RE: Tirement in Dire Straits!
Just one of the sad things in life?
– #TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN –
I think that one of the sad things in life is, that people tend to grow as human beings when they're young in the school days, and during that period life is an adventure, and then they settle down into what's called maturity and often isn't, in which they just then begin to repeat decade by decade the life that they've already accepted. (Hugh Hefner, Day at Night)
Making a long story short, this Microscopy concerns Life-Time in terms of Ageing and Retirement. Readers may feel free and sensitive enough to keep on adjusting the according oculars until establishing a perfectly clear view on the issue.
OCULAR 1 | THE HOURGLASS CRISIS!
It seems, quite many people considered themselves and their lives sandgrains in an hourglass, they could keep on turning upside down endlessly.
Whosoever should be feeling busy now, uneasily imagining what this would be like, seems to be resorting to a purposefully deployed piece of pure non-sense, bearing at least a bit of simplified metaphorical Food for Thought on sandgrains; either wasting or enjoying their respective livings within the same limitations of Cosmic Fabric, Earthly Space and Global Society.
Ain’t this turnaround often called mid-life![1] crisis?
Ever had at least a Hollwood-like one[2]?
Well, how about birth! crisis, infant! crisis, teenage! crisis, parental blockhead! crisis, just grow-up! crisis, career of limited success! crisis, crisis management! crisis, love! crisis, loyalty! crisis, partnership! crisis, war of roses! crisis, running out of time! crisis, end-life! crisis, after-life! crisis, no life at all! crisis?!
Ever had one of these?
How about the real! – global![3] – crisis?!
Sorry for asking!
When I get older losing my hair / Many years from now / Will you still be sending me a Valentine / Birthday greetings bottle of wine / If I'd been out till quarter to three / Would you lock the door / Will you still need me, will you still feed me / When I'm sixty-four / You'll be older too / And if you say the word / I could stay with you / I could be handy, mending a fuse / When your lights have gone / You can knit a sweater by the fireside / Sunday mornings go for a ride / Doing the garden, digging the weeds / ho could ask for more / Will you still need me, will you still feed me / When I'm sixty-four (The Beatles, When I’m Sixty-Four)
OCULAR 2 | NO IDEA!
Once, Neil Postman[4] stated in an interview, e.g. Americans were aware of almost everything, breaking news had introduced during the Iran Hostage Crisis[5] over a year’s time, but knew basically nothing about the country, its leaders, people, language, culture etc.
By contrasting analogy, readers ought to be into incomes and old-age pension schemes[6]. Small to Mid Income, i.e. average wages and salaries have never truly corresponded with the employees' value added to the Companies‘ Revenues and Profits. Perhaps Marx[7] rings a bell.
Decent People can certainly affirm of Multiple Taxations on Earned Incomes, Common Savings, Stock Investments and Pensions frustrating gradual Accumulation[8] of Material Wealth, hence, denying a carefree and joyful after-work! life.
Neither Free Market and Social Market Economies nor Socialist and Communist Economies make a difference. Interestingly all of these economic phenotypes share unequal Income Ratios in a societal context.
It's not time to make a change / Just relax, take it easy / You're still young, that's your fault / There's so much you have to know / Find a girl, settle down / If you want, you can marry / Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy / I was once like you are now / And I know that it's not easy / To be calm when you've found something going on / And take your time, think a lot / Think of everthing you've got / For you will still be here tomorrow / But your dreams may not (Cat Stevens, Father and Son)
Ready for an Excursus accordingly?
According to Haavelmo[9], societies bearing unequal income ratios tend to impair their Economical Performance.
The Economic Aggregates‘ lifting and shunting effects fail to substantiate in mutual compliance, resulting in a kind of piston seizure frustrating the economy as a whole. National Money Flow is the (!) lubricant granting and sustaining a successful National Economy.
Consequently, Haavelmo deducts, the lowest third of Income Earners accounts for an economy’s power reserves inducing Impetus and Momentum bottom-up into all other Aggregates. His findings diametrally withstand, e.g. the Reagonomics‘ infamous trickle down theory[10].
Institutional and individual large-scale Income Earners tend to invest significantly more time in verifying their Investment Decisions and Return Expectations than low and average Income Earners.
Such caution puts a systemic Restrain[11] on the national Economy‘s Performance.
Quite many experience the Strain, few others don’t feel the Pain.
Ready for another Excursus?
Inspite of surging Governmental Debt[12] in lockstep with inclining Debt Service Contingencies and Capacities, common sense should've suggested enquiries into the odd nature of especially Developed Economies‘ Government (US: Treasury) Notes[13] and Bonds[14], having steadily rendered annual Interest Yields at 3 to 5 percent, matching Blue Chip Stocks' Performance.
How about doing a bit of a calculation?
For example, 120,000 US $ invested in Government Notes (2 to 10 years of investment period) for 10 years or Bonds for 30 years (20 to 30 years of investment period) at an annual interest rate of 3 percent would yield 161,270 US $ (10 year notes) or 291,272 US $ (30 year bonds) respectively.
Wow!
Now, who could afford such a lump sum just like that?
Few can, many times over ... 250,000 US $ ... 500,000 US $ ... 1,000,000 US $ ... 10,000,000 US $ ... 20,000,000 US $ ... 50,000,000 US $ ... 100,000,000 US $ ... 1000,000,000 US $ ... etc.
Feeling dizzy?
Certainly, Donald Trump is not feelin‘ giddy and his Voters’ve been lovin‘ him for that.
Back to the issue.
Eventually, findings tend to be solidifying hard evidence of an inherent Cycle of Cause-Effect Self-Referencing[15], serving to clarify the extent to which the Explosion of private Savings of mainly blessed, dubious or privileged Income Earners has been conspicuously correlating with the exponential Growth of Governmental Debt.
Accordingly, Governmental Debt Service is not only to amortise internal[16] an external[17] Debt. Crisp Governmental Debt taken up, is also to provide Special Assets backing the Provision of Returns on Investments to those natty or shadowy shareholders having acquired Treasury Notes and Bonds.
Ain’t this a Money Pit[18]?
Well, nevermind, at least the United States can afford to keep on printing as much Money[19] as they like.
What’s the bottom-line?
OCULAR 3 | OLD, BROKE N UNHAPPY!
Even in developed Economies, a growing number of Workers, the working Poor[20] and Retirees altogether are facing old-age poverty[21] having to rely on the Welfare Dime!
That’s just The Way it is?[22] Ain’t that a shame?[23]
How many jobs[24] does one require for earning a living and building an equitable and sustainable pension[25]?
How should that fit societal plans on Pension Generosity[26] and economic well-being of older people[27]?
The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating … and you finish off as an orgasm. (George Carlin)
What do you know about getting old and retiring in real terms of the declining years coming?
Every pleasure is yours to experience?
Obviously, growing old is not for cowards.
Considering old people expenditures or cost factors among other verbal disgraceful degradations[28] signify a Great Societal Misunderstanding, if not Disavowal of their Life-Time Achievements[29] to the Benefit of Society.
OCULAR 4 | PENSIONER’S HOLLYWOOD CARD!
Around the mid 70s, particularly two Movie Motion Pictures gained fame: Soylent Green[30] (1973) and Logan's Run[31] (1976). Watching these movies on TV in parental company, a boy and his sister were feeling kind of subtle worries about their parents‘ age.
Back in the day, Shockwave Rider[32], The Sheep Look Up[33], Future Shock[34] had already gained international recognition on having displayed rather dystopian outlines on what Mankind should be expecting of his civilisation’s future. Over-ageing Societies weren’t an issue.
Over the decades, especially Hollywood’s Dream Works & Co. have introduced an impressive number of TV Series and Movie Motion Pictures on mid-life! and ageing! crises.
Talking about The Fountain of Youth[35], Hollywood[36] Features like Cocoon[37] bear great appeal in the sense of embedding a classic Fairy Tale theme in daft Entertainment coupled with figurative borrowings from Science Fiction.
Abracadabra![38] In (t)his Movie Classic, Ron Howard resolves opposites such as Pension Generosity[39] versus Pension Crisis[40], Taxation of Pensions[41] versus Pension Reform[42] with a Fonzarelli Snap[43], just like that. Hollywood’s Art Directors needn’t be caring about the Future[44] of an Ageing Society.
The Fountain of Youth’s charming elegance of providing an easy solution to Ageing substitutes for Competitive Pension Comparison[45], Global Demographics[46] of Ageing Societies[47], its effects on Health Costs[48], Income Taxation[49], the Economy and Fiancial Markets[50], the need for Senior Labour Markets[51], Pension Risk Management[52].
