A boost to the economy.
A "Boost for the economy", they say. Sure, many people won't live to retire, but at least it'll be a boost to the economy. 75 is fucking old in my family history. I don't know many people in it who made it to that age. I do know many who retired long before it. But I, for one, barely got to know my grandparents before they passed, and I outright WOULDN'T have known them if they were working in their manual labour jobs their entire lives.
They relied on the state pension because they were poor. They worked hard and they were poor, and they died pretty fucking young. It's thanks to the state pension that they were able to enjoy some measure of comfort and relaxation after so many years of struggle, of trying to live their lives providing for their massive amount of kids as was the norm back in the day. But it would have been OK if they hadn't lived to see me as a child, because it would have been a "Boost to the economy". Oh, well, that makes it OK then!
Under these plans, my dad would not be able to retire until 75. He's been looking forward to retirement for a while now. His job wore him down and he's in constant aches and pains. Relaxing without having to worry about anything was what he was aiming to work for. Circumstances beyond his control made that a more difficult goal than he anticipated, but at least he'd have the guaranteed State Pension as a safety net, right? Wrong. If this goes through, he would die relying on others for money, myself included, but also my mother and my other siblings. All for a "Boost to the economy".
As for myself, I'd already resigned myself to never being able to retire due to our generation getting screwed over repeatedly. But actually feeling it as it's confirmed hurts so much more. The next step is abolishment of the state pension, that which would legitimately bring us back to pre 1906 levels of social equality. All for a "Boost to the economy".
Lives will be lost before their time, we will waste them working to enrich the already rich, and we have no future to look forward to, but at least the economy will be pretty boosted. We might not share in it, but at least it'll be boosted. We might be poor, but at least it'll be poor in a rich boosted economy. We might have no interest in helping the less vulnerable in society, but at least it's a boosted economy society!
Sociopathy is utterly mainstream and I'm devastated for it. There's so little to hope for.
