Ben Shapiro: “There's no question the United States needs to raise its retirement age”
Shapiro: “We're going to have to re-shift all of these Social Security and welfare structures”
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From the March 29, 2023, edition of The Daily Wire's The Ben Shapiro Show
BEN SHAPIRO (HOST): Well, one of the thing that's happening here is basically France is recognizing the reality of its own fiscal insanity. And when I say France, I mean Macron. Macron is right on the issue. There's no question that France has to raise its retirement age. By the way, there's no question the United States needs to raise its retirement age. All of these Social Security programs are bankrupt. They're all pyramid schemes reliant on generations yet to be born and who will not be born given the reproductive rates in the West. It's simple fact of the matter. Right now, if you look at the unfunded pension liabilities in France, like 200% of GDP. If you look at the unfunded pension liabilities in the United States, it's just as much -- I mean, it's actually way higher in the United States. There are certain estimates that suggest that the unfunded pension liabilities in the United States amount to like 700% of GDP. It's totally insane. We're going to have to re-shift all of these Social Security and welfare structures because, again, they were pay it forward structures that were not input defined, they were benefits defined. They were defined benefits plan, not defined contribution plans. And so now, we're going to be forced to take austerity measures. But the problem is that when you make people promises then they want those promises to be kept, even if it's not possible.