Should automatic benefits be cut for those who "don't need them"?

N1AK

BobQ wrote: »

You see this as passing the problem to your generation. But its only in recent years that these comments have surfaced.

I don't see it as a passing problem. It is a problem that has been there for decades but only manifests when it gets sufficiently bad that we can't continue to borrow to delay it.

Spending on (old age) pensions has increased hugely (75%) in the last decade. It'll increase another 18% in the next 3 years (the budget window). It is going to continue to increase rapidly until ~2040 (when the decrease in births during the 70s decreases the number of people retiring each year) and that's before you account for the fact that life expectancy will have increased by ~7-8 years by then.

We can't offer the amount of funding in pensions to all the people retiring over that period that we offer to those already retired now. If we maintain what we spend on pensioners now it will mean even more harsh cuts to pensions at whatever point in the future the levee breaks.

N1AK

grizzly1911 wrote: »

The feelings of many in earlier generations too:wall:

I agree that things should be accounted for etc but running a country isn't quite the same as business for also sorts of reasons.

No it's not. When a business closes people need new jobs. When a country collapses it's a disaster for those who live there. There is nothing wrong with expecting the government to explain how it is going to fund pensions, healthcare etc over the long term.

Currently the government is funding pensions by 1) gigantic tax rises in the future, 2) massive cuts to pensions in future or 3) massive cuts to everything else in future.

We know it is doing that because the numbers are easily available and it's not very complex. If the government had to publish budgets accounting for the next ~25 years which maintain a manageable amount of debt then it couldn't hide the problems. It would have to budget for a 20% rise in income tax in 2020 or for a 10 year increase in the pension age in 2018 or whatever.

When I plan for my retirement I don't promise myself a £50,000pa pension but only pay in £5 per month I plan for the next 40+ years. If I paid in £5 per month then didn't get the £50,000pa pension I'd have no one to blame but myself.

CLAPTON

state pensions just like the NHS, defense, police, education, roads, social, unemployment benfits etc etc will be paid out of current income

if there is insufficient to go round, then the expenditure in one or more of the areas will have to be reduced and/or the income expanded

just as it has always been the case.

if the total number of working people in the economy reduces in relation to the whole and productivity does not rise sufficiently then we will be poorer per capita that we are today.

so the most important area to work on is to increase the productive potential of UK Ltd.