Not "since collapsed."
Take the case of France for example. In 1981, when young voters (baby boomers at the time) helped secure the election of François Mitterrand, who promised to lower the retirement age from 65 to 60, the number of kids had already fallen below replacement rate. In fact, it remained at these levels until quite recently.
It was perfectly clear and understood by planners at the time that this would cause a massive problem in the mid 2000 when the first cohorts of the baby boomers would reach the age of 60.
Someone like the famous demographer Alfred Sauvy not only predicted 25 years in advance that the situation would quickly deteriorate but also that it would be extremely hard to correct the trajectory because of the electoral weight of these cohorts.
Something that Sauvy predicted but hasnât happened yet was a revolt of the youth against the baby boomersâ requests. It didnât happen simply because young voters do not understand the dynamics and budget constraints of PAYG systems and believe that protecting the claims of their parents and grand parents will protect their own. As if there was a secret infinite source of funding.
While young Americans also complain about boomers, they donât realize that in the US the Greenspan commission in the early 80s greatly protected them by doing the opposite of what Mitterrand did in France. It decided back in the 1980s that baby boomers would retire a bit later and increased their contribution rate such that Social Security could build reserves to fund their pension later.
Ce n'est pas du tout l'avis de Marie-Lune, titulaire d'un master en scrapbooking intersectionnel Ă Paris 8 et Chief Happiness Officer aux SoulĂšvements de la Terre.