If people gave more thought to the end results of entitlements, maybe they'd think a little harder before setting them up in the first place. I don't know the facts, but I can just imagine how the original pension plans years ago were added to, padded, and inflated to please the voters. France is not alone in Europe or elsewhere. Heck, America is due to be crucified on the altar of Medicare in the next several decades, to the tune of almost $40 trillion.

Their ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Ideally, in a free-market society, companies invest a small portion of the cost of hiring a person in a pension fund, where it is invested in a broad and diverse variety of private endeavors over many years (not government bonds). The wealth created pays for the pension. This was done by many companies in the past. Pension funds used to be the biggest players in the stock market (don't know where they stand nowadays.) No taxes required, and none of this "pay as you go" Ponzi crap.