This piece is written by By L. Randall Wray about the US pension time bomb but the same is true for Irish pensions. The argument is building for a proper non-contributory State pension to be paid out of future taxes supported by a State contributory pension to be paid by energy investments made now.
The problem with private savings is that Americans do not save enough for their retirement. They never have. And even if they tried to do so, they would be duped out of their savings by Wall Street.
Thus, the best solution would be to eliminate government support for pension plans and instead to boost Social Security to ensure that anyone who works long enough to qualify will receive a comfortable retirement. They can supplement this with private savings, according to ability and desires.
I ran these arguments by several of the pension experts at the conference. All of them agreed that this would be the best public policy. But they pleaded with me to keep it a secret because such a change would be devastating for fund managers and Wall Street. Can you keep a secret? (link to full article)