Sorry, this misses the point, unless Ron The Snap Attack Howard had pursued a career at e.g. National Geographic[53], Nature[54]; The Day[55], The Economist[56], The New York Times[57], The Washington Post[58], Truth Dig[59].
Any more suggestions? Anyone, anyone?[60]
In reality, the only options to coping with growing old seem to recommend ... sorry ... advertise using anti-ageing Cosmetics, applying Botox, undergoing plastic Surgery, commencing Veni Vidi Vibrato N Viagra, dressing up like an adolescent Punk alongside engaging in certain activities rendering hallucinations of Teen Spirit etc.
How about the Real World of Ageing?
Elderly people's Medication, i.e. Pharmaceuticalisation[61] reflects on their inclining exposure to physio-mental Health Issues[62] with increasing age especially in the phenomenological context of societal Drug Administration[63].
One of the most dubious trains of thought in modern social policy, stems from overemphasising work. The pay-as-you-go scheme suggests, "four to five people of the working population per non-working capita" ... At a much greater degree of impartiality, such accusations bear the fallacy of erroneous cause-effect reasoning, in terms of the young generation of labourers were to feed the old generation of retirees. Nothing could be further from the truth of empirical evidence. ... Probably nothing could disprove this untenable idea better than World War II’s aftermath. The year is 1962. Like Phoenix from the ashes, restoring the foundations of infrastructure, industry; supply and education; social interaction and culture; resumption of foreign affaires and diplomacy, rebirth of civilisation has taken sixteen years. This great reconstruction is the manifest of people having invested time and effort an granting the next generation a decent living on "their capital of achievement". ... It’s not the working population but rater the State owing retirees a "return on their capital of achievement". (H. Neumeister, Managed Humaneness?)
OCULAR 5 | BORN TO SLAVE AWAY!
Ready for Retirement? How about some other kinds of Health Issues?
Apparently, today's proporters of the Sports[64], Fitness[65] and Bodybuilding Industry[66] primarily encourage back office sitters and condominium couch potatoes to aim for approximating extraordinary physical Shape, suggesting various means of Workouts as much as recommending Performance Enhancing Substances[67] and Site Enhancements[68].
Despite the support of technical equipment, the contemporary Workforce of Men and Women still engaging in classic Professions[69] demanding for a high degree of physical Action and Endurance, don't commence workouts. Intstead, they beat the shit out of themselves eight to ten hours a day, five to seven times a week, throughout their professional life-times.
These Folks pay the price for engaging in Occupations relating to Key Industries of the Real Economy, necessitating an extreme physical Condition on the one hand, yielding premature physical wear and tear at the expense of lower life-expectancy on the other, way before reaching average Retirement Age.
Without such People's Life-time Achievements, developed Economies and Societies wouldn't have existed and wouldn't have had a Future on those kinds of infrastructures and products everyone’s been used to ever since Industrialisation[70] started kickin‘ in.
They should‘ve deserved and should be expecting exceptional societal and governmental Gratitude by means of Rehab and early Retirement on a decent financial Funding.
OCULAR 6 | NO ONE’S WITH THE FINANCE!
Despite structural measures[71] having taken effect, the Pension Crisis[72] having stemmed from a global reign of crises in the Developed Countries and certainly elsewhere[73] hasn’t been overcome ever since.
For instance, how many Americans still believe, e.g., their country had ... sorry ... has overcome the Subprime Mortgage issue[74] (2007-2010), European Debt[75] (2009-2010) and Global Financial crisis[76] (2009) as much as the Great Recession[77] (2007-2009)?!
The Developed Countries‘ Blue Print Concept of a Throw Away Society[78] suggests a working-life subsistance on Earned Income covering fixed and variable Expenditures on basic Commodities, Consumer Durables and Perishables.
Moreover, the ubiquitous acquisition of so-called Status Symbols reflects on exuberant Status Seeking[79], an utterly silly Phantasmagoria of attaining social Supremity on dead manufactured Matter, acquired by means of Purchase on Credit[80], Hire Purchase[81], Finance Lease[82], Lease Purchase Contract[83], Lease[84], Subscription Business Model[85].
Objection! – A Life’s Abstract on Average: 73 years life expectancy[86] | 65 years of age[87] retirement | 24 hs Threadmill ∞ sleep ~ work ~ spare-time (leisure time).
Has the Human Pursuit of Happiness[88] come that rundown, i.e. resorting to the perpetual Advertisement[89] of Pies in the Sky, ending up in economically developed Societies of Waste Makers‘[90] affording compulsory Spending Sprees of A Living on Credit (Cards)?
He drew a line under the long column of figures and added them up with the rapidity of a computer. The sum on the mirror now looked like this: Sleep 441,504,000 seconds ... Work 441,504,000 seconds ... Meals 110,376,000 seconds ... Mother 55,188,000 seconds ... Budgerigar 13,797,000 seconds ... Shopping, etc. 55,188,000 seconds ... Friends, social club, etc. 165,564,000 seconds ... Miss Dana 27,594,000 seconds ... Daydreaming 13,797,000 seconds ... Grand Total 1,324,512,000 seconds. "And that figure," said the man in gray, rapping the mirror with his chalk so sharply that it sounded like a burst of machine-gun fire, "- that figure represents the time you've wasted up to now. What do you say to that, Mr Figaro?" (Michael Ende, Momo)
Leaning into the post-career! life, how should any Accumulation of Savings for (early) Retirement have substantiated, i.e. capitalised on such a Waste of Time an Effort?
What are the incentives to engaging in a professional life, keeping Compensation and Benefits on hand for saving-up a Third of one’s Time of Your Life[92] just for the sake of making up lifelong Dreams as a Geezer(ess) having missed the Boat on enjoying the Infinite Jest[93]?!
Ain‘t Time the most pivotal asset of our lives?!
How about those Assets, thought of to be providing (Self-)Fulfillment, the Time of our Lives, eventually brightening our Sunset Years?
OCULAR 7 | A FISTFUL OF LESS THAN NOTHIN‘!
Commonly verbalised acts of attaining or getting something by means of buying or purchasing goods, signify a conspicuously odd understanding of borrowings being considered belongings. Contractual Fine Print opposes such commonly voiced acquisitions of e.g. buying a car, purchasing a yacht or owning a house.
In fact, English doesn't clearly distinguish holding from owning goods. Both kinds of status of belongings are considered assets, although only the latter, i.e. owning goods is to be declared property in legal terms of bearing a title to absolute property[94].
Unfortunately, such fallacious conceptions of property implicitly reflect on the doubtful psychological foundations of prosperity[95] and status seeking[96] having been applicable to business – and inevitably privacy – since the 50s! The neverending story of boosting business, economy and prosperity on Debt has not come true to ordinary Citizens' Lives.
Obviously, developed Mankind's concept of Materialism hasn't changed ever since but has been serving as a Role Model to those Developing Economies‘ and Poor Countries' People, having aspired to follow suit. Undoubtedly, they’ve had to pay the price!
Quite likely, such a structural misunderstanding has prevented and will be preventing too many people from conducting a life-long Personal Financing Plan providing a cushion safeguarding their lives' solid financial standing and Retirement.
Moreover, the Regimens of disputed financial Practices in Business and Politics since the early 80s have proven conducive to watering down the meaning of asset and property.
In addition, governmental Household Practices favouring Special-Purpose Entities[97] (SPEs) insulating bad assets and Special-Purpose Vehicles[98] (SPVs) such as Shadow Budgets[99] accepting detached mid- to long-term Debt being labelled Special Assets, contribute to nurturing such a Hoax on Property, yielding fatal long-haul consequences for Society.
Ready for another Excursus?
