Social Security in the US Frugal Compared with Europe

[Frodo]

Just to provide some perspective when we debate entitlements:

Social Security cheap compared with Europe's

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press

Compared with most public pension systems in Europe, Social Security is downright frugal.

On average, European pensions are much more generous than Social Security, providing retirees with benefits that come closer to matching the wages they earned when they were working. Americans are expected to rely more heavily on private pensions and savings when they retire.

European workers also have been able to retire earlier than American workers, though many European countries are retreating from those policies, a subject that has caused more than a little unrest.

Taxes also are higher in most European countries and some of their retirement systems are facing worse financial problems than Social Security.

That's why "austerity" has become the buzzword across Europe. Among developed nations, the U.S. is one of only a few that haven't made changes to their public retirement systems the past few years, said Edward Whitehouse, who studies the systems for the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

[Rhodie]

Yes, but bigger doesn't neccesarily mean better. I mean the whole point of this article is that high spending European governments are being forced to retreat from them due to their excesses.

[Supersonic]

The UK is more akin to the US looking at the figures they used in that article.

Europe shouldn't be generalised as one single entity.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A classic example of an article about social policy written by someone who has no understanding of social policy.