Pension Chatter

 I noticed this via a Focus business article this morning.....the Linke Party went out and asked the Ministry of Labor to detail pensions in Germany.  So the result came back.....kinda shocking.

So from regular Germans....82-percent make 1,500 Euro or less, as a monthly pension.

From government-career Germans....95-percent make 1,500 Euro or more, as a monthly pension.

For years, the government-job crowd have been 'blessed' and they know it.  This group includes teachers, firemen, the police, and regular city-or-state employees. 

What's going to happen here?  Well....at the least, the Linke Party is going to pick up pension reform.  The grit though?  Someone down the line is going to pay more in tax revenue....than they do today.  You just don't know who that person is.

So to the discussion of this....how much is 1,500 Euro?  About 1,800 US dollars.  The general retirement age situation?  65, but it's going up in the coming years to 67.  

What most older Germans will say is if you live outside of urbanized areas, own your property, and have some savings....you can live in decent comfort with about 1,000 Euro a month.  Somewhere in this mix, there's probably a 450-Euro monthly job that the husband or wife is committed to as well.

For those people making 1,000 Euro a month on a pension, who don't own their condo/house, living in an area like Hamburg or Frankfurt, with zero savings?  They are probably on the edge of the welfare class.  

As for how this could be 'fixed' or resolved?  Well....naturally, you'd raise everyone's contribution currently for the 'bucket'....meaning a 25-year old German would contribute another 25-odd Euro a month, and the older guy near 65 would reap the rewards of the higher contribution of the 'youngster'.  Unfair?  The young guy would say that....yeah.

But here's the other slant to this idea.....if you go and screw with the economy....cutting 10,000 jobs here, and 4,000 jobs there, then there's less money going into the pot to cover pensions.  So the last thing on Earth you want in Germany is some foolish political group crapping on the jobs market and helping to move production outside of the country.

I agree.....there's a problem, but it's going to turn into 'rocket-science' by the time you get to the end.