For German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche, there's a simple way to fix Germany's pension system: "We need to work more and longer," she flatly told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in late July, instantly triggering a new debate along familiar lines. Reiche argued that the pledges her government had made in the coalition contract earlier this year were just not going to be enough.

Germany's aging population has long been recognized as a problem. The population's median age — 46.7 — is the eighth-highest in the world and the third-highest among major economies, after Japan and Italy. By 2040, fully a quarter of the population is expected to be 67 or older. This year, birth rate fell to its lowest point in 20 years.

This has had a marked effect: In the early 1960s, there were still six actively insured workers for every pensioner — that ratio is now 2 to 1 and sinking, and in 2025, two-thirds of the Labor Ministry's budget will go into the pension system: €121 billion ($140 billion).

"It cannot be sustainable in the long term for us to work only two-thirds of our adult lives and spend one-third in retirement," said Reiche. "Unfortunately, too many people have been refusing to accept the demographic reality for too long."

Reiche's statements triggered a quick backlash from her center-left Cabinet colleagues. Lars Klingbeil, finance minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which traditionally sees itself catering to a working-class electorate, described Reiche's statement as a "slap in the face" for many workers.

"It's easy to say that when you're sitting in your comfortable chair in Berlin," Klingbeil told news outlet ntv. "But you should go out and talk to the people in the country who are working as roofers, who are working as nurses, who are........

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