Pensions

The Canada at 150 pension discussion ran up against some re occurring themes. Low productivity, dropping number of workers as opposed to retired and government deficits.

The solutions suggested are all unpalatable. Postpone retirement, lower standards of post retirement life, increase taxes, vastly increase savings (but what about market meltdowns?). The concept of increasing productivity is encouraging but is it viable?

The Labour unions have very specific detailed proposals. My bias is to view such proposals with a grain of salt -- but gosh, specific proposals beat platitudes every time. These proposals should be considered closely and adopted if they work and, if not, we need something else.

I see an underlying theme as the retirement of babyboomers. When there are five or six workers to one retiree it's easier to pay for a pension than when it's one to one.