Purpletigron

I saw a figure somewhere recently: $6000.

It was an estimate of how much a thirtysomething 'couple' in the USA should now be putting into their combined pensions annually, to avoid their fund being 'inflated away' before retirement.

Can anyone who has a head for economic mathematics point me to some robust worked estimates of this number? What would the minimum wage need to be currently to both cover a 'poverty-line' standard of living, and also, a 'poverty line' retirement, in the UK?

Ah, those ultra-left-wing Scandanavians!

By Alister Doyle, Reuters Environment Correspondent

"Spending to protect the environment, from coral reefs to forests, can bring big returns to aid a worldwide assault on poverty, a U.N.-backed report said on Wednesday. The study, coinciding with a summit of world leaders in New York, even suggested that forests may be more valuable when left standing rather than being cleared for crops because trees can absorb the heat-trapping gases widely blamed for global warming.

"The environment...is not a luxury good, only affordable when all other problems have been solved," said Klaus Toepfer, head of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) which was among 30 international groups behind the report.

The study estimated that annual investments of $60-$90 billion in the environment over 10-15 years were needed to reach a world goal of halving the proportion of humanity living on less than a dollar a day, currently more than a billion people. [...]"

Proposition: "In the near future, the determining factor between poverty and comfort in old age will be whether or not you own your own, energy efficient home."

Discuss.