$440 billion for seniors

President’s decision Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Propose a 25% increase in the social pension program for the elderly in 2024 will be an onerous lock for whoever becomes president, at the end of this six-year term. The amount of the program in the 2024 economic package should be around 440 billion pesos. This year, the money allocated was $339,342 million.

Social programs of this type are widely applauded by a majority of the population. But they must be debated, because they represent a considerable part of the expenditure budget. There are social groups who do not need to receive it, but who receive it anyway. It’s not a small group. In addition, there are mechanisms such as the reversible mortgage, which is already in the law, and which allows an elderly person to mortgage property that they own and obtain an annuity until their death, making a very liquid without having to leave his home. There are many people in this state, which would relieve the state financially of this expense.

But perhaps the least popular question of all is why the state should universally provide all residents over 65, whether or not they already receive a pension. There are millions of retirees from IMSS, ISSSTE and dozens of government agencies who already have retirees for former workers, so in these cases they receive a double pension. It would be preferable if a person with regular and sufficient financial flows could not claim this aid. In fact, Coneval said in 2020 that 26.5% of the population over 65 was “not poor and not vulnerable.”

The problem with this program and other social programs that have emerged under this government is that they do not include an exit formula; that is, the group has entered (with the resulting public expenditure) but there is no strategy to exit.

This will eternally weigh on public finances and spoil citizens, discouraging the adoption of individual savings and pension plans. In other words: “If the state solves my problem, why am I planning my retirement?”. Is what Mexico already spends on the elderly expensive? Yes it is. Is it unpopular to question and debate it? Also. But if we don’t give ourselves permission, we will condemn public finances to a bottomless pit and generate raw material for more populists to appear in the future to promise more onerous freebies without scrutiny.

IZZI

The Mexican Institute of Teleservices has awarded the company izzi, from Grupo Televisa, two prizes, one for its application and the other for its customer support center, during the National Prize CX & EX 2023, in its 18th edition in the customer experience and in the strategic performance of the company.

BY CARLOS MOTA
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TIKTOK: @SOYCARLOSMOTA

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