May 01, 2023
I’m impressed. Most reporters might just know what politicians say and do, but New York Times reporters can apparently know their convictions. That’s what the paper told us in a piece about protests in France over President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to raise the age for retirement benefits from 62 to 64.
“Mr. Macron’s decision to raise the legal age of retirement was based on his conviction that the pension system was unsustainable and that changing the program, with its generous benefits, was essential to France’s economic health [emphasis added].”
It’s good that the NYT could tell us Macron’s decision was based on his convictions and not say, a desire not to increase taxes on rich people to help cover the cost of the retirement system or even on working-age people. The employment rate among prime age workers (ages 25 to 54) is actually higher in France than in the U.S., so there is little reason to believe that a modest increase in taxes would lead them to stop working.
It is worth noting workers in France, unlike many workers in the U.S., actually are seeing increases in life expectancy. This means that even with this increase in the retirement age, workers retiring in future decades may still get to enjoy longer retirements than their parents.
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