€500 billion — and still not enough

Germany’s pension system is swallowing the federal budget

Dear Reader,

There is a simple and unavoidable truth about modern life in Germany: working lives are too short, and retirements are too long — far too long. The imbalance between the two is structural — and it is widening.

As life expectancy rises, the gap between what is paid into the pension system and what is taken out inevitably widens. That is not id…