When the state pension came into existence, there were some 8 working people per pensioner (or was it 12, I can't remember the actual figure). This meant state pension schemes were affordable. Currently this figure is 2.5 and fast approaching 2, which means state pensions are becoming less affordable and increasing the pressure on the working population, despite the pensionable age goalpost continually being moved.
In order to have a growing economy, the capitalist system demands a growing population of customers for all the new products.
While the world population currently stands at 8bn and growing, this is set to decline in the latter half of this century, depending on factors taken into consideration.
All the above means that, as a country, we will need to increase the number of young workers in order to afford state pensions and sustain growth. This is not possible with a declining world population and an ageing population, and we in the west are the fastest declining.
To avoid complete economic collapse, we must therefore attract young worker to this country - immigrants - from other countries, risking overcrowding. I suppose the pensioners could be shipped off-shore to less populated areas, but there would have to be a means of plugging them into the growing economy to keep purchasing from the home country.
The alternative is to replace workers with robots, allocating each person a robot or two to earn him or her a salary and save for a pension. Herein lies the problem, would a company using robots want the improved productivity, and thus profit, being squandered on unproductive humans? Only legislation would ensure this, although the prospect of revolution and complete anarchy would be a huge driver.
Of course, the attendant problem is that resources are finite and yet capitalism depends on inexhaustible resources. Unless we can attain near 100% recyclability, there will have to be a new world order.
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