After all it was that arch-reactionary, Otto von Bismarck, who introduced the world's first welfare system, including the old-age pension, in Germany in the 1860s.

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When Bismarck introduced the world's first state pension system in 1889, he set the retirement age at 70, some 25 years beyond the average Prussian's life expectancy, so it did not cost much to run.

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He has all but ruled out raising the retirement age or cutting pensions to plug the gap in America's public pension system.

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