Month: September 2025

France is in a constant state of revolt. In 2018, the “yellow jackets” blocked the country to protest fuel taxes. Millions took to the streets in 2022 and 2023 to fight a pension reform raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. This year, angry crowds gather again to ask ever shorter-lived governments to renounce planned measures to decrease national debt that stands at 114% of GDP.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Even polite England is experiencing massive strikes and angry marches. Government approval rates are plummeting everywhere on the Continent. Europe is rich, yet no one can explain why German trains are not on time anymore, or why there is no way to avoid feces floating in Britain’s rivers. America, after years of leading on tech and economic growth, is cutting itself off from global trade to protect manufacturing jobs few actually want to do. Restrictive zoning laws mean young workers are priced out of the housing market.

People are upset and hunting for culprits—incompetent governments, the E.U., the U.S. federal government, billionaires, migrants—fuelling the very populism that makes rational discussions impossible.

But few dare to mention the elephant in the room: an unfair Gerontopia.

France is almost a caricature. French pensions consume about a quarter of the state budget. Current retirees worked when many contributors supported few beneficiaries. Then they lowered the pension age by five years as life expectancy rose by 10. Today, a shrinking workforce struggles to sustain a generation that granted itself guaranteed retirement incomes close to working people’s wages. French pensioners are so rich that those over 70 save a quarter of their income, while workers under 50 save barely half that rate.

As boomers die, many will pass massive inheritances to their children, locking in decades of unfairness. In Western Europe, the size of your house says more about your parents’ wealth than your own job. French governments fill the holes in pension deficits by taxing their own workers. As the country sinks in the OECD’s PISA rankings (international tests of 15-year-olds’ skills), voters blame the youth, smart-phones, Islam, or a political class wasting public money. But the two Prime Ministers who dared to suggest freezing the highest public pensions were immediately voted out of office by both the Left and Marine Le Pen’s far-right.

Britain got there differently. The (much smaller) state pension is guaranteed by the “triple lock,” which ensures it rises faster than the economy. In the 1980s, the U.K. sold off Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, British Airways, and national telecom, gas, oil, utilities and train companies to fund everyday government spending. Now, taxpayers scramble to rescue failing private water companies, build high-speed rail, or improve the electricity grid.

When former Prime Minister Theresa May suggested that wealthier pensioners might pay for their own care by selling assets, she faced a backlash, and ultimately lost an election. Keir Starmer’s popularity started to nosedive when he tried to stop sending £200 checks every winter to the wealthiest pensioners. Child poverty rates are twice as high as pensioners’, but there is no comparable outrage.

The West is not alone in struggling with ageing societies. The median Chinese is 40 years old, only two years below France. As China’s population declines, young workers face a mountain of public sector debt, youth unemployment, and low salaries.

All over the world, fertility rates are falling below the 2.1 replacement rate. Women in Latin America and the Caribbean currently have 1.8 children each, compared to almost six in the early 1960s. Even Africa, still with a rate slightly above four, is following the same downward trajectory. The U.N. regularly updates their population projections downward: Peak Humanity is getting nearer with every iteration (currently mid-2080s).

The rest of the world should learn from Europe’s failures, and not burden its relatively younger and poorer citizens with funding benefits for its relatively wealthy and retired elderly ones. But even Europe can have a second chance.

The working population needs to move through the stages of grief to acceptance of the massive benefits boomers gave themselves. Younger generations will not get this money back. Europe needs a new social contract, at least for future pensions. Instead of being linked to inflation, they could be tied to an index of workers’ purchasing power, housing affordability, and public investment—the opposite of Britain’s triple lock. Reward with lower local taxes those who dare to say yes to housing and infrastructure. This can help better interwine all our economic fortunes.

Shift more taxes away from labour to income. Taxing the value of the land instead of what sits on it encourages development, and land cannot be moved offshore for tax avoidance. Taxing the highest inheritances does the same redistributive job as capital taxation but without hindering innovation. Once people understand “death taxes” apply only to a minority of households, they are not so unpopular.

The entire world must build something other than a Gerontopia.

We will be fewer and older, but there is no reason to be miserable. We could live on a sustainable and comfortable planet, where automation compensates for a dwindling share of working arms and brains. Free trade will be less scary once we stop worrying about factory jobs. We have learned how to make food, water, and electricity, without destroying the planet, but these efforts must be scaled up. And medicine is progressing at astonishing speed.

What if fewer people simply meant more affordable cities, more abundant nature, and an aging society where all of us are better off?

