Interesting Links for 09-12-2012

[andrewducker]

• You can teach a dog to drive.
  (tags: driving dogs )
• Fran Walsh - co-writer of LOTR/The Hobbit, and the voice of the Nazgul Scream.
  (tags: TheHobbit lotr )
• The non-libertarian FAQ. (I could have done with this 20 years ago)
  (tags: morality society economics libertarianism )
• Nintendo only allows access to 18+ rated Wii U games in its shop between

Comments

[ext_208701]

The problem is that we have reduced government spending - except in welfare, because reducing our spending has pushed our welfare bill up.To be blunt, this is factually incorrect in almost every possible way

[andrewducker]

When did Public Sector pensions get improved? I could have sworn that they had been Final Salary since forever - certainly it would have had to be something incredibly odd to have pushed spending up by 20% in three years. It rather looks to me that that's a spike caused by a lot of people taking early retirement.

And, indeed:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106921/Soaring-numbers-teachers-rushing-cash-pensions.html
and
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323453/100-000-civil-servants-quit-50-pensions.html

So that spike is caused by deliberately offering people early retirement to reduce ongoing costs.

[ext_208701]

Public sector pensions improve every time there's an increase in longevity without a corresponding increase in either contributions or retirement age. The spate of retirements recently have merely realised the debt that had previously been held off balance sheet

[apostle_of_eris]

pensions improve every time there's an increase in longevity
No.
The greatest gains in life expectancy are from reductions in infant mortality. If an infant survives to work, age, and retire instead of dying before the age of two, that's an impact on longevity but no impact on the pension system.
The relevant statistic is life expectancy at retirement age, which has been changing much more slowly.

look it up

[ext_208701]

Fair enough, I was approximating a lot of factors to a single word.

However, it's not quite life expectancy at retirement age although that's probably a better proxy, it also changes with retirement age, size of pension multiplied by life expectancy at retirement age (so rich people with large pensions who retire early are much more significant), people living long enough to retire that previously didn't (e.g. all the coal miners Thatcher sacked) etc.

But in short my basic point was your pension improves if you're going to spend more time drawing out of it without a corresponding increase in contributions.

[in_thy_bounty]

Sorry to hear about Denver... here's a pic I took way back in the day by way of tribute :

[andrewducker]

Awww, thanks for that!