While pensions in the U.S. pay about 40% of pre-retirement earnings and those in Japan less than 40%, pensions in the Netherlands and Spain pay about 80% and, in Greece, 96%.

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He pushed through upper-income tax cuts, deregulated incorporation laws, cut public sector pensions, raised the retirement age and killed taxes on overtime pay to incentivize longer hours, undermining the 35-hour workweek.

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There is speculation of a freeze in pensions and public sector pay, a clamp-down on early retirement and a cut in spending on infrastructure.

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Many government jobs still offer pensions that usually continue to pay a percent of your wages after retirement and, in many cases, kick in after just 10 to 20 years of service.

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Among the austerity measures are pay cuts, cuts in pensions, later retirement ages, and fewer government services.

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Corporate pensions also violate a basic rule of good portfolio management that your pay cheque and your retirement savings should not depend on the same company.

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Today's taxpayers are stung twice, doubters argue: once to provide for their own retirement, and again to finance the pensions of those who worked all their lives in the pay-as-you-go regime.

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In general, the goodies have come less in the form of pay rises (too visible), than in over-generous pensions and health care, early retirement and the sort of restrictive practices that were chased out of the private sector years ago.

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