First, a small not on demographics. Fertility rate is dropping until usually settling somewhere around 1.8 all over the world, including not only OECD nations and Asia, but also Iran, Turkey and Algeria. I am not convinced this is a problem: When he was pushed to retirement kicking and screaming at age of 65, philosophy professor S. Albert Kivinen of Helsinki U asked in an open letter to Ministry of Education exactly what he, as a retired philosopher, is supposed to do now? Stop thinking? Another anecdote: Firemen here have been campaining for lower retirement age, currently at 55. Their point being that very few 50 year old men are fit enough to dash into burning buildings. I think these two examples illustrate the problems with the retirement systems in developed nations. While there are not that many more philosophers, more and more people work in fields where the primary tool is the mind, and the 65 year olds I know have no problems with mental abilities. And when it comes to firemen, or construction workers, or pilots... While it is obvious that such work can only be done for so long, I find it difficult to believe that there is nothing useful 50 year old ex-firemen can do. And it is not like we have a shortage of labor anyway. Taken together increasing automatization, collapse of Communism, and increased of women working hundreds of millions have been added to the global workforce. That is, I don't see how the tragedy of people living longer and women under forty not being pregnant all the time is unaffordable as such. Even in China or other developing nations, if they can afford 20% unemployment (best guess at the real figure) then certainly they can afford a few grannies. Cheers, Teemu Helsinki, Finland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html