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Comment by vander_elst | Hacker News Reader

Where do German pensions come from?

From the pension system which is separate from taxation. De jure the current pensioners paid into the system for decades and now get paid back. De facto they get funded by contributions of the currently employed, but they don't swallow up any tax money or hold anyone hostage because if the current system was scrapped there would not be more tax money available for other things (e.g. public transport). The money is collected by a dedicated agency and does not flow through the government.

The current system is hated by people who've been farmongered into thinking there won't be any pensions when it's their turn (this tactic has been around for at least 50 years and hasn't happened yet). And also successfully FOMOed into thinking they are missing out on huge gainz if they would invest the money otherwise. Even though probably true, I quite like the current system of solidarity. And anyway when you go the private insurance route, the way it's setup currently, you are giving away a huge percentage of your earnings to the insurance. They justify this by saying your gainz are only taxed at 50% of their actual value, but since one of the biggest problems of the world today is an overgrown financial strength (thus influence) of large corporations, caveat emptor.

That's just a different way of saying "taxes".

> because if the current system was scrapped there would not be more tax money available for other things

But I would retain more of my money.

You can argue about that, but they're still not a burden on the state's tax system. If the pension system in the current form went away, the taxes would neither increase or decrease.

They're not strictly taxes but they kinda are. They're mandatory and paid by workers into a fund but are linked to your future pensions. Like taxes they're automatically deducted from your salary and legally required but earmarked as to be used in the future.

Which has worked well for quite some time but I don't believe I'll every see any of the money I'm currently paying into the system.

No, on top of social security „taxes“, you also have something like 140 billion euro substitutions to pensions from income tax money, as far as I know. On top you get increased healthcare costs, cause boomer also get sick at that age. So young, working people pay thrice for their lifestyle. And in particular, those 140G€ are not spent on infrastructure and Germany’s future. Coincidentally, social welfare is a fraction of that, but aaall the rage to those boomers, who benefited from low taxes and high pensions, while spending 40 years in ignorance of their generation’s demographic burden.

Don’t forget, we got a young generation severely hurt because of COVID restrictions on their social life and education at the most critical time. That generation had the least to worry about the plague, it’s been pure sacrifice for old folks, who were the ones slowly suffocating in bursting emergency rooms. Two years of death and struggle and demographic crisis no more, but we were kind and compassionate, hidden behind webcams and masks at the prime of our youth. The boomers’ gratitude was shown by completely ignoring the climate crisis, the housing crisis (guess who got the houses…), the immense infrastructure debt, and instead increasing taxes etc., and of course making culture wars and hatred their scapegoat. The most egotistical generation ever.

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