[roenxi]

> ???

Worth expanding on these ??? I think - old people have less security if young people have less opportunities. The opportunities of the young is the surplus generation that creates the resources to support free riders (like old people).

In the extreme case, if the young literally don't have any opportunities at all, eventually they're going to have to just let the old people die off horribly because there aren't enough resources for everyone to make it to the end of the year.

[WalterBright]

It's nuts that people can retire with full pensions after working for 30 years. A more appropriate number would be 45.

[mplanchard]

Why? The average life expectancy is ~76 for men, ~81 for women. You’re saying you shouldn’t be able to pull a full pension unless you have devoted ~half of your entire life to a company?

45 years doesn’t even seem feasible if you want to retire at 65, since most people graduate college at around 22. Add in a masters or a doctorate and 45 years of work would bring you into your 70s.

[WalterBright]

A pension is for when you're too old to work. Of course, you can always save/invest your earnings and then retire when you have enough.