How about investigating the Systemic Origins of Global Financial and Economic Crises (2007 – 2010) against the following abstract’s backdrop of Financial Instruments, Vehicles and Practices:
AI in Financial Trading[100] – Financial Stability[101] – Systemic Risk[102] – Rating Agencies[103] – Money as Debt[104] – Debt Equity Swap[105] – Global (Mutual) Indebtment[106] – Shadow Banking[107] ––– Ethically Disputed Business Practices[108] of Creative Finance: Off-Balance-Sheet Financing[109] – Off-Balance-Sheet Entities[110] – Single Purpose Vehicle[111] – Third-Party Technique[112] – Private Public Partnerships[113] – Articles Of Incorporation[114] – Asset-Backed-Securities[115] – Bearer Security[116] – Collateral[117] – Defeasance[118] (related: Off-Balance[119]) – Equipment Certificate Trust[120] – Exchange Of Assets[121] (related: Nine Men's Morris[122]) – Financial Leverage[123] (related: Gearing[124]) – Golden Parachute[125] – Interval Measures[126] – Leveraged Buy-Out[127] – Leveraged Lease[128] – Macrs (Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System)[129] – Monte Carlo Simulation[130] – Novation[131] (related: Legal Defeasance[132], Off-Balance[133]) – Prepack[134] (Prepackaged Bankruptcy) – Registrar[135] (related: Freddie Mac[136], Fannie Mae[137], Subprime Mortgage Crisis[138], European Debt Crisis[139], Global Financial Crisis[140], Global Economic Crisis[141]) – Securitization[142] (related: Multiple Credit Formation[143]) [related: Asset-Backed-Securities, Collateral, Defeasance, Exchange Of Assets, Financial Leverage (Gearing), Leveraged Buy-Out, Leveraged Lease, Novation (Legal Defeasance), Prepack (Prepackaged Bankruptcy)] – Workout[144] (Workout Agreement)
Well, comprehensive insight and enlightenment of such kind doesn’t alway render sufficient relief, does it?
OCULAR 8 | TIC TAC DOUGH!
In closing, the following continental Profiles and country Portraits on Retirement Schemes needn’t be elaborated on but simply investigated – one might be surprised.
# Great Economies (G7)[145]
# European Champions League[146]
# European Case in Point: Russia[147]
# Asian and Pacific Cases in Point: China[148] and India[149]; Australia[150] and New Zealand[151]
# African[152] Cases in Point: Kenya[153] and South-Africa[154]
# Middle annd South American Cases in Point: Mexico[155] and Brazil[156]
# Middle East‘s Cases in Point: Iran[157], Israel[158], Saudi Arabia[159] and Turkey[160]
Against the backdrop of global Pension Plans, here some odd questions to be concluding with:
Do those Countries[161] displacing People[162] of Migrants and Immigrants to developed[163] and developing[164] Host Countries, dispatch citizens contributing[165] more economic Value[166] than the could’ve contributed to their Home Country?
Do these Folks generate economic value in their Host Countries in excess of the total of financial support, material and non-tangible Assets they are being granted for a Jump Start into a New Life and Living, including a Wildcard[167] to attaining Pension Rights?
Considering Hidden Unemployment[168] – having been at issue in (Under)Developed Economies since the 30s! – why shouldn't the long-lasting non-utilised Workforce Potential of already Resident (Wo)Manpower be at least as conducive to adding Value to a Country's Economy at no Cost of Cultural Assimilation, Societal Inclusion, Labour Market Integration and Claims of Social Security Admission?
Those being instantly tempted to be scrutinising Cross-Cultural Awareness[169] – quite likely, without introducing the slightest hunch of it – and Ethnical Generosity and Justice[170] in this sensitive context of Human Rights[171], beg the question on the whereabouts of Equal Opportunity altogether, leaving the Impression of Reverse Discrimination[172] being imposed on such Resident Workforce.
These issues have neither been clearly voiced, nor sufficiently clarified or adequately proven. Instead, it has sparked massive concerns among Common People of Workers and Retirees, having served Right-Wing Populism and Extremism.
These Narcissists of limited World View won’t be winging it.
It is up to the established Parties and Governments to remedy this life-long Tragedy of The Working and Retired Poor!
Frame of Reference
Behemoth’s Unresolved Simplexities!
Telegramme: Rien Ne Vas Plus, Niger
Withstanding Êpitomes of Destrûctiveness!
Fiat Iustitia Et Pereat Mundus
[1] Midlife crisis (Wikiped) ––– related: DSM 5 (dhss.delaware.gov) ––– All In Therapy Clinic - What is a Midlife Crisis? Am I in a Mid-life Crisis?: Is a midlife crisis a mental illness? No, a mid-life crisis is not considered to be a mental illness. This means that it does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The closest diagnosis for this type of distress would be an Adjustment Disorder.
[2] Collection of famous US Movie Motion Pictures and TV Series depicting Mid-Life Crisis as follows: 10 (1979 film) (Wikiped) ––– American Beauty (1999 film) (Wikiped) ––– City Slickers (Wikiped) ––– Kramer vs. Kramer (Wikiped) ––– Lolita (1962 film) (Wikiped) ––– The Odd Couple (film) (Wikiped) ––– The War of the Roses (film) (Wikiped) ––– Wild Hogs (Wikiped) ––– | ––– Desperate Housewives (Wikiped) ––– Sex and the City (Wikiped) ––– The Odd Couple (1970 TV series) (Wikiped)
[4] Neil Postman Explains The Modern Media Crisis In 1988 - YouTube: Although the American public knows of many things, it knows about very little and maybe the Americans may be the most ill-informed people in the western world. I did a survey a couple of years ago of what people knew about Iran and I chose that subject because the Iranian hostage crisis had recently been completed, which means that for every day for over a year the television news dealt with the Iranian hostage crisis, so if there was any subject you could expect the Americans to know something about, it would be Iran and I asked several hundred people some simple questions. One of them being "where is Iran?", "what religion do the Iranians practice?", "where did the Shah come from?", "what does Ayatollah mean?" Questions of this sort I found out, that most people knew nothing.
[5] Iran hostage crisis (Wikiped)
[6] Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[7] Karl Marx (Wikiped) ––– related: Karl Marx, Capital - Volume I (marxists.org)
[8] Examples: Taxation and Saving (berkeley.edu) ––– The Effects of Taxation on Savings (hit-u.ac.jp) ––– The Taxation of Household Savings (ifs.org.uk)
[9] Trygve Haavelmo (Wikiped): Trygve Magnus Haavelmo (13 December 1911 – 28 July 1999), born in Skedsmo, Norway, was an economist whose research interests centered on econometrics. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1989.
[10] Trickle-down economics (Wikiped): Trickle-down theory is an economic strategy where taxes levied on the high-income group are curtailed. The theory claims that the increase in wealth will trickle down into lower economic sections in the form of increased investments and employment.
[11] Note: E.g. since the 1970s Germany's national money flow has decelerated to one sixth of its original top velocity. Over the past five decades, the exponential accumulation of large assets and fortunes by means of interest yields has brought about a degree of wealth concentration having coincided with galloping wealth inequality. ––– related: Annual report 1970 (bundesbank.de); Outlook for the German economy for 2022 to 2024 (bundesbank.de)
[12] List of countries by government debt (Wikiped) ––– List of countries by external debt (Wikiped) ––– Global Debt Database - Central Government Debt (imf.org) ––– Country List Government Debt to GDP (tradingeconomics.com)
[13] Example: TMUBMUSD10Y | U.S. 10 Year Treasury Note Overview | MarketWatch
[14] Example: United States Rates & Bonds - Bloomberg ––– World Government Bonds - Daily updated yields
[16] List of countries by government debt (Wikiped) ––– Global Debt Database - Central Government Debt (imf.org)
[17] List of countries by external debt (Wikiped) ––– Global Debt Database - Central Government Debt (imf.org)
[18] Tom Hanks - Idiot Laugh - “The Money Pit” - YouTube
[19] Related feature: Greenspan’s Stunt Show! - Cal Caleido’s Substack
[20] The working poor or how a job is no guarantee of decent living conditions (europa.eu)
[21] Old-age Poverty in OECD Countries and the Issue of Gender Pension Gaps (ifo.de) ––– Poverty Risk and Income Inequality for older people in a long-term perspective (unimi.it)
[22] Bruce Hornsby And The Range - The Way It Is (1986) - YouTube
[23] Fats Domino - Ain't That A Shame (1956) - YouTube
[24] Examples: Top Five Tax Surprises with Multiple Jobs - Overemployed ––– I have more than one job – how does this affect my pension? | MoneyHelper ––– Multiemployer Insurance Program Facts | Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (pbgc.gov)
[25] The ILO Multi-Pillar pension model - Building equitable and sustainable pension systems (social-protection.org) ––– Multiemployer Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Plans: A Primer (congress.gov)
[26] Public Pension Generosity and Old-Age Poverty in OECD countries (julkari.fi)
[27] International Comparisons of Pensioners' Incomes (uni-muenchen.de)
[28] Retirees ... Oldies ... Senior Citizens ... High Agers ... Expirees ... Needies ... Grumpies ... Lonelies ... Wheelies
[29] H. Neumeister, Managed Humaneness?: One of the most dubious trains of thought in modern social policy, stems from overemphasising work. The pay-as-you-go scheme suggests, "four to five people of the working population per non-working capita" ... "In a few years, the according ratio will be even less favourable, since the prevalance of old people will be even more dominant." Cynics reckon, economically speaking, the dead required little space and resources in comparison to the living elderly, affording shelter and all kinds of resources, supplies etc. At a much greater degree of impartiality, such accusations bear the fallacy of erroneous cause-effect reasoning, in terms of the young generation of labourers were to feed the old generation of retirees. Nothing could be further from the truth of empirical evidence. Probably nothing could disprove this untenable idea better than World War II’s aftermath. The year is 1962. Like Phoenix from the ashes, restoring the foundations of infrastructure, industry; supply and education; social interaction and culture; resumption of foreign affaires and diplomacy, rebirth of civilisation has taken sixteen years. This great reconstruction is the manifest of people having invested time and effort an granting the next generation a decent living on "their capital of achievement". Surely, the young and middle generations are to be investing their in this "capital" productively and farsightedly. But without such "capital", today's workers‘ effort would hardly suffice to serve themselves, let alone the population. It’s not the working population but rater the State owing retirees a "return on their capital of achievement".
