Pension Age Rises Again

 

The UK government has announced that the pension age is set to rise once more. This refers to the age a person can retire on the state pension scheme. For many decades it remained at sixty-five for men and sixty for women. Then in 1995 women were equalized with men at sixty-five. In 2007 it was decided this should rise to sixty-eight in 2046, but subsequent parliaments accelerated that process making it sixty-six by 2020. They now say it will rise to sixty-seven in 2026, just six years. At this rate it will be sixty-eight by the end of the decade, sixteen years early. The reason given is because human life expectancy in the country has risen considerably through the 20th century. The government are concerned about the financial sustainability of the scheme. The earlier people stop work the less premiums there are in the NIF- National Insurance Fund that pays for most of the state pension. The longer people live the more money is needed to support them, so it's a perfect storm. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/gad-and-the-state-pension-age-review. The NIF can be subsidized from the general exchequer, but the government keep whining that they "don't have the resources!" This sounds similar to when they tell us they don't have enough resources to keep hospitals running or fixing the potholes in the roads. Why? Are they running out of cash? Is taxation somehow still too low when they keep putting it up and up and up; and an incredible forty-five percent of capital in circulation is currently forfeit to the state? (In other nations it's even higher!) What else are they spending all that money on? Well, we know some of the answers: losing foreign wars, paying off banks, MP's expenses, CCTV networks and migrant hotels. This makes me wonder, as somebody fairly young, whether I'll ever receive any state pension at all. It's like running in a race, but the finish line keeps advancing into the distance and you never reach it before you collapse with exhaustion. Therefore is it worth paying National Insurance at all? I know it's compulsory if you're earning above a certain income, but I'm talking hypothetically. Why fork out eight pounds a week for your entire working life so you can receive your first cheque when you're almost on your deathbed? Better to put the money into a private pension or savings account. Honestly, what high street insurance broker could get away with such a terrible deal: "You keep paying us and we might pay you... maybe... if we feel like it; and if we don't decide to change the conditions of the policy unilaterally."? There's also worrying signs that British life expectancy will not keep on rising forever. The causes of this are manyfold, socio-economic, cultural and psychological; and this is not to mention certain infectious diseases and their supposed prevention measures. The late great Ian R Crane used to say, in semi-jest, that in the future, photos of retired men playing golf will only be found in history books. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylsvlyntgeQ. The way I see it, at my age, is that by the time I'm old enough to worry about my pension I'll either be living in the post-Illuminati world, in which case I won't need it; or we'll be under the jackboot of the New World Order, in which case I'll be dead.