December 01, 2001
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:Sicilian bisexual gigolos redux: pretty pictures about meritless retirement promises
In an earlier post, I provided numeric data contrasting various countries retirement promises to their ability to pay. Here are some visuals to go with that, which I think are striking. I can't seem to import them here, but have a look:
1. Ratio of workers to retirees in various countries (I've just noticed that the red column should read "2025E", not "2005E". Grrr.)
2, Retirement promises as a % of final pay vs. funded pension assets as a % of GDP
As I commented before, this is a vivid illustration of how cheap retirement promises have been for politicians, and how dear they will be in the coming decades. One of the points I will make about Sweden, if I ever get the data series I'm looking for, is that they have long-since forsaken socialistic programs because they started to experience the effects of these kinds of promises (even without significant immigration). As Fredrik Norman wrote to me they had to change.
While we worry about our ability in the U.S. to address these problems, imagine the quandary of the continental European politician, particularly in Italy, Spain or France. It's worth repeating Woody Brock's quip:
Better a future career as a Sicilian bisexual gigolo than as a continental European Prime Minister trying to please the votersPosted by Mindles H. Dreck at December 1, 2001 12:53 PM | Technorati inbound links