(PatriotWise.com) — The retirement age in France was just raised by French President Emmanuel Macron from age 62 to 64, according to a report from the defense and national security website 19FortyFive. Macron did this without a legislative vote which generated public backlash as protestors reportedly took to the streets. But the move is causing concern for Americans here in the states who wonder if they will also see a rise in age eligibility for retirement benefits.
As the French are living longer and the deficit in the pension system grows, Macron argues that he had to do something about it to save it entirely. While the move was not common, it was legal. Macron reportedly invoked a special power that streamlined the bill to be passed by him directly. After that time, the National Assembly has 24 hours to file a vote of no-confidence in the government.
The news comes as there are renewed talks and concerns about Social Security and Medicare. Social Security was reportedly created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the pinnacle of the Great Depression designed to give elder people a means to live after years of working. The program, however, is running dry and both parties have resorted to winning the narrative over who is going to save it versus who is going to kill it.
Solutions that remain for saving entitlement programs are raising the retirement age, taxing the rich, diverting spending, or raising more money, according to the senior editor of 19FortyFive. Harrison Kass argues that raising the age should be the last option because it would also proportionately increase the burden on the worker to work longer.
Kass also argues that using tax revenues for excessive military spending should be used to preserve entitlement programs, which is the “light at the end of a four-decade tunnel” of work. America, he concludes, is rich enough to take care of its elderly.
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