Most people have not really paid attention to this public debate going on in Russia over pensions.
So the simple introduction to the 'mess'.
Russia says that they want to raise the retirement age. Currently, Russian men retire with a full pension at 60 and Russian women at age 55.
I know....it's a pretty good deal.
But there's trouble brewing. Now the Russian government says that it has to raise the pension age from 60 to 65 for men, and from 55 to 63 for women, to help cope with a shrinking workforce.
Oh yeah....that really irks a lot of Russians.
Why do something this drastic? If you go and look at the birth-rate...they are absolutely correct in trying to get five to eight more years of work out of people.
But put yourself into this position...why would you want to work five extra years? If they’d been smart a decade ago, they would have said this change would occur but only for those who are 45 years old. To spring this now? Just about everyone is negative.
Adding to this.....they really don’t want to open the door on immigration/migration. Present population? 144-million. Some charts suggest it’ll hit 130-million in a dozen years.
If I were Putin, I’d put two incentives to change the problem.
First, if you work an extra five years...an extra 20-percent boost on your pension, and a case of Vodka or two cases of wine delivered to your doorstep each month.
Second, I'd go to every family and put a hefty bonus on the table for each second kid they have, and an even bigger bonus for the 3rd and 4th kid that they have. I'd be talking about about a half-years salary for two consecutive years after the 2nd kid is born. Naturally, you'd have to put a limit of decade on this but they need to do something to entice people beyond the norms.
Public anger? Put yourself into their shoes.....who would want to work extra years with no enticement included?
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