Is the French pension reform about reducing government debt or something else (e. g. climate change)?

[Gibbons44]

It is a bit difficult to say from outside of France - it seems due to the growing public debt (the very high 113% now, I think only Greece has a higher debt in Europe)

Or about something else (e. g. against the blacks/Indians/Africans/refugees, the so called climate change/carbon footprint increasing, overpopulating peoples)?

[BCA6010]

You've got that backwards. Climate change rhetoric is used an excuse for government to take otherwise questionable or outright illegal actions that have little or nothing to do with environmental protection, but would otherwise never have the support needed to slip through.

What France is dealing with (I use that phrase loosely) is similar to the issue we are having with social security in the US: the policy was established when the average life expectancy was much lower, and a growing population insured that there was an increasing number of taxpayers paying into it. I assume this is just one piece of a larger cost reduction measure.

[Gibbons44]

It's a big (and still overpopulating, though not as wildly except in Africa and pan-India, basically amongst the colourblind blacks) world.

[docster]

I would imagine they've analyzed how many people are retiring in the coming years, and how many young people there are to fund the retirees. With couples having fewer children, the government needs people to work longer to pay into the system. It also doesn't help that lifespans are getting longer.

I'm not happy that the U. S. has raised the full retirement age for my group from 65 to 67 but I understand why they had to, so I'm not going to riot in the streets.

[Gibbons44]

I imagine that too, including IMF recommendations on how to rein in the public debt, but for the French it seems to have something like a religious meaning.
I know them as quite reasonable (e. g. let's do that if it will reduce the debt burden), but they are protesting so it sounds like there is more to it than gets reported in English/than we understand.

[jshm2]

Neither.

People are living longer and France has among the lowest retirement age in Europe. It also has the highest paying pension.

So with an increasing population it doesn't make fiscal sense to retire people earlier.

[Gibbons44]

So, about reducing government debt.
Otherwise all could retire now and be like Greece in 6-12 months.

[Anonymous]

It's about refusing their pensions so they can work the population to death, IMF rules like their fore-fathers the Nazis

[Gibbons44]

It's France's government debt that frightens me. It is at 113% and the halthy limit is BELOW 60%! France owes close to double the maximum reasonable, and 5 times more than what allows people to be happy/optimistic.

[Opinion Owner]

Everyone owes the Rothschild's a few trillion

[Gibbons44]

Well the debts are mostly to pension funds - which means taxpayers pay higher prices for _everything_ to supply money for pensions via public debt.

[Opinion Owner]

Caused by the governments of old stealing the funds for self enrichment rather than proper investment

[Gibbons44]

It probably just relates to baby boomers going into pensions and the debts growing to finance them.

[Opinion Owner]

Yeah the overpopulation of that period is indeed a problem and will happen perpetually without global population controls