WICHITA — Apparently US News was as stunned as I was to see comments from Robert Benmosche, CEO of AIG, that people in developed countries will have to work to 70 or 80 (it was the 80 that stunned me) in the future because their economies just aren’t growing fast enough to sustain existing retirement benefits for the masses of retirees for 20 or 30 years. (Another reason to thank the Babyboomers — NOT!). I suppose it makes sense and is the only real answer to the fact that most people haven’t saved up enough money for retirement, plus the social security/medicare systems are going broke. The government is going to have to keep pushing the finish line back.
What I love about the article is the fantasy that this is really an OK thing because people will finally find fulfillment in their late 60s after quitting their main “grind” of a job to get one during a long semi-retirement that pays less but is truly meaningful. Maybe, for some. But it sounds to me like a recipe for a vast new source of cheap, no benefits labor (no employer will offer health insurance to a 68 year old he is paying $7.50 an hour). So, to that fantasy I say: “Welcome to Walmart”