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One has to give credit to the Swedes: it’s not just Nokia, Saab and IKEA. These Scandinavians actually do care about the wellbeing of their people, with the exception of the occasional horse-flavoured meatballs, even though some might say, “so, what?”
The Swedes and their cold neighbours are also envied for their generous welfare state, providing free healthcare, support for the elderly and education to all. But all this comes at a cost.
Despite their gas-rich resources that abundantly pay for all their public bills, the Norwegians, for example, have one of the highest tax rates in the world. The high cost of living is also a deterrent, forcing many to seek warmer (and lower tax) shores, such as Cyprus.
However, quality of life in Scandinavia is rated among the best in the world with people there judging everything based on an unusual dose of common sense.
There is also a good measure of foresight, which is why people in these countries have already accepted that the cut-off age for work should be 67 with Sweden’s government now suggesting that people ought to be allowed to remain in work until they are 69 with early-retirement delayed by two years, to 63. The prime minister took it a step further and suggested in a recent interview that, considering the viability of their national pension schemes, retirement could even be pushed back to 75 years in the not-too-distant future.
If raising taxes is deemed as unsustainable for the Cyprus economy, especially in its present state of now growth and flat-line state revenues, then the days of our Social Insurance Fund are numbered. Middle-aged employees might as well as invest in a private pension plan because at the rate of the government’s double-standards handouts when it comes to private sector vs. public sector employees, the benefits tend to weight heavily in favour of civil servants.
The militant unions that have lost every sense of reality are only working for themselves with no one caring enough for low-income employees who do not even know if they will get a monthly pension of, say, 500 euros, let alone the golden handshakes and bonuses that everyone else I the public domain seems to enjoy.
With the capability of being productive beyond the mature age of 65, then perhaps it’s about time we started preparing for a belated retirement age, with increased and extended contributions to the near-bankrupt SIF. At least we’ll know that we will get a pension… some day.
