Demagogue

A 15-country survey reveals that the Dutch are willing to raise the retirement age one year, to 66, if it's necessary to preserve benefits. Last year, the government proposed 67. According to the survey, U.S. workers want the retirement age to be 62.

The average monthly benefit in Holland was the second-highest of the 15 countries. First was Canada. What with that and the prescription drug prices, we could see a mass emigration of golden agers heading north of the border. In fact, maybe that's a solution to the Social Security "crisis" that would satisfy Bush: instead of lowering benefits many years out, cut them drastically now. Seniors, incapable of keeping body and soul together on the niggardly payments, would flee the country, thus greatly improving the worker-to-recipient ratio in the Social Security system.

As for the Dutch willingness to work longer, remember that even before retirement, the Dutch work many fewer hours per year than Americans and have much more generous vacation time. Also, the Dutch baby boom began a bit earlier than ours, so perhaps their "crisis" is looming a bit sooner. There was a spike for a couple of weeks 9 months after D-Day. Then the "Hunger Winter" of 1944-45, when food and fuel were scarce and the only way to keep warm was to exercise (as a Dutch friend put it), led to another upsurge in births in the fall.

And speaking of 0ld Dutch people, I honestly wasn't sure what to make of this item.