‘You have to work until you’re 80, because you never get anything for the state pension,’ said Johan Derksen on Thursday. ‘And the state pension age will be raised again. You have to work immediately until you are 74’, says Wilfred Genee. Derksen: ‘The new Pension Act needs to be pushed through.’
A lot of apekool is spread in the talk shows. As long as it’s about meninks, that’s not much of a problem. But the facts are also taken for granted. Usually out of carelessness. Marieke Blom, chief economist at ING, said on Tuesday in On 1 that the wage increase of 14.3 percent demanded by the FNV on an income of 2,000 euros is ‘am I saying it right?’ only three bucks. None of the eight gentlemen and ladies at the table shouts that it is ten times as much.
Newspapers nowadays have additions and corrections sections. The television doesn’t do that. It should be changed. Any chat show should be required by law to correct the factual errors of the previous broadcast. That makes the fight against fake news credible.
Bee Today Inside that will take at least fifteen minutes now that the program is no longer only concerned with football. Finally, pensioners will receive an additional 10 percent on 1 January. The state pension age will be raised to 67 years and three months in 2028. But that does not mean that the increase was reversed in 2019 as a result of the pension agreement: from 67 years and three months this year to 66 years and seven months.
The fact that the Pension Act is being pushed through is a travesty. It has been negotiated for ten years. Since 2019, further elaboration has been discussed for three years. That Derksen only shouts for the greater honor and glory of the viewing figures is up to that point. But that no one intervenes – except the journalist from Heart of the Netherlands sometimes tries to nuance something – is ‘too crazy for words’ to say it the Derksian way..
Actually, the daily error festival is in Today Inside more undermining society than the nonsense of Thierry Baudet, who no one takes seriously; David Icke, whom hardly anyone had ever heard of; and Ongehoord Nederland, which no one is looking at. Today Inside has power. What Derksen calls out, is on numerous websites the next day that also hope to score with it.
The program pits a large audience against anyone trying to run the country. Derksen can continue to sneer and make jokes without bending the facts to his will. “Do we really have to worry about working three months longer in 2028, while according to the UN Secretary-General the world is racing towards climate hell with its foot on the accelerator?” But that would be too much D66.
Demagoguery is allowed. Fake news and misinformation are evil. No channels need to be banned, but if limits are now set on freedom of the press, a mandatory rectification section would be a good start. Or Derksen should be retired early.