Joy, we will pay but not receive

Mr. Passos Coelho, our dear prime minister, has told us that in twenty years pensions will be half of what they are today.

He is right, of course.  The social security is broke.  The money has been spent.  People live too long and the thought of a pension equivalent to a full salary is preposterous.  In twenty years not only will the pensions be half - I think even less - also retirement will be ten years or more later.

Meanwhile, we the workers, can enjoy the pleasure of contributing to paying a full salary to the relatively young current retirees.  Already, 80% tax on the money paid by an employer for having an employee is not unheard of.  We can't even blame the majority of current retirees - they had their money stolen by thieves politicians working for their own the common good.

Joy.

Firing public employees...

SNAFU in Greece.  Status quo.  Everything is going badly as usually.  FMI has just asked Greece to cut down on public expenditure by cutting down on the public sector by firing employees and closing public companies.  Otherwise the deficit will continue - to rise.

It is just a matter of time before the same will be necessary in Portugal.  Within a short time there will be probably 20% less people working for the state.  Either directly or indirectly in public companies.

But here is the problem.  Firing public servants of a certain age will be very expensive.  First of all they have high salaries.  Secondly, they will receive comparatively high unemployment benefits.  Thirdly, they will pass on to comparatively high retirements.  Thus the cost of having them working or doing nothing is grossly the same.

This makes the economic choice easy.  The elder public employees will have to continue working until they die and the young ones will be fired.

I wonder what the young will think about that.  Oops, I forgot, the young have been expelled from their comfort zone of all of Portugal.  They have been sent into exile - or will be sent soon.  After all the young are the guilty.  They have mismanaged this country since forever...

Justice for the pensioners or the delinquents?

A Norwegian prison, click here for more pictures

How about this idea?  Put our old in the jails and the criminals in the homes of the old.  It is of course up to the elderly whether they want to or not.  But consider this:

In jail the retired would have:

• Permanent companionship
• Hot meals every day and on time
• Free juridical assistance.
• Every day access to bathing, time off and walks
• No need to make food, go shopping, washing the dishes, cleaning the house or washing clothes
• All the necessary medicine and regular access to health services for free
• No need to pay rent
• Permanent 24/7 video surveillance, and included immediate emergency assistance in case of accident or other need
• Bedding changed twice a week and clothes washed and ironed with regularity
• Every twenty minutes a visit by a guard. Any correspondence or messages to be handed over personally
• A dedicated place for receiving family and other visitors
• Access to library, exercise room, physical therapy and a chapel
• Visits by a priest and volunteers if so desired
• Encouragement to take up a profession or a study, including adequate installations, teachers and equipment for free
• Free clothes and products for personal hygiene
• The right to live in a private and very secure building, with protected yard for exercise and socializing
• Access to reading, computer, television, radio and telephones
• Access to secretarial pool, psychologists, social workers, politicians, journalists, Amnesty international etc. - all available for listening concerning complaints  
• All employees, such as guards and secretaries, obliged to observe a strict code of conduct or risk harsh punishment.
• Guaranteed adherence to all human rights according to treaties signed and observed by Portugal.

On the other hand in the private (ex-) homes of the retired, the criminals would be forced to stay and have:

• 200 euros to live on a month in a small home or room, having no maintenance or improvements done the last 50 years
• Nobody to clean
• Food only if made, often cold and with irregularity
• Clothes bought only with own money needing cleaning and repairs
• Living alone with no surveillance
• Forget to eat and take necessary medicine, and nobody around to help
• From time to time to be cheated, conned, robbed or even assaulted physically
• Possibility of dying without anybody noticing for months or even years
• To die after waiting months or years for a doctor's appointment or a surgical procedure.
• To be ignored by politicians and institutions
• Nobody to complain to
• Baths only every two weeks with a risk of falling and getting hurt in the old bathtub
• Passing a miserable time in winter due to not being able to afford heating
• The daily entertainment would be soap operas on the TV

Considering the above, I think all tax payers would agree it would be much better to take care of the elderly by putting them in jail, and punish the criminals by putting them out.  Perhaps the criminals would think twice after having lived a few years as a retiree.

The brilliant comparisons and the idea above are not mine.  A big hat tip and thanks for the permission to reproduce in English to the blog:  Apodrecetuga

75% of the 2,5 million retired in Portugal live on the equivalent of minimum salary or less.  The minimum pensions are either 189, 227, or 246 euros per month.  More than one million pensioners receive a sub-subsistence minimum pension.  They are the real poor in Portugal.  It is basically impossible to live on minimum salary not to mention a minimum pension in one of the large cities considering rent, electricity, water, gas, food, medicine and so on. The situation is beyond shameful.  Considering the money lost due to corruption and carelessness, the absurd number of public constructions such as highways and roundabouts - the situation is criminal.