An interesting piece by Megan McArdle
“Most developed
nations have made enormous promises to their elderly populations -- promises
that they could continue to live in the style to which they had become
accustomed during their working years. Those promises were easy to fulfill when
the ratio of workers to retirees was, say, five to one. As that ratio
collapses, it gets harder and harder, because each worker has to devote a
larger and larger fraction of their income to supporting another nonworking
adult.”