[30] Soylent Green (Wikiped) – Soylent Green (1973) Official Trailer - Charlton Heston, Edward G Robinson Movie HD - YouTube
[31] Logan's Run (Wikiped) – 1976 Logan's Run Official Trailer 1 MGM - YouTube / Logan's Run Official Trailer #1 - Michael York Movie (1976) HD - YouTube
[32] The Shockwave Rider (Wikiped)
[33] The Sheep Look Up (Wikiped)
[34] Future Shock (Wikiped) ––– related: Future Shock Documentary (1972) - YouTube
[35] Fountain of Youth (Wikiped)
[36] Collection of International Movie Features reflecting on Ageing: Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) (Wikiped) ––– Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) (Wikiped) ––– Scrooge (1951) (Wikiped) ––– Ikiru (1952) (Wikiped) ––– Umberto D. (1952) (Wikiped) ––– Tokyo Story (1953) (Wikiped) ––– Wild Strawberries (1957) (Wikiped) ––– What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) (Wikiped) ––– 8½ (1963) (Wikiped) ––– Where's Poppa? (1970) (Wikiped) ––– Harold and Maude (1971) (Wikiped) ––– The Godfather (1972) (Wikiped) ––– Best Boy (1979) (Wikiped) ––– The Trip to Bountiful (1985) (Wikiped) ––– Driving Miss Daisy (1989) (Wikiped) ––– Age-Old Friends (1989) (Wikiped) ––– Prospero's Books (1991) (Wikiped) ––– Grumpy Old Men (1993) (Wikiped) ––– The Straight Story (1999) (Wikiped) ––– Gran Torino (2008) (Wikiped) ––– || ––– Collection of US TV Series depicting the Life and Living of Retirees: Arthur Spooner in King of Queens (Wikiped) ––– Dorothy Zbornak, Rose Nylund, Blanche Devereaux, Sophia Petrillo in The Golden Girls (Wikiped) ––– Zebulon "Grandpa" Walton, Esther "Grandma" Walton in The Waltons (Wikiped) ––– Stanley and Helen Roper, Ralph Furley in Three's Company (Wikiped)
[37] Cocoon (Wikiped) – Cocoon (Trailer) - YouTube
[38] Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra - YouTube
[39] Public Pension Generosity and Old-Age Poverty in OECD countries (julkari.fi)
[40] Pensions crisis (Wikiped) ––– relating to the American perspective as follows: The Economy and Your Pension (2008-2009) (nirsonline.org) ––– These retirement funds took a beating in 2008 it could happen again (cnbc.com) ––– The Great Recession and Public Pensions - NPPC (protectpensions.org) ––– Battered by Great Recession, underfunded public pensions to persist | Reuters ––– Ageing Societies and the Looming Pension Crisis - OECD ––– The Impact of Aging Worldwide on Pensions and Public Policy – IMF F&D ––– Aging Populations and Public Pension Schemes --IMF Occasional Paper No. 147
[41] The Taxation of Pensions - Issues, concepts and international experiences (jvi.org) ––– The tax treatment of funded pensions (oecd.org) ––– Taxing Pensions (papers.ssm.com) ––– The budgetary and redistributive impact of pension taxation in the EU - A microsimulation analysis (europa.eu) ––– A blueprint for a better tax treatment of pensions (ifs.org.uk)
[42] Review of international pension reform (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
[43] The Fonzarelli Snap - YouTube
[44] Future of an Ageing Population (publishing.service.gov.uk) ––– Population Aging and Pension Systems | When We're Sixty-Four: Opportunities and Challenges for Public Policies in a Population-Aging Context in Latin America (worldbank.org)
[45] Pensions at a Glance 2021 (oecd-ilibrary.org) ––– Pensions: International comparisons (researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk)
[46] Population ageing (Wikiped) ––– Ageing: Global population (who.int) ––– Global Population Aging: Facts, Challenges, Solutions & Perspectives | American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org) ––– Why Population Aging Matter - A Global Perspective (nih.gov) ––– How Does an Aging Population Affect a Country? (worldbank.org) ––– Aging Is the Real Population Bomb (imf.org) ––– Working Group on Ageing Populations and Sustainability (europa.eu)
[47] Maintaining Prosperity In An Ageing Society - the OECD study on the policy implications of ageing (oecd.org) ––– Demographics, Pension Systems and the Saving-Investment Balance (zbw.eu) ––– Demographics, pension systems, and the current account: an empirical assessment using the IMF current account model (snb.ch) ––– International Comparison of Public Expenditure on the Pension System (rozpoctovarada.cz)
[48] Aging Population Continuing to Drive National Health Spending, Report Says (ajmc.com) ––– Can the costs of caring for an ageing population be controlled? (who.int) ––– Ageing and Health Care Costs (fes.de) ––– RACGP - Ageing population and per-person health costs to rise ––– The Impact of an Ageing Population on End of Life Care Costs (pssru.ac.uk) ––– The Impact of Population Aging and Public Health Support on EU Labor Markets - PMC (nih.gov) ––– Cost of Aging -- Finance & Development (imf.org)
[49] The macroeconomic and fiscal impact of population ageing (europa.eu) ––– Taxes and an Aging Population (nextavenue.org) ––– New report highlights the impact of population ageing on tax revenues - Intergenerational Foundation (if.org.uk) ––– Population ageing and sub-central governments: Long-term fiscal challenges and tax policy reform options | Ageing and Fiscal Challenges across Levels of Government | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org) ––– Population aging, social security and fiscal limits - ScienceDirect ––– Taxation Challenges of Population Ageing: Comparative Evidence from the European Union, the United States and Japan (papers.ssrn.com) ––– Towards a better understanding of the effects of ageing on economic growth | Treasury Research Institute
[50] Financial Market Trends – Ageing and Pension System Reform: Implications for Financial Markets and Economic Policies (oecd.org)
[51] Ageing and labour markets for older workers (ilo.org)
[52] FRAMEWORK: Pension Funds’ Risk-Management Framework (oecd.org) ––– Framework for Pension Investment Management (worldbank.org) ––– || ––– SCHEMES: Risk Management and Public Plan Retirement Systems (actuary.org) ––– Defined Benefit versus Defined Contribution Pension Plans - What are the Real Trade-offs (nber.org) ––– Study on Pension Schemes (europa.eu) ––– || ––– FUNDAMENTALS AND BEST PRACTICE METHODS: The Economics of Pensions (lse.ac.uk) ––– The Ten Fundamentals of Pension Fund Risk Management (northinfo.com) ––– Good Practices for Pension Funds’ Risk Management Systems (oecd.org) ––– Global Pension Funds: Best practices in the pension funds investment process (pwc.lu) ––– A Tale of Two Pensions Plans: Measuring Pension Plan Risk from an Economic Capital Perspective (soa.org) ––– || ––– INVESTMENTS, PERIPHERAL RISK EXPOSURES AND FINANCIAL STABILITY // Pension Funds Creating Capital Markets: ––– A Study on Financial Risk Analysis in Pension Funds Investment - an Implication of Exchange Rate Exposure (pucsp.br) ––– Public Pensions, Public Budgets, and the Risks of Pension Obligation Bonds (nyu.edu) ––– Risk Shifting Versus Risk Management: Investment Policy in Corporate Pension Plans (papers.ssrn.com) ––– Risks from leverage: how did a small corner of the pensions industry threaten financial stability? − speech by Sarah Breeden (bankofengland.co.uk) ––– The Role of Pension Funds on Financial Sector Development (grips.ac.jp) ––– The Origins of ESG in Pensions Strategies and Outcomes (upenn.edu) ––– The impact of regulating occupational pensions in Europe on investment and financial stability (europa.eu) ––– | ––– // Pension Funds Exposure to Capital Markets: The Impact of Stocks and Bonds on Pension Fund