Lew Rockwell has written on the concept of retirement as a creation of the state in order to gain worker participation in state-funded retirement pension systems (I don’t have the link and can’t find it on LRC). When the Social Security system was created, the average lifespan was not much longer than the age when people could start collecting benefits. Now, most Americans in their forties and fifties expect that they will be able to stop working at age 65 and live for 20-30 years at the expense of the working population. For a refreshing antidote to this mentality, see a story about a 104-year-old who has no plans to retire [link]
World’s Oldest Worker Retires at 104
