Politically Incorrect

Il problema dell’Italia è che i vecchi so’ stronzi.

Eighty-nine percent of people under the age of 55, and 90 per cent of people aged 55 and above, agreed that “those who are now working have a duty to ensure, through the contributions or taxes they pay, that elderly people have a decent standard of living.”  Even in 1996 and 1997, after several years of sustained societal debate about the need to reform Italy’s pension system, younger age groups continued to support the pension status quo.Prime-age wage earners (aged 25-54) were the subgroup most supportive of the current pension system.

But while younger groups show high levels of support for social welfare benefits for the elderly, in Italy as in the US elderly respondents are much less supportive of such benefits for the non-elderly. In the 1992 Eurobarometer survey, the elderly were more likely than respondents under the age of 55 to agree that the unemployed and the nonelderly poor were well protected in society, and less likely to support benefits for single parents. They were also more likely to support restrictions on unemployment benefits.

Despite the popular belief that the persistence of multi-generational families leads to solidarity between the generations, in Italy as elsewhere elderly voters demonstrate less “solidarity” downwards toward the young than the young direct upwards toward the elderly.

Per i nerd il resto è qui.