Performance (cjournal.cz) ––– Guide to Private Equity and Venture Capital for Pension Funds (investeurope.eu) ––– | ––– // Pensions on Corporate Stock: The Causes and Consequences of Pension Fund Holdings of Employer Stock (dol.gov) ––– Risk Shifting Versus Risk Management: Investment Policy in Corporate Pension Plans (papers.ssrn.com) ––– Employee Costs and Risks in 401(k) Plans (bls.gov) ––– || ––– RISK DEFINITION, SUPERVISION AND MANAGEMENT. Defining and managing pension fund risk. (actuaries.org) ––– Systemic Aspects of Pension Funds and the Role of Supervision (uva.nl) ––– A road map for effectively managing a frozen pension plan (bofa.com) ––– || ––– RISK ALLOCATION: Toolkit for Risk-based pensions supervision (iopsweb.org) ––– Longevity risk transfer markets: market structure, growth drivers and impediments, and potential risks (bis.org) ––– How Public Pension Plan Investment Risk Affects Funding and Contribution Risk (albany.edu) ––– Risk Shifting Versus Risk Management: Investment Policy in Corporate Pension Plans (papers.ssrn.com) ––– || ––– RISK DIVERSIFICATION: Public Pension Plan Risk-Sharing - Options and Consequences (brookings.edu) ––– Risk Shifting Versus Risk Management: Investment Policy in Corporate Pension Plans (papers.ssrn.com) ––– || ––– RISK MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING: Better Measurements - Risk Reporting for Public Pension Plans (harvard.edu) ––– The Financial Reporting of Pensions (efrag.org) ––– || ––– RISK REGULATION AND OPTIMISATION: Pension Funds Foreign Investment – How to handle the risks (lifeyrismal.is) ––– Pension Fund Regulation and Risk Management : Results from an ALM Optimisation Exercise | OECD Working Papers on Insurance and Private Pensions | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org) ––– Pension De-Risking Overview (acli.com) ––– || ––– RISK PERCEPTION: How People React to Pension Risk (iza.org) ––– || ––– RISK SURVEYS: Global Pension and Sovereign Funds Risk Management survey (kpmg.com) ––– State Public Pension Investments Shift Over Past 30 Years (pewtrusts.org)
[53] Homepage | National Geographic
[55] theday.com - New London and southeastern Connecticut News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Video and Weather - The Day newspaper
[56] The Economist | World News, Economics, Politics, Business & Finance
[57] The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos (nytimes.com)
[58] The Washington Post - Breaking news and latest headlines, U.S. news, world news, and video - The Washington Post
[59] Truthdig - An Independent, Progressive Journal of News and Opinion.
[60] "Anyone, anyone" teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off - YouTube
[61] Examples: Medication and ageing (health.vic.gov.au) ––– Strategies and Tools for Supporting the Appropriateness of Drug Use in Older People - PMC (nih.gov) ––– Looking for the "Little Things": A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Medicines Monitoring for Older People Using the ADRe Resource - PubMed (nih.gov) ––– Ensuring safe and effective medicines for an ageing population (europa.eu)
[62] Example: The 10 Most Prescribed Medications for the Elderly and What they Do - UEW Healthcare ––– related: The Top 10 Most Common Chronic Diseases for Older Adults (ncoa.org)
[63] Examples: The pharmaceuticalisation of society? A framework for analysis (researchgate.net) ––– Pharmaceuticalization of Society in Context: Theoretical, Empirical and Health Dimensions - John Abraham, 2010 (sagepub.com) ––– From Medicalisation to Pharmaceuticalisation - A Sociological Overview. New Scenarios for the Sociology of Health (sciendo.com)
[64] Sports Market Size, Predicting Share, Trends, Growth Rate Outlook By 2032 (thebusinessresearchcompany.com)
[65] Fitness Industry in 2023: Key Trends & Statistics (perfectgym.com)
[66] The Most Surprising Bodybuilder Statistics And Trends in 2023 • GITNUX
[67] Performance-enhancing substance (Wikiped) ––– Performance-enhancing drugs: Know the risks - Mayo Clinic
[68] Oil injection for cosmetic enhancement of the upper extremities: a case report and review of literature - PMC (nih.gov)
[69] Bricklayer (Wikiped) ––– Blacksmith (Wikiped) ––– Construction worker (Wikiped) ––– Farmworker (Wikiped) ––– Lumberjack (Wikiped) ––– Roadworkers (Wikiped) ––– historically related as follows: Washerwoman (Wikiped) ––– History of road transport workers (Wikiped) ––– Sledgehammer-wielding shipyard workers (collingwoodtoday.ca) ––– Trubble woman (Wikiped)
[70] History of industrialisation (Wikiped) ––– Industrial Revolution (Wikiped) ––– Industrial Revolution: Definition, Inventions & Dates | HISTORY
[71] Public Pensions Weathered “The Great Recession” and Took Action to Ensure Long-Term Sustainability (forbes.com)
[72] Pensions crisis (Wikiped) ––– relating to the American perspective as follows: The Economy and Your Pension (2008-2009) (nirsonline.org) ––– These retirement funds took a beating in 2008 it could happen again (cnbc.com) ––– The Great Recession and Public Pensions - NPPC (protectpensions.org) ––– Battered by Great Recession, underfunded public pensions to persist | Reuters ––– Ageing Societies and the Looming Pension Crisis - OECD ––– The Impact of Aging Worldwide on Pensions and Public Policy – IMF F&D ––– Aging Populations and Public Pension Schemes --IMF Occasional Paper No. 147
[73] Private Pensions and Policy Responses to the Financial and Economic Crisis (oecd.org)
[74] Subprime mortgage crisis (2007-2010) (Wikiped)
[75] European debt crisis (Wikiped)
[76] Global financial crisis in 2009 (Wikiped)
[77] Great Recession (2007-2009) (Wikiped)
[78] Throw-away society (Wikiped)
[79] On the American Paragon: Vance Packard, The Status Seekers (soilandhealth.org) ––– The status seekers : Packard, Vance : Internet Archive
[80] Credit (Wikiped) ––– Line of credit (Wikiped)
[83] Lease purchase contract (Wikiped)
[85] Subscription business model (Wikiped)
[86] World Life Expectancy 1950-2023 | MacroTrends
[87] Future retirement ages | Pensions at a Glance 2021 : OECD and G20 Indicators | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org)
[88] Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Wikiped)
[89] On the American Paragon: Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders (irwish.de) ––– The hidden persuaders : Packard, Vance : Internet Archive
[90] On the American Paragon: Vance Packard, The Waste Makers (soilandhealth.org) ––– The waste makers : Packard, Vance, 1914-1996 : Internet Archive
[91] Michael Ende, Momo (kkoworld.com) ––– Note: Michael Ende (Wikiped) internationally best known for The Neverending Story (Wikiped) once shared an interesting insight into creating ideas on one of his many, famous international bestsellers. The sensation of a baby being born into a life of uncertainty; being cushioned in multiple layers of boxes being sent someone, somewhere; its destiny eventually being unveiled, originated from his approach to intuitive writing. It supported an organic precipitation of thoughts, eventually yielding fantastic imagery in a coherent framework of literature concepts as much as perceptions of common understanding, imagination and fictional sensitivity. Such a format transcended genres, addressing people of all age groups in a fashion, they could easily be relating to. To this day, Ende's professional oeuvre and social life-time achievement have exceptionally contributed to socio-critic insight and societal enlightenment.
