Of course she is a fascist though you cannot tell her that any more than you can tell an alcoholic that their liver looks like a deflated pin-cushion.
Instead you must be kind, and say kind things about their parental attitude (don’t say paternalistic especially if they do the diversity thing).
Pension fascism is very common and stems from a misguided paternalism – oops parentalism that is embedded in trusteeship. It’s behind the dumbing down of DC investment strategies and it’s most definitely in the AE debate among the compulsionalists.
The compulsionalists are up in arms at me for promoting the idea of smartphone opt-outs. I’m not promoting smartphone opt-outs but because I blogged they were happening and because the Telegraph re-blogged and because of twitter, I’m now Mr iPhone opt-out and accursed enemy of the pension fascists who believe anyone daring not to want to pay into an auto-enrolled scheme should be sent to the headmaster and assume the position.
But this is not about opt-outs or about me getting persecuted , it’s about the special needs of the pension fascists and whether we can find them a cure.
I have made a suggestion to my friend, I’ve asked her to consider a really rich person who has £1.5m of pension and doesn’t want to trigger loads of penal taxation and applies for some tax protection which he or she gets on condition no more money goes into pensions.
Guess what, along comes auto-enrolment and there’s nothing that can be done, said rich boy/girl is enrolled and has but a short window to opt-out.
Should rich kid take advice? The hell no! Rich kid should hit the smartphone and opt-out without any adviser getting in the way. Which is precisely what the Cs and Ds are doing.
Now if my friend thinks about it, she is not going to want Rich Kid to take advice because she knows it’s a no-brainer that rich kid gets out and doesn’t lose protection. We all understand tax because we pay it.
But what about Mr C or Mrs D, they have no spare cash, enjoy a few state benefits and are looking at a retirement where the less they have, the more they get from the state. Tax is really not in the equation. Is it not as sensible for them to hit the smartphone and say “get me out of here”. The hell it is.
I am providing therapy to my friend, I can show her that she is not the fascist she appears to be but just a misguided parentalist. Then , very slowly I can wean her off her “compulsion dependency” and re-create a balanced view that recognises that people should be allowed to make their own mistakes. I might even get her to see that some of the people opting out may be right!
The opt-out of compulsory pensions is the best bit! If we didn’t have it we’d be like Russia or China or Chile or Australia or some such junta.
Giving people the option to opt-out of what seems to the rest of us, a no-brainer of a decision, is what makes for the rich tapestry of British life.
As the Pension Plowman, surveying the field of folk from my Malvern Hill, I am dispassionate and relaxed.
My friend, you may be a pension fascist but there is hope. Read this and feel my libertarian love!
Related articles
- Opt-outs triggered by smartphones say Legal and General! (henrytapper.com)
- Britons digitally ditching pension plans (upi.com)
- Journalism: Several of Thailand’s Fascist media publish English language reports to fool global readers (thaiintelligentnews.wordpress.com)
- Did you notice the Irony? (# 2) (andreasmoser.wordpress.com)