Found at Pere Le Brun, this offensively stupid quote by Iain Duncan Smith:
Most workers want to work on when they reach 65, Iain Duncan Smith claimed yesterday. He insisted that higher life expectancy meant people should – and usually want – to work for longer before taking their pension. The Work and Pensions Secretary made the extraordinary claim on the eve of unveiling reforms that could push the retirement age beyond 70.
It’s the same old tired propaganda any government puts out when they’re wanting to fiddle with pension ages: people like to work and want to work longer than they’re allowed to. Usually you then get some wanker complaining about age discrimination because he’s forced to retire at age sixtyfive and he would like to play at being a g.p./lawyer/accountant for a few years longer. Oddly enough you never get a builder saying the same…
But honestly how many people really want to continue to do their jobs if it’s not necessary to survive? I know that if I could retire now and still get the same money I earn, I would take that offer in a heart beat. And I don’t think I’m the only one. Work is a necessary evil and even with our current supposedly too low a retirement age of sixtyfive, on average you’ll have worked and gone to school some sixty years, starting with kindergarten at age five. For the overwhelming majority of people that’s long enough, if not too long.