“Social Security is on an unsustainable path,” said the experts. The current retirement age was too low to deal with longer lifespans. The system would be bankrupted without substantial change. It was essential to increase the retirement age slowly in order to maintain solvency.
The year was 1983, and the retirement age was, in fact, increased. It is still increasing today and is not particularly generous to American workers, when compared to European pension schemes. But we are once again hearing that the system is unsustainable, and that the retirement age is too low. Is that true? Have there been dramatic increases in lifespans since 1983? Do we need to pile on a second increase?
No. The current demographic issue is the lack of younger taxpayers, not any sweeping change in life expectancy. The obvious way to deal with that problem, as with the issue of unfilled jobs, is to permit more immigration.