RE: Again...the Invisible Hand
April 30, 2012 at 8:48 pm
(This post was last modified: April 30, 2012 at 8:50 pm by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
That notion of national private superannuation is built on the premise that everyone has the capacity to 'put aside' say 5-10% of their income .This is palpable nonsense.
Here in Australia we have a three tier system;
(1) All government departments and most large companies had/have mandatory,contributory,subsidised superannuation schemes,usually based on between 5-10% of gross salary.There IS a slow move to private contributory superannuation.(but still subsidised)
(2) There is a national superannuation scheme,on top of any private scheme.ALL employers,must by law, contribute an ADDITIONAL 15% of very worker's wage to a Federal government controlled superannuation fund.
(3) There is a non contributory pension scheme. Currently paid at age 65,but increasing to 70 over the next few years,for both men and women. The pension is income and asset tested*, with your domicile being exempt. The full rate of a single pension is currently $695.30 a fortnight. I turn 65 in October. Because of my private superannuation, I will receive about $200 a fortnight,plus the concession card, which is worth about $2000 a year.
I have long been bemused by what I see as the appalling US standards of social justice,especially in health,education, welfare and the callous treatment of veterans. I'm not sure of the cause.Perhaps partly from the smug Calvinist notion of "the undeserving poor",perhaps partly from a pervasive bourgeois culture of envy. Or perhaps it's just money; the innate jingoism of the US has meant it has spent obscene amounts of money on war and "defence" since WW 2. The mind boggles on the the difference to American society if even part of that money had been spent on the needs of ALL of the American people.But what do I know? I'm a non American ,looking from the outside,but so gratfulf to be spending my old age here rather than in the US.
*the blind pension is income and asset test free.
Here in Australia we have a three tier system;
(1) All government departments and most large companies had/have mandatory,contributory,subsidised superannuation schemes,usually based on between 5-10% of gross salary.There IS a slow move to private contributory superannuation.(but still subsidised)
(2) There is a national superannuation scheme,on top of any private scheme.ALL employers,must by law, contribute an ADDITIONAL 15% of very worker's wage to a Federal government controlled superannuation fund.
(3) There is a non contributory pension scheme. Currently paid at age 65,but increasing to 70 over the next few years,for both men and women. The pension is income and asset tested*, with your domicile being exempt. The full rate of a single pension is currently $695.30 a fortnight. I turn 65 in October. Because of my private superannuation, I will receive about $200 a fortnight,plus the concession card, which is worth about $2000 a year.
I have long been bemused by what I see as the appalling US standards of social justice,especially in health,education, welfare and the callous treatment of veterans. I'm not sure of the cause.Perhaps partly from the smug Calvinist notion of "the undeserving poor",perhaps partly from a pervasive bourgeois culture of envy. Or perhaps it's just money; the innate jingoism of the US has meant it has spent obscene amounts of money on war and "defence" since WW 2. The mind boggles on the the difference to American society if even part of that money had been spent on the needs of ALL of the American people.But what do I know? I'm a non American ,looking from the outside,but so gratfulf to be spending my old age here rather than in the US.
*the blind pension is income and asset test free.
