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Agreed. you can not. There are just too many pensioners: "Between now and 2050,the number of older persons will rise from about 600 million to almost two billio

Agreed. you can not. There are just too many pensioners: "Between now and 2050,the number of older persons will rise from about 600 million to almost two billion. In less than 50 years from now, for the first time in history, the world will contain more people over 60 than under 15" https://www.cassandracapital.net/post/the-unprecedented-demographic-boom-and-bust https://www.cassandracapital.net/post/the-unprecedented-demo...

atemerev 7y ago
This is why UBI is impossible. It is about 10x harder financially than pension funds.
demosito666 7y ago
And how is that a problem? As long as productivity grows at same rate as workers/pensioners ratio, the portion of gdp that should go towards retired ppl remains constant.
- magicalhippo 7y ago
  That productivity will have to come from automation, and a robot doesn't get a salary so doesn't have to pay income tax. So that'll have to change if you plan on using the productivity growth to fund pensions, no?
  - okr 7y ago
    You might not need a pension if you have a robot that is highly productive towards you. Everything might be so cheap. All the externalities that one needs to pay for a lot today, might be vastly available tomorrow. I think it is hard to predict the future.
    - dharma1 7y ago
      This is an interesting thought experiment. I think it's conceivable the cost of many things one needs would fall as a result of automation - but there are many things which have limited supply and that there would still be competition for, many of them consumable - so you would still need a source of income for these.
  - demosito666 7y ago
    Either that has to change, or taxation in general has to change. If 10% of your population can produce enough goods for everyone and yet the nation is struggling with providing pension for 40%, this means that the problems do not lie in the economic plane. It gets messy when multiple competing countries are involved though.

atemerev 7y ago

This is why UBI is impossible. It is about 10x harder financially than pension funds.

demosito666 7y ago

And how is that a problem? As long as productivity grows at same rate as workers/pensioners ratio, the portion of gdp that should go towards retired ppl remains constant.

magicalhippo 7y ago
That productivity will have to come from automation, and a robot doesn't get a salary so doesn't have to pay income tax. So that'll have to change if you plan on using the productivity growth to fund pensions, no?
- okr 7y ago
  You might not need a pension if you have a robot that is highly productive towards you. Everything might be so cheap. All the externalities that one needs to pay for a lot today, might be vastly available tomorrow. I think it is hard to predict the future.
  - dharma1 7y ago
    This is an interesting thought experiment. I think it's conceivable the cost of many things one needs would fall as a result of automation - but there are many things which have limited supply and that there would still be competition for, many of them consumable - so you would still need a source of income for these.
- demosito666 7y ago
  Either that has to change, or taxation in general has to change. If 10% of your population can produce enough goods for everyone and yet the nation is struggling with providing pension for 40%, this means that the problems do not lie in the economic plane. It gets messy when multiple competing countries are involved though.