• I spent Friday at the Ryder Cup and estimated how much an average person might spend in a day there.
• From a $32.50 cocktail to seemingly endless merch options, the costs can add up quickly.
• Some locals tried to profit off the tournament, selling parking spots and renting their homes.

How much money is premier golf, questionable outfits, specialty cocktails, and almost unfathomable traffic worth? At this year’s Ryder Cup, I made it my mission to find out.

I went to the biennial Europe vs. USA golf tournament on Friday with a media ticket, but everyone else had to buy their way in unless they snagged a corporate invite. Pre-sale tickets for the event went live almost a year ago, starting at $749.51 for entrance on Friday.

Tickets are just the beginning. The costs of the tournament, which is held at Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, Long Island, are somewhat of a choose-your-own-adventure. I tallied how much a person coming from New York City might expect to spend in just one day.

The first question is transportation. Many, myself included, took the Long Island Rail Road from New York City. A one-way, off-peak ticket from Penn Station to Farmingdale costs $10.95. Free shuttles were waiting in the parking lot to drive us the two-ish miles to the course, but some opted for an Uber, which cost $25.72 at around 7:30 am.

When I arrived, it seemed that most chose to take the shuttle, though we might have all made a different choice if we’d known the ride would take an hour. Buses jammed the streets, some roads were blocked off, and it quickly became apparent that walking would have been the wiser choice.

For those who decided to brave the traffic and drive the whole way, a parking pass at Jones Beach on Friday was $55, according to the Ryder Cup website. From there, people took a free shuttle to Bethpage. I spotted some opportunistic Long Islanders offering up their driveways for $100.

The event ticket itself covered basic needs: food and non-alcoholic beverages. But alcohol seemed like a crucial part of the experience for a lot of people. I’d originally planned to calculate the cost of two drinks, but after seeing plenty of people walking around with cocktails and beers by 10 am, three drinks started to seem more appropriate.

A bartender told me that the “All-American Transfusion” and “Cherry Fairway Fizz” were the most popular choices, costing $19.50 and $17.50 before tax, respectively. Make it a double, and it’s an extra $6. For a souvenir Ryder Cup glass, it’s another $7.

Overall, an “All-American Transfusion” with an extra shot in a special cup cost $32.50. The cheapest beer was $15.

And then there was the seemingly endless, stadium-size hall of merch. Ralph Lauren Polo was the official outfitter of the US team this year, so the brand had a central spot in the huge merch tent.

One Ralph Lauren employee told me that the team polo shirts and customizable bear tees were the most popular choices, coming in at $128 and $82, respectively. I was a fan of a cashmere sweater, which cost $315. Next to the $415 cotton flag sweater, it didn’t sound as bad.

Many predictable, somewhat preppy athleisure brands were in the merch tent at comparable price points. A short-sleeved women’s Nike polo cost $110, a Vineyard Vines tee was $60, and an Adidas sweater was $190.

Crowds of mostly men swarmed the walls of hats, many of which cost between $30 and $40. Between the $42 Bethpage Black-themed Stanley Cup, the $32 bear stuffed animal, and the $290 duffel bag, it wouldn’t be hard to suddenly accumulate thousands of dollars’ worth of goodies.

A cashier told me the highest bill he’d seen so far was $1,500, while another said he’d seen someone spend $4,200. Most people, they said, spend a few hundred bucks.

Sufficiently weighed down by golf-themed attire and alcohol, it was time for people to deal with getting home. At 5:12 pm, a bit before the golf matches ended, the short Uber ride from the course to the LIRR station was $68.72, according to my app. After the hourlong morning shuttle, I wasn’t shocked that some opted for a car.

Of course, plenty of people attend the Ryder Cup for multiple days, meaning they have to think about where to stay, assuming they’re not from the Long Island area. Looking online the week of the tournament, nearby hotels were often fully booked or had rooms going for more than $500 a night, way more than the typical rates in the area. Some locals were listing their homes on Airbnb for tens of thousands for just five nights, local news outlet Greater Long Island reported.

And then there were those who flew in for the event from across the country or the pond, adding international airfare to their total costs.

There were endless ways to spend, and spend on, the day. I exercised great self-control and only paid for my LIRR tickets. A typical New Yorker’s day, however, might look something like this: entering with a standard Ryder Cup ticket, riding the LIRR both ways, taking the shuttle to the course and an Uber back to the train station, spending $350 on merchandise, and buying three drinks (a double cocktail in a souvenir cup, a single cocktail, and a beer).

That comes out to $1,255.13 — all for America to lose badly in its Friday matches.