10/24/14 – How Retirement was Invented (The Atlantic)

In 1881 Otto von Bismarck, the conservative minister president of Prussia, presented a radical idea to the Reichstag: government-run financial support for older members of society. In other words, retirement. The idea was radical because back then, people simply did not retire.  It would take eight years, but by the end of the decade, the German government would create a retirement system, which provided for citizens over the age of 70.

Read the full article at The Atlantic.