z6joker9 wrote:Don't put too much into it. Thanks to their population control, their labor force is aging quickly, and quality of living improvements mean lots of them will live long past working age. When the labor force starts to retire, the much smaller labor force that follows is going to be very strained to take care of them. Think of the long term concerns of Social Security but on steroids.
Been hearing same things about Japan, Australia, Europe, etc. for years...still concerns me, but I don't see it becoming a massive economic crisis....gotta think that collective 'entitlement mentality' will fissure a bit and people will be willing to work into their late 60's or early 70's....if they can find employment
I also think that China may be conciously stashing billions of unemployed and underemployed people in the boonies with the express purpose of beefing up the labor pool as needed to support the FOGS.....also, "long past working age" probably means something very different in a country that didn't get accustomed to fat retirements at 55 like ours has