Pensions can take many forms: 401k, social security, thrift savings plan etc.
But they all come down to one thing, your pension is, to some degree, invested in stocks. It may be anywhere from a small portion to the entire pension but you get the idea.
As the stock market grows, it requires more and more investors in order to keep it a float. That means that you can't allow people to retire on time, because they would withdraw their savings too quickly.
So the retirement age has to be raised again and again, to prevent stock prices going into free fall.
This has wider consequences for other policy decisions.
Look at all the state/federal redundancies we've seen in recent years:
- Police
- Firemen
- Military
- Teachers
What do they all have in common? They generally retire at 50 – 55 years old. That's too early! If all those people started selling their stocks, the market would collapse. So the government tries to layoff as many of those people as they can, and tells everyone that it's due to 'efficiency savings'.
You/we will work longer to prop up stocks, that's what they have planned.