Frenchies can no longer retire at age 60. They must now wait until age 62. What are Americans doing wrong? We are now being told we have to wait until 66 or 67 to receive our social security. Supposedly the early retirement is seen as a right and left issue.
According to the Washington Post:
Today is a day of sadness and anger,” agreed Jean-Luc Melanchon, who heads the Left Party. “The end of retirement at 60 is the end of a world.”
Seeking to soften the blow, Woerth also announced a 1 percent jump in the tax rate for France’s highest incomes and said taxes will also rise on capital gains from investments. This will provide more than $4 billion by the time the new retirement schedules are completed, he predicted.
The plan, which is likely to pass easily in a parliament controlled by Sarkozy’s coalition, called for the legal retirement age to rise by four months each year, beginning in July 2011, until it reaches 62 by 2018. At that point, the ministry calculated, the pension fund should be balanced.
Those who begin working before age 18 or who hold down particularly taxing jobs will still be able to retire earlier than age 62, the plan stipulated. Nonetheless, French labor unions have announced they will fight the changes, scheduling street protests to coincide with a debate in parliament in September
Other countries are also pushing up their age for retirement:
Faced with the same economic pressures, for instance, Germany has announced plans to lift the retirement age from 65 to 67. Britain and Italy, home to Western Europe’s other two leading economies, have settled on 65. In comparison, officials pointed out, France will still have one of the earliest retirement ages in the industrialized world.
If retirement at 60 is socialism…….
Hopefully, Formerly Anonymous will enlighten us. He usually knows all about things that are going on in the EEC.
Full story at the Washington Post