[92] By analogy: Michael Ende, Momo (kkoworld.com): Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, it seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time. Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem an eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it. Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.The men in gray knew this better than anyone. Nobody knew the value of an hour or a minute, or even of a single second, as well as they. They were experts on time just as leeches are experts on blood, and they acted accordingly. They had designs on people's time - long-term and well-laid plans of their own. What mattered most to them was that no one should become aware of their activities. They knew the identity of every person likely to further their plans long before that person had any inkling of it. They waited for the ideal moment to entrap him, and they saw to it that the ideal moment came. "Life's passing me by," he told himself, "and what am I getting out of it? Wielding a pair of scissors, chatting to customers, lathering their faces - is that the most I can expect? When I'm dead, it'll be as if I'd never existed." "The trouble is," he thought sourly, "my work leaves me no time for that sort of thing, and you need time for the right kind of life. You've got to be free, but I'm a lifelong prisoner of scissors, lather and chitchat." The man in gray didn't smile. "Neither," he replied in a peculiarly flat and expressionless voice - a gray voice, so to speak. "I'm from the Timesaving Bank. Permit me to introduce myself: Agent No. XYQ/384/b. We hear you wish to open an account with us." "You see !" said the man in gray, puffing contentedly at his small cigar. "You need more time, but how are you going to find it? By saving it, of course. You, Mr Figaro, are wasting time in a totally irresponsible way. Let me prove it to you by simple arithmetic. There are sixty seconds in a minute and sixty minutes in an hour - are you with me so far?" "Sixty times sixty is three thousand six hundred, which makes three thousand six hundred seconds in an hour. There are twenty-four hours in a day, so multiply three thousand six hundred by twenty-four to find the number of seconds in a day and you arrive at a figure of eighty-six thousand four hundred. There are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, as you know, which makes thirty-one million five hundred and thirtysix thousand seconds in a year, or three hundred and fifteen million three hundred and sixty thousand seconds in ten years. How long do you reckon you'll live, Mr Figaro?" The agent did some lightning calculations. The squeak of his chalk as it raced across the mirror set Mr Figaro's teeth on edge. "Forty-two years at eight hours a night makes four hundred and forty-one million five hundred and four thousand seconds ... We'll have to write that off, I'm afraid. How much of the day do you devote to work, Mr Figaro?" "So you've already squandered another fifty-five million one hundred and eighty-eight thousand seconds, Mr Figaro. We also know you go to the cinema once a week, sing with a social club once a week, go drinking twice a week, and spend the rest of your evenings reading or gossiping with friends. In short, you devote some three hours a day to useless pastimes that have lost you another one hundred and sixty-five million five hundred and sixty-four thousand seconds." The agent broke off. "What's the matter, Mr Figaro, aren't you feeling well?" He drew a line under the long column of figures and added them up with the rapidity of a computer. The sum on the mirror now looked like this: Sleep 441,504,000 seconds ... Work 441,504,000 seconds ... Meals 110,376,000 seconds ... Mother 55,188,000 seconds ... Budgerigar 13,797,000 seconds ... Shopping, etc. 55,188,000 seconds ... Friends, social club, etc. 165,564,000 seconds ... Miss Dana 27,594,000 seconds ... Daydreaming 13,797,000 seconds ... Grand Total 1,324,512,000 seconds. "And that figure," said the man in gray, rapping the mirror with his chalk so sharply that it sounded like a burst of machine-gun fire, "- that figure represents the time you've wasted up to now. What do you say to that, Mr Figaro?" "So that's all my life amounts to," thought Mr Figaro, absolutely shattered. He was so impressed by the elaborate sum, which had come out perfectly, that he was ready to accept whatever advice the stranger had to offer. It was one of the tricks the men in gray used to dupe prospective customers. Agent No. XYQ/384/b broke the silence. "Can you really afford to go on like this?" he said blandly. "Wouldn't you prefer to start saving right away, Mr Figaro? "It's quite simple. If you don't withdraw the time you save for five years, we credit you with the same amount again. Your savings double every five years, do you follow? They're worth four times as much after ten years, eight times as much after fifteen, and so on. Say you'd started saving a mere two hours a day twenty years ago: by your sixty-second birthday, or after forty years in all, you'd have had two hundred and fifty-six times as much in the bank as you originally put in. That would mean a credit balance of twenty-six billion nine hundred and ten million seven hundred and twenty thousand seconds." And the agent produced his chalk again and wrote the figure on the mirror: 26,910,720,000.
[93] David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (wordpress.com) ––– Infinite Jest : Foster Wallace, David : Internet Archive
[94] Absolute Title: What it is, How it Works, FAQs (investopedia.com)
[95] On the American Paragon: Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders (irwish.de): Then it explained what all the talking as about, in these blunt words: "These men aren't talking just to hear their voices, nor do they enjoy venturing out on an economic limb."Their main aim is to beef up the confidence level of the nation by counteracting "pessimism" that sometimes get voiced, so that dealers will keep on ordering goods and consumers will keep on buying goods, at a higher and higher rate, and if necessary go into debt to do it. "To maintain a pace of increasing consumption," it asserted, "a high level of credit buying must be maintained as well. There must be a continued willingness to expand ...." Such a willingness to expand, industrial thinkers had concluded, rested on confidence. "Confidence and spending are handmaidens of an expanding economy," Tide stated. From a persuasion standpoint this matter of confidence transcended everything else. The minute a glow of confidence left the landscape all sorts of disagreeable things that might happen. One thing that would surely happen would be that people might start watching their dollars and become more cerebral in their buying. That would make things difficult all over for depth merchandisers trying to tempt people into impulsive buying, status-symbol buying, leisure buying and many other kinds of self-indulgent buying. Dr. Dichter was most emphatic on the hazard involved if confidence was not kept at a high level. "Our prosperity is based on psychological foundations", he warned and added that economists and business leaders who predict any dip in business are "playing with fire and doing a disservice to the country." What was the evidence that confidence was crucial? Merchandisers were strongly influenced by the findings of the Survey Research Center psychologists at the University of Michigan, who kept a running chart on the buying mood of the United States public for the Federal Reserve Board.These probers found there is such a thing as a national buying mood and were reported as being convinced that a generally cheerful atmosphere, more than any rational calculation, seems to make people feel like spending their money. Not only consumers but smaller business men were believed to feel the contagion of confidence or lack of it of big business and to peg their action to the way the big businessmen seemed to be feeling. The small businessman or the retailer, perhaps hesitating whether to plunge his bank roll (or a large part of it) on a large and perhaps chancy order, is presumed to be reassured by faith-in-the future talk by the leaders and disconcerted by any talk of "soft spots" in the economy.
[96] On the American Paragon: Vance Packard, The Status Seekers (soilandhealth.org): While observing the 1958 convention of the nation's home builders in Chicago, I heard one of the featured speakers, a home marketing consultant, report that he and his aides had conducted 411 "depth interviews" in eight cities to find what people are seeking when they buy a home. In many cases, he reported, mid century home buyers are buying themselves a symbol of success; and he discussed at length strategies for giving a house being offered for sale "snob appeal." ... In moving to a higher-income level, we find the same striving, but in a somewhat more discreet form. Researchers for the Chicago Tribune, exploring the attitudes of people in the semi-elite suburb they studied, summed up the prevailing attitude toward homes in this way: "You have to look successful. A house is a very tangible symbol of success … and the residents regard it as a goal and a symbol, as well as something to live in." A man promoted to the vice-presidency of a machinery company, with headquarters in New York City, explained that he had bought a better house and finer furniture because he felt obliged to live on a higher scale. He felt that expectation was a part of the promotion.
[97] Special-purpose entity (Wikiped)
[98] What Is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and Why Companies Form Them (investopedia.com)
[99] On the role model of redesignating debt: Federal credit and the shadow budget - National Affairs (pdf) (nationalaffairs.com): The financial commitments of the federal government that are not appropriately accounted for in the budget considered by Congress has only recently begun to attract the public's attention. Federal assistance in the form of credit is one of the largest parts of that shadow budget, which also includes tax expenditures and the federal direction of resources through regulation. If the 1980's are to see the advent of real control over the public sector, our understanding of the shadow budget will have to improve very rapidly. It will be vital if we are to avoid the temptation to move programs cut from the "real" budget onto the shadow budget. ... The attention recently focused on such high-visibility programs as the Chrysler loan guarantee and guarantees of New York City debt has made most people aware that the federal government has an important presence in credit markets. But few recognize the vast scale of this presence, the diversity of programs affecting credit, or the variety of instruments used. This lack of awareness is disturbing; even more disturbing is our lack of understanding of the impact of these programs. Given the number and size of the implicit and explicit subsidies involved, it is almost certain that these programs have a substantial impact on whether (and at what price) credit will be available for homes, businesses, farms, and other private sectors of the economy, and therefore play a vital role in determining where the economy is heading. Yet little conclusive research on these effects has been completed. And perhaps most disturbing is that the political accountability of these credit programs is weak enough to have allowed them to grow virtually unnoticed. The federal budget process has not only failed to provide scrutiny over these activities commensurate with their importance, it has also encouraged the perception of federal credit as an almost costless means of attaining public goals. The failure of the political process to measure the costs of some programs may well be the leading cause of the rapid expansion of credit-related programs.
