TauCeti 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago  (edited ago)

One issue (of several) is that people are simply living a lot longer beyond age 65 than they typically did before. That greatly increases the amount pensions must cover.

Living twenty or thirty years without working, and needing extra medical attention on top of it? Of course it's going to be expensive. You can't get by with only groceries. Property tax is only one part of it. There are utilities of various sorts, home repairs (furnaces and A/C need to be replaced now and then, so do water heaters, so does the roof, home appliances break down especially with the cheap ones they sell now, painting needs to be refreshed, and so on), age-related expenses like adult diapers, on it goes.

These government pension plans also have been used effectively as bribes for votes. (Vote for me and I'll let you retire earlier with more money!)

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[–] firex726 ago 

Yep, they expected people to live around 68-70 back then so it'd be a nice extended vacation to enjoy the end of their lives and have family help support them; since people tended to have more free time and lived nearby or with each other.

Now both parents must work full time to afford their bills and the kids have to spend more time on their education if they're to have a chance, especially as they grow older when they would otherwise have been able to help around the home. And the old generation, instead of moving in, move away to another state.

Now people are regulerly living past 100, which is almost a third of their life not working, which is also the most costly part too; which could partly be alleviated if they lived in the home of their kids instead of needing round the clock nurses/caretakers.

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[–] B3bomber ago 

Also, those pensions were never planned for the expenses that exist now. These started back when food/property taxes were the main concern. Just think of how well social security scales with the same increases.