The financial crisis isn’t the problem – it's expensive old people

The warning over the costs of healthcare is an important one. But many would argue that the challenge of providing an income at retirement for the growing grey population should not be so easily dismissed. Individuals, pension schemes and the state share a long history of underestimating future life expectancy and associated increase in costs.

And current governments are arguably still not doing enough. After all, the money needed to keep people in retirement is being squeezed from all sides: there is the unfunded public sector ‘Ponzi’ scheme, pressure on the state pension as people live longer and don’t save for themselves, the growing population - United Nations projections suggest the old-age population in the G7 countries will rise by an average of 80% between 2005 and 2050 - which politicians are too scared to even debate. This is all intensified in the short term by the present economic woes, and increased number of unemployed we can expect.

Whether or not healthcare is the biggest fiscal challenge, it seems clear that the crisis isn’t the real problem – it's old people and how we provide for them.