They are assuming that there will be jobs for these older workers.
See…AB/Inbev, airline industry, auto industry, out sourcing to India etc. etc.
Oh I forgot, we can all be greeters at Wal Mart!!

The financial figures that these studies cite simply reflect the underlying economic realities, the most important three of which are:

(1) The world in general and the U.S. in particular are running out of certain resources that are critical to a high standard of living — the most important of which is readily-available fossil fuel, and also land that is suitable for agriculture, residential, and recreational use;

(2) The per capita availability of these resources is declining even faster because of increasing population in the U.S. and worldwide (and it’s not because of “greedy” oil companies or real estate developers); and

(3) The ratio of “dependents” (children and, particularly, retirees) to “producers” is increasing in the U.S. and elsewhere. (If you are retired and think that you aren’t a “dependent” because you and Social Security are financing your retirement, you are superficially correct and fundamentally incorrect.)

Delaying retirement has the societal advantage of reducing the ratio of dependents to producers (as does having fewer children) and this will be reflected in a higher standard of living for the people who are sufficiently smart and ethical to recognize the advantages of this approach to themselves and to society as a whole.

A BIG qualification is that working longer in life should not and need not require the same level of output and the same pay as during a person’s peak earning years. As a society, we need to recognize, utilize, and pay a fair price for the talents of people who may be past their years of “peak” production, but still have highly valuable skills to contribute to society.

Ted44 - Eloquently stated, you should run for something - I’d vote for you.

So we are being encouraged to jump into the investment world with both feet. Yes, let’s let our employers off the hook for any kind of retirement benefits. The stock market game is not something I want to base my financial future on. Part of the problem with today’s economic situation is that, as corporation board members vote to move our jobs overseas we are expected to like it because, as stock holders, we are benefiting financially. We are being destroyed by our own system.

Thanks to LP323 for the kind words. Not too many people who understand economics can run successfully for office because the remedies they prescribe for economic problems, such as the one the U.S. is facing in energy, involve some sacrifices by practically everyone, and as such are not politically popular.

My favorite political organization is one recently founded by John Danforth and several other moderate Republicans (to overcome the fact that the term “moderate Republican” has become practically an oxymoron). It’s called the Republican Leadership Council, website http://www.republican-leadership.com/

At the rate things are going for us, I’d be thrilled with the thought of a semi-comfortable retirement @ 66. I’m hoping for 70 @ this point — and a healthy 70!