[100] Electronic trading platform (Wikiped) ––– Was software responsible for the financial crisis? | Technology | The Guardian ––– Can Algorithms Help Predict the Next Financial Crisis? (upenn.edu) ––– Spoofing (finance) (Wikiped) ––– Mirror trading (Wikiped) ––– Social trading (Wikiped) ––– Copy trading (Wikiped)
[101] Ken Rogoff - Debts, Deficits and Global Financial Stability - YouTube
[102] Systemic Risk Contributions: A Credit Portfolio Approach (bis.org) ––– McKinsey Global Institute, Debt and Deleveraging. The global credit bubble and its economic consequences (mckinsey.com) ––– The Economist, Financial risk got ahead of the world’s ability to manage it. (economist.com) ––– Number-crunchers crunched | The Economist
[103] EU Commisson, Frequently asked questions: legislative proposal on credit rating agencies (CRAs) ––– Debasement of Ratings (columbia.edu): What is the evidence that rating agencies have been performing badly in measuring credit risk on the debts that they rate? The evidence relates to two separate phenomena: inflated ratings and low-quality ratings. The inflation of ratings is defined as the purposeful over-rating (under-estimation of default risk) on rated debts. Low-quality ratings, defined as ratings based on flawed measures of underlying risk, are a related but logically distinct phenomenon. The recent collapse of subprime-related securitizations revealed both problems in the extreme, but these problems have been present in securitized debt instruments for decades. ––– The Failures of Credit Rating Agencies during the Global Financial Crisis - Causes and Possible Solutions (researchgate.net): The adequacy of credit ratings is crucial for normal functioning of debt markets. Failures of credit rating agencies have strengthened the negative effects of global financial crisis, generating additional systemic risk. The errors of the agencies can be explained by many reasons as business models, conflicts of interest and absent or ineffective regulation of their activities. To overcome these major problems, we can apply different approaches. The best solution is to improve regulatory practices, combining it with limiting the regulatory status of rating agencies. ––– The Credit Ratings Game - BOLTON - 2012 - The Journal of Finance - Wiley Online Library: The collapse of AAA-rated structured finance products in 2007 to 2008 has brought renewed attention to conflicts of interest in credit rating agencies (CRAs). We model competition among CRAs with three sources of conflicts: (1) CRAs conflict of understating risk to attract business, (2) issuers' ability to purchase only the most favorable ratings, and (3) the trusting nature of some investor clienteles. These conflicts create two distortions. First, competition can reduce efficiency, as it facilitates ratings shopping. Second, ratings are more likely to be inflated during booms and when investors are more trusting. We also discuss efficiency-enhancing regulatory interventions. ––– Credit Rating Agencies: How to Restore Credibility (tavakolistructuredfinance.com): Ostensibly the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) qualifies the NRSRO designation. The SEC’s series of failures to check the creation and sale of hundreds of billions of dollars of blatantly misrated securitizations leading up to the financial crisis are beyond the scope of this report. It’s worth noting, however, that if the Food and Drug Administration failed to check the sale of tainted meat that repeatedly sickened a large segment of the population, we would demand a top to bottom overhaul of the organization and its methods. ––– FT, More Wrongdoing At Banks, More Swingeing Fines, No Prosecutions, May 23, 2015: THE scene was familiar: regulators meting out vast penalties to banks, scathing statements about gross misconduct, yet no individuals charged with any crimes and some confusion as to what exactly the banks were admitting to and what effect that would have. On May 20th a consortium of American and British government agencies announced settlements with six international banks regarding claims that they had manipulated currency markets. The six—Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and UBS—agreed to pay $5.6 billion in penalties. All but Bank of America also admitted to crimes, although the significance of that is unclear. (Note: Original weblink no longer available) ––– FT, The Credit Rating Controversy, June 29, 2015: The "Big Three" global credit rating agencies—U.S.-based Standard and Poor's (S&P), Moody's, and Fitch Ratings—have come under intense scrutiny in the wake of the global financial crisis. (..) In Europe, the Big Three garnered further controversy over their sovereign debt ratings. While the public debt of crisis-hit countries like Greece, Portugal, and Ireland was relegated to “junk” status, the agencies also downgraded the creditworthiness of France, Austria, and other major eurozone economies. (Note: Original weblink no longer available) ––– FT, Rating Agencies: Badly Overrated – Regulators And Investors Rely Too Heavily On Credit Ratings, May 16, 2002: PITY the poor rating agencies. They work their socks off trying to give sensible credit ratings to every financial instrument they are asked to assess. Now they are under attack: from countries that claim to have been unfairly downgraded (such as Japan, see article); from companies struggling to cope with adverse markets; and from investors alarmed at the speed with which triple-A names can sink to single-B. America's regulators are also, post-Enron, reviewing the top three agencies' quasi-official status, for anti-competitiveness and potential conflicts of interest. (Note: Original weblink no longer available) ––– FT, Sec Pledges Overhaul Of Rating Agencies, January 25, 2003: The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday pledged a sweeping overhaul of the regulation of credit rating agencies following criticism of their role in the collapse of Enron and the crisis in the telecommunications industry. The chief US financial regulator said a review of the credit rating business had "identified a wide range of issues that deserve further examination". (Note: Original weblink no longer available) ––– FT, Rating Agencies – Exclusion Zone, February 6, 2003: Regulators promise a belated review of the ratings oligopoly. THE domination of any industry by three firms ought to set regulators thinking. Does their power distort markets? Is lack of competition damaging? So it is in the world of credit ratings, where two big agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's (S&P), and one smaller one, Fitch, hold sway. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was asked by Congress last year to review their role. (Note: Original weblink no longer available) ––– FT, Paris To Target Credit Rating Agencies At G7, May 1, 2003: France plans to raise the issue of regulating the international credit ratings agencies with its partners in the Group of Seven industrial countries. The aim is to agree a set of principles with the ratings agencies to make them more transparent and accountable. The French finance ministry has already sounded out Moody's Investors Service, one of three big agencies that dominate the business. (Note: Original weblink no longer available) ––– FT, Pressure On Cdo Ratings, January 12, 2006: The European structured finance market is set to see benign or improving credit ratings cross most market segments this year after the best ever year for upgrades in 2005, according to analysts at Standard & Poor's, the ratings agency. The one area of continuing relative weakness in structured finance - which covers all kinds of asset-backed securitisations - would probably be in collateralised debt obligations, which in 2005 were hit by troubles in the US car industry and were likely to see ratings downgrades again this year. (Note: Original weblink no longer available) ––– FT, CREDIT RATINGS INDUSTRY COMES UNDER ATTACK, March 7, 2006: The dominance of the credit ratings industry by a handful of companies was attacked on Tuesday before the powerful Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington. The hearing followed calls for legislative action that began intensifying after the failures of the main ratings agencies to flag up problems at Enron, WorldCom and Parmalat. More recent examples include Delphi, the car-parts maker that went from an investment grade rating in December 2004 to bankruptcy in less than a year. The Securities and Exchange Commission currently designates Nationally Recognised Statistical Rating Organisations using unspecified criteria. Only ratings supplied by an NRSRO are valid in the context of laws and regulations involving credit ratings, giving NRSROs huge influence.
