The French Pension System

The French pension system was established in 1945, when the life expectancy was 65, and the birth rate was 19.6 per 10,000 people. Today, the French life expectancy has risen to 83, and the birth rate has fallen to 10.9 per 10,000 people.

Obviously these changes mandate changes in the French pension system. And yet the French have violently protested agaisnt any raises in the retirement age. A few years ago there were riots in the streets when raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 was proposed. And now, there are similarly violent riots over a proposal to raise the age from 62 to 64. Apparently France is full of selfish, small-minded people who are unable to see beyond themselves and consider the common good.

We have the same destructive syndrome here in the United States. The allegation that you are for "cutting" social security or Medicare is the kiss of death for any political candidate. Indeed, a PAC backing Trump has been running TV ads accusing Ron DeSantis of voting three times to "cut social security". Fact-checking this allegation, we find that the basis for it is a vote DeSantis made when he was in Congress in 2013 for a nonbinding budget resolution backed by the Republican caucus, a resolution calling for raising the retirement age and restructurijmg social secutity and Medicare to make them more financially sustainable.

The ridiculous situation which arises out of this flawed thinking is illustrated by Trump's claim that he can avoid cutting defense and entitlements, and still balance the budget. This is demonstrably false, and was proven so by Trump's failure to reduce the deficit, in fact ballooning it, during his time in office.

The selfishness and short-sightedness has infected many areas of our political life. We have gun-owners who think their right to own weapons of war supercedes the right of schoolchildren to be safe in their classrooms. We have anti-abortion fanatics who think they have the right to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of the country. We have people who think they can deny kids the right to read books which they don't want their own kids to read. We have an 89-year-old Senator who refuses to resign, even thought she can no longer function as a Senator. I could go on and on.

The core problem is a lack of community in this country (and apparently in other countries like France). We have lost the glue that holds a society together and allows it to function.

Schipkov's Trap

Schipkov's trap is a black trap in the Smith-Morra Gambit. The line runs 1 e5 c5 2 d4 cd 3 c3 dc 4 Nxc3 Nc6 5 Bc4 e6 6 Nf3 Qc7 7 0-0 Nf6 8 Qe2 Ng4 9 h3?? Nd4! and white is lost.

Instead of the losing 9 h3??, the books recommend 9 Nb5!, the idea being that after 9...Qb8, white can now play 10 h3 as the N/b5 is guarding the d4 square.

I have found eight games in my personal records from before I learned about 9 Nb5. In one I tried 9 Bg5, and managed to win a long game.

In another I played 9 Rd1, which left me with a horrid position after 9...Bc5 10 Be3 BxB 11 fe, though I managed to win in 23 moves.

In the other six games I played 8 g3. Two of these ended in only 12 moves: 8 g3 Be7 9 Bf4 d6 10 Nb5! Qb8 11 Nxd6+ Bxd6 12 Bxd6 1-0 (his queen is trapped!); and 8 g3 Bd6 9 Qe2 0-0 10 Rd1 Ng4 11 Nb5 Qb8 12 Nxd6 1-0 (white has won a piece).

The trick here is to delay playing Qe2. White can also play h3 before castling. White must keep this trap in mind to avoid disaster. Several high-level tournament games have ended early when white was caught unawares.