the Blair government has recently talked about RAISING the retiremnt age to 70 and applying coercive measures to keep 60-70 year olds in the job market. I can't think of any good economic reason for this even from a capitalist viewpoint, except perhaps cuttoing the social security budget If people that age want to work, fine. They shpu;d not be discriminated against, but forcing them to at that age...
Bruce Robinson
----Original Message-----
>From: "Carl Remick" <carlremick at hotmail.com>
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Re: Fwd: A (hostile) review of Michael Perelman's latest
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Date: 16 June 2000 16:07
>
>>>Michael Perelman. _The Natural Instability of Markets:
>>>Expectations, Increasing Returns, and the Collapse of Capitalism_.
>>>New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. xiv + 188 pp. $39.95 (cloth),
>>>ISBN 0-312-22121-5.
>>>
>>>Reviewed for EH.NET by Thomas E. Hall <HALLTE at muohio.edu>,
>>>Department of Economics, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
>
>[snip]
>
>>>Yes, the competitive process
>>>can cause wrenching changes in society, but what about the lower
>>>prices we pay, the wider variety of goods and services we choose
>>>among, the improved quality of products...?
>
>This seems to be my day for reading mindless book reviews. I went from
>groaning over this ridiculous piece to flinching over the Economist’s
>current roundup review of three books examining America’s "puzzling
>spectacle of discontent amid plenty." One of these books sounded really
>interesting, though: _The Working Life_, by Joanne Ciulla. The Economist
>
>notes: "... Ms Ciulla is struck by the way that wealth has not brought
>happiness. People have not been freed from the need -- or the desire -- t
>o
>earn a living. Even when people have enough to live on, many of them
>continue to want to work. 'I am perplexed,' she admits, 'at the dominatio
>n
>of life by paid employment at a time when life itself should be getting
>easier.' Her persuasive answer is that work 'offers instant discipline,
>identity and worth. It structures our time and imposes a rhythm on our
>lives. It gets us organised into various kinds of communities and social
>groups. And perhaps most important, work tells us what to do each day.'
>Maybe the best way to give people a larger share of … badly distributed
>
>spiritual resources is to get them into work and keep them there. If the
>youthful poor had jobs, they would be less poor, and if the old could wor
>k
>for longer, they would be far less lonely."
>
>I myself find what passes for social life in a corporate setting
>psychologically taxing in a way that idling around the house by myself ne
>ver
>is. I've never been able to fathom people who say they dread retirement,
>
>and I'm always confounded by those septuagenarian fellow commuters who do
>
>indeed appear to remain in the workforce for reasons of social contact
>rather than economic necessity.
>
>At any rate, has anyone here read Ciulla's book and have any opinions he/
>she
>would like to share?
>
>Carl
>
>
>
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