Over the last few days riots and protests have occurred across the country of France due to the President of France, Emmanuel Macron increasing the pension/retirement age by two (2) years from 62 to 64. This is apparently being done “in order to preserve France's much-prized “share-out” system”.
What this means is France's pension system will crash, as there are likely going to be me A LOT of people taking out their pension or a portion for it within the next few years; as there's a large population of working-class people about to reach the pension-receiving age. What the government does to fix this problem is make everyone work longer so they pay into the pension system for a little bit longer.
This bill was lashed through without being voted on and was also supported by the Prime Minister of France.
At first my mentality to the situation was “People are this upset about 2 more years of work?” Compared to my immediate second thought which was “Fuck that. The country deserves to be mad and feel betrayed by their government. 2 years is A LOT OF TIME [to continue working when you were so close to the finish line.] I would riot too.”
My parents have shared their concerns with me that our country's pension system will crash due to the large aging population, who will soon be in receipt of their locked-away pension funds. (We live in Canada) My parents are not conspiracy theorists by any means, but I remember that idea being mentioned during COVID-19 lockdown; “What if this disease was man-created to kill off the old people before they retire?”
For more information on the riots, there is a 3:01 clip attached from NBC in regard to the France pension overhaul.