Is it better to encourage retirements or innovations?

I was on a project recently and came across this article on npr.org, talking about the economy is sending “mix signals.” Sales of durable goods are up, but jobless numbers also rose.

I kept reading for a while and got onto another article, talking about younger generation are displaced from their jobs.

I had suspected this. More and more young people are displaced because the sudden realization of longer work demands as the result of bad economy and longer life span amongst other things.

Young people’s inexperience gave grounds for consideration when competing for the same position with an experienced employee. This was not the shocking part. I had always believed the only way for us to bare the burden of growing economy is by continuing education. That means longer time spent in school/work environments to gain valuable experience and knowledge. This gives the older workers more opportunity to refine and develop a vision for the coming generations. This means a longer mature cycle for the economy and stronger core for accelerated growth rate.

What was shocking was the fact that the EPI (The Economic Policy Institute) suggested the most counter-intuitive -- actually encouraged retirement than education.



"Congress should consider making Medicare and unreduced social security retirement available to workers at age 64 for the next two years so that older workers would be able to retire. Such a policy would have the added benefit of creating job openings for younger workers.”


The way I see this: if we encourage retirements now, placing a large dependency on the Medicare and Social Security system further burdening a generation of unprepared works pitting against workers from India and China (that's why the sale of durable goods arose -- goods are still being made, but not by the workers here. but in other countries). I venture to guess the goods and services in other industries are rising as well: computer technology, customer service, engineering are just the few increasing demands met by the foreign work force. You cannot fault them, they are just trying to compete against you. They are studying for longer hours, longer days. They face a fierce elimination process.

And here we are, encouraging high school graduates to enter the work force unprepared and un-learned.

What I think should be done is for the government to encourage more education and open legal protection for students to form joint experimental ventures under L3C standards.

This allows more innovations find their way into the economy. Allowing us to benefit from the overall social and financial health by a successful transition of our economy.