How old is too old?

A proposal to change Hawaii’s state constitution to raise the mandatory retirement ages for judges bears some consideration. How old is too old?

Whatever the mandatory retirement age for judges is now, it’s obviously too low for the current judges, most of whom favor the change to move the mandatory retirement age to 80. There can only be one really good reason why the judges, and the lawmakers they influence, want the retirement age raised.

They’ve got a great job. It’s a state job. The pay is good. The hours are good.  The benefits are good. The work is easy.

Sure, they’ll talk about a heavy workload. Most state workers do. If it’s so heