Are you prepared to work until you are 70?

[i-need-a-martini]

There is no way I will be. I am not planning to work beyond 55!

But it won't affect people like me will it? I have my own plans and they will be self funded.

So once again, it will be those less fortunate and less able to take care of themselves who will suffer.

[j*oono]

I hope Kopes doesn't mind me posting this here but it's worth repeating.

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/4FrGxO2Fn_M

Australia is next.

[spotweldersfriend]

It's a pity Keating didn't get elected to two full terms instead of that war crim.Australian workers probably would've had their super contributions raised to at least 12% (he wanted it set at 15%) and not have to worry about raising the retirement.The current government is banging on about how Australia can't afford pensions in the future,yet they dropped the incremental increases brought in by Labor to lift contributions to 12%.

[tall_bearded]

Here are some facts that some may want to consider.

The persons affected by these proposed changes were born in the 1950s to mid-60s. 

The educational expectations of the time: if you weren’t too bright you left school at 15 to find an unskilled job. If you were bright then you stayed on to 16 after which you found an apprenticeship.  However irrespective of how dull or bright you were, if your parents could afford it (and most couldn’t) you stayed on to year 12 and went to Uni. Today, a Uni education is considered a god given right, as long as someone else pays for it.

Now back in the day, the expectation was find a girl, get married and have the regulation three children, and it was your responsibility to look after them.  That is your responsibility to feed, clothe, house and educate them using the money you earned doing your mandatory 40 hours per week with as much overtime as you could get, and not by way of handouts given to you by the government.  Today if you have kids you can get Family Payments Schedule A or B, Auststudy, subsidised child care, baby bonus, paid maternity leave to name but a few from an ever growing list.

So having decided to have children it’s time to house them.  Back in the day, because money was tight and interest rates were high, the first home you bought was pretty much an empty shell.  Bear wooden or concrete floors, old sheets for curtains, a stove and sink in the kitchen (no built ins), a basic bathroom, and second hand furniture throughout.  Then over the years, as you could afford it, you fitted it out (a hot water system, a  proper kitchen, carpets, heating, the front and back yard/garden etc).  Today, the expectation is, you buy it off the plan with all the bells and whistles included, then, when you find you’ve overextended yourself, it’s up to someone else (the government) to sort it out.

Then of course what happened when someone gets sick.  Today it’s universal healthcare (Medicare) with a private insurance option if you want something better.  Back in the day, no universal healthcare.  Every time you, or you child, went to the doctor you paid, with private insurance being the norm for those who could afford it and, home medical encyclopaedias for those who couldn’t.

In fact the then and now list is endless, but one fact stands alone.  From Federation to the mid-80, every time the question was asked: “Why are we paying some of the highest income taxes in the word?”, the answer was always.  ‘You’re investing in your future”.  That is, when you get too old to work you will be ENTITLED to the benefits of a safety net, one of which is the aged pension.

So what is the current debate all about?  Simply put, some say we are living beyond our means so something has to give, with the question being, “what goes first?”; and as far as the people in my age group are concerned, that something is all of those benefit that exist now, but we didn’t have access to back then.

[debra9275]

just watching Kopes video there, made me think that throughout this thread someone kept pointing out that manuracturing is dead here and there aren't enough people working to support the country, well, it's not just the manufactring industry, think of all the jobs that are now outsourced in IT and call centres, Those jobs used to be done here on our soil and the people who did those jobs paid taxes and contributed to our economy.

all we're doing now, is adding to the coffers of other Asian countries while a handful of big businesses here are laughing all the way to the bank. Oh hang on, a lot of them are banks

[boris1gary]

Tall Bearded, yes "they" do keep parroting that there is a financial crises, "they" do keep telling us that some of us are living beyond our means - weasel words and lies. Some still seem convinced that a nations economy is the same as a household budget, just where do they think pensions and unemployment benefits go, are they convinced that all of our pensioners and unemployed are busily investing their measly pensions in foreign investments or maybe they are hiding it all under the bed. It's been well documented that a large percentage (just about all of it) of the welfare dollar goes straight back into the economy, it isn't as if it disappears never to be seen again.

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/commission-of-audit-report-yet-to-be-seen-b...

It comes as Professor Quiggin, from the University of Queensland, appeared before a Senate Select Committee on Tuesday to answer questions about the Commission of Audit.

It came after Mr Quiggin dismissed the idea that the Commonwealth was in a position of “fiscal crisis.”

“Debt is very low by international standards and the budget is close to an operating balance, where the debt-to-GDP ratio would be stable,” he said.

[boris1gary]

Debra, well according to the Prime Minister of Unemployment, a job is welfare anyway.....this helps explain the LNP's views on lowering wages and getting rid of penalty rates I suppose.

Abbott, from his address to the Australian-Canada Economic Leadership Forum

monday feb, 24th 2014. 

"Let’s face it, the best form of welfare is a job; and keeping people on welfare who could otherwise be active is no lasting favour."

[nero_bolt]

Labor supporters have very short memories

The decision to increase the pension age was taken in 2009 under Labor  to 67

Labor introduced changes in 2009 that will see the pension age rise from 65 to 67 between 2017 and 2023.

The official retirement age will rise from 65 years to 67. No-one in Australia will be able to access the age pension until they have celebrated their 67th birthday.

The age of 67 is hardly a milestone these days. When the age pension was introduced in the first decade of the 20th century, for many people their 65th year coincided with the unhappy event of their death. Plenty had already dropped off the perch before then.

Here is the current system brought in by the Labor government

If you were born prior to July 1 1952, the retirement age is 65.
July 1 '52-Dec 31 '53---65 and 6 months
Jan 1 '54-June 30 '55---66
July 1 '55-Dec 31 '56----66 and 6 months
From Jan 1 '57-----67.

[nero_bolt]

Tony Abbott has just stated on 2GB at 9.40am on the Ray Hadley show that raising the pension age to 70 is 100% FALSE and NOT happening.

Endo of scare campaign by the left

BUT just remember that you are now working to 67 because of Labor raising the pension age.

[debra9275]

I happen to have a very good memory, and I specifically remember all the things Tony Abbott promised he would and wouldn't do.

I think he must be the one with a short memory. Very short in fact

[debra9275]

he contradicts himself almost every day, will wait and see what he actually does, I don't believe anything he says now