[104] Money as Debt - Full Documentary - YouTube
[105] What is Debt/Equity Swap? | Examples | How Does it Work? (wallstreetmojo.com) ––– Corporate Debt Restructuring - ppt video online download (slideplayer.com)
[106] Countries Compared by Economy > Debt > External. International Statistics at NationMaster.com ––– World Debt Clocks (usdebtclock.org) ––– Creditor Country vs Debtor Country (sas.com) ––– America's Foreign Creditors - NYTimes.com ––– Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay by John Lanchester | Business and finance books | The Guardian ––– Trends and major holders of U.S. federal debt in charts | Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (cepal.org) ––– Which Countries Hold the Most U.S. Debt? (visualcapitalist.com) ––– The Resistible Fall of Europe: An Interview with George Soros by George Soros - Project Syndicate (project-syndicate.org) ––– European Debt Crisis - Economic Collapse In 3 Minutes - Clarke & Dawe MUST SEE Video - YouTube ––– The European Debt Crisis Visualized - YouTube
[107] Shadow banking: still big, still dangerous - YouTube
[108] Ethically disputed business practices (Wikiped)
[109] Off-Balance Sheet Financing (OBSF): Definition and Purpose (investopedia.com) ––– Off-balance-sheet (Wikiped) ––– The Rise and Fall of WorldCom: Story of a Scandal (investopedia.com) ––– Enron Scandal: The Fall of a Wall Street Darling (investopedia.com) ––– The Accounting Trick Behind Thirty Years of Scandal | TIME.com
[110] Off-Balance-Sheet Entities: An Introduction (investopedia.com)
[111] The next chapter: creating an understanding of Special Purpose Vehicles (pwc.com) ––– Report on Special Purpose Entities (bis.org) ––– Special Purpose Entities and their role in Megaprojects: a new focus for understanding megaproject behaviour - CORE Reader
[112] Third-party technique (Wikiped)
[113] U.S. Department of Transportation, Risk Assessment for Public-Private Partnerships: A Primer (dot.gov) ––– David Hall, Why Private-Public Partnerships don't work - The many advantages of the public alternative (world-psi.org)
[114] What Are Articles of Incorporation? What's Included (investopedia.com)
[115] Asset-Backed Security (ABS): What It Is, How Different Types Work (investopedia.com)
[116] Bearer security financial definition of Bearer security (thefreedictionary.com)
[117] Collateral Definition, Types, & Examples (investopedia.com)
[118] What Is Defeasance? How It Works on the Balance Sheet and Example (investopedia.com) ––– Novation: Definition in Contract Law, Types, Uses, and Example (investopedia.com)
[119] Off-Balance Sheet Financing (OBSF): Definition and Purpose (investopedia.com)
[120] Equipment Trust Certificate (ETC) Definition (investopedia.com)
[121] Exchange of assets financial definition of Exchange of assets (thefreedictionary.com)
[122] Nine men's morris (Wikiped)
[123] What Is Financial Leverage, and Why Is It Important? (investopedia.com)
[124] What Is Gearing? Definition, How's It's Measured, and Example (investopedia.com)
[125] Golden Parachute: Definition, Examples, Controversy (investopedia.com)
[126] Interval Measure – Meaning, Importance, How to Calculate, Burn Rate | eFM (efinancemanagement.com)
[127] Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Definition: How It Works, with Example (investopedia.com)
[128] Leveraged Lease Definition (investopedia.com)
[129] Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) Definition (investopedia.com)
[130] Monte Carlo method (Wikiped) ––– IN THE LAND OF THE MAGIC ASTERISK - The New York Times (nytimes.com) ––– Four Magic Tricks for Fiscal Conservatives by Jeffrey Frankel - Project Syndicate (project-syndicate.org)
[131] Novation: Definition in Contract Law, Types, Uses, and Example (investopedia.com)
[132] What Is Defeasance? How It Works on the Balance Sheet and Example (investopedia.com)
[133] Off-Balance Sheet Financing (OBSF): Definition and Purpose (investopedia.com)
[134] Prepackaged Bankruptcy Definition (investopedia.com)
[135] Registrar: Overview and Examples in Corporate Finance (investopedia.com)
[138] Subprime mortgage crisis (2007-2010) (Wikiped)
[139] European debt crisis (Wikiped)
[140] Global financial crisis in 2009 (Wikiped)
[141] Great Recession (2007-2009) (Wikiped)
[142] Securitization: Definition, Meaning, Types, and Example (investopedia.com) ––– Secured Debt Definition (investopedia.com)
[143] Management of Corporate Greatness: Blending Goodness with Greed - Pradip N. Khandwalla - Google Books
[144] Workout Agreement Definition (investopedia.com)
[145] Canada: Canada Pension Plan - How much could you receive - Canada.ca ––– France: When do French people really retire and what is the average pension? (connexionfrance.com) ––– Germany: Pension in Germany - Learn more about the German System (perfinex.de) ––– Italy: Third of Italy's pensioners on under €1,000 a month - English - ANSA.it ––– Japan: The Japanese Pension System: A Guide For Expats (argentumwealth.com) ––– United Kingdom: What is the average retirement income in the UK 2023? | The Private Office ––– United States of America: Ready to Retire? Average Retirement Income in 2023 (retireguide.com) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[146] Finland: Average monthly pension in Finland in 2022: 1,845 euros - Finnish Centre for Pensions (etk.fi) ––– Netherlands: A guide to the pension system in the Netherlands | Expatica ––– Sweden: Average Swede earned SEK 59,800 in general pension in 2021 - European Pensions ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[147] How much money would you receive if you were a pensioner in Russia? - Russia Beyond (rbth.com) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[148] China's Pensions System Is Buckling Under an Aging Population (foreignpolicy.com) ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[149] Pensioners' Portal (19052023) (pensionersportal.gov.in) ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[150] Age Pension rates (September 2023 to March 2024) (superguide.com.au) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[151] New Zealand Pension Rates 2023 and 2024 - MoneyHub NZ ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[152] Private Pensions in Africa (oecd.org) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[153] Kenya - Country Pension Data Overview and Design (iopsweb.org) ––– related as follows: Poverty, Old-age and Social Pensions in Kenya - GSDRC ––– 81% of Kenyan Pensioners Working to Make Ends Meet (cytonnreport.com) ––– Pooling Pensions in Kenya (ifc.org) ––– Kenya: Pension funds fail to beat inflation during 2022 - african markets (african-markets.com) ––– || ––– not kidding!: How Much Money Does a Kenyan Need to Retire at 45? (money254.co.ke) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[154] Old age pension | South African Government (www.gov.za) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[155] Mexican seniors to receive 25% more in govt pension funds in 2023 (mexiconewsdaily.com) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[156] MBWL International | Brazil: State pension reform (mbwl-int.com) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[157] Iran’s Pension Funds On The Verge Of Bankruptcy - Iran News Update ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[158] Israel - Pensions Country Profile (oecd.org) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[159] Saudi Arabia - Pensions Country Profile (oecd.org) ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[160] Retirement in Turkey in 2023 | Conditions, age, challenges and solutions - Antalya Estate ––– || ––– related: Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators | en | OECD ––– related: Expatica: The largest online resource for expat living ––– related: These are the countries where people retire the youngest (qz.com) ––– for comparison: Purchasing power parity (Wikiped) ––– GDP per capita, PPP by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com
[161] List of Low-Income Countries (iza.org) ––– UN list of least developed countries | UNCTAD ––– Low Income Countries Economic Data | Data| World Economics ––– Low- and Middle-income Countries - List | Wellcome
[162] Related features: Desert Dune Drifters! - Cal Caleido’s Substack ––– Faithless Lion King - Cal Caleido’s Substack ––– Telegramme: Rien Ne Vas Plus, Niger. - Cal Caleido’s Substack ––– related: UN Country Classification (un.org)
[163] Top 25 Developed and Developing Countries (investopedia.com)
[164] Employment and Economic Classi in the Developing World (ilo.org)
[165] WDI - The World by Income and Region (worldbank.org)
[166] How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries' Economies | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org)
[167] – no Seniority, i.e. Length of Service and therefore no Curriculum Vitae of physically accrued Pension Entitlement –
[168] Reserve army of labour (Wikiped) ––– Hidden Unemployment | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary ––– The Meaning and Measurement of Partial and Disguised Unemployment (nber.org) ––– Disguised Unemployment (fgv.br) ––– Work Habits and Disguised Unemployment in Underdeveloped Countries—A Theoretical Analysis | Oxford Economic Papers | Oxford Academic (oup.com) ––– Hidden Unemployment & Disguised Unemployment (dyingeconomy.com) ––– Hidden unemployment a search-theoretic interpretation - ScienceDirect ––– Hidden Unemployment - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics ––– Are the 'Hidden Unemployed' Unemployed? | Semantic Scholar ––– Types of Unemployment (rba.gov.au) ––– Beyond the Measurement of Unemployment and Underemployment.doc (ilo.org)
[169] Related feature: Great Global Grasp - Cal Caleido’s Substack
[170] By analogy: What is Gender Justice? | The Importance of Gender Justice (globalfundforwomen.org)
[171] Related features: Fiat Iustitia Et Pereat Mundus - Cal Caleido’s Substack ––– Withstanding Êpitomes of Destrûctiveness! - Cal Caleido’s Substack
[172] By analogy: Reverse discrimination (Wikiped) ––– Reverse Discrimination | Office of Justice Programs (ojp.gov)
