2026-06-19
33 分钟The Economist.
Back in 1940,
an American man that reached the age of 65 could be expected to live about another 12 years.
And that's if you reached 65 at all.
Retirement frequently brings serious financial problems.
What are we going to do?
We can't live on your pension.
It won't cover our food.
Well, maybe I can get some kind of job.
This was when America's Social Security Trust Fund for its elderly citizens was launched,
a product of Roosevelt's New Deal.
This social security measure gives at least some protection to 30 millions of our citizens
who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions,
and through increased services for the protection of children and the prevention of ill health.
Fast forward to the present,
and the Social Security Trust Fund is now more than old enough to be drawing a pension itself.
But now, men can be expected to live another 18 years after the age of 65,
and women even longer.
The country has now seen decades of lower birth rates,
bringing fewer and fewer workers to the labor force to foot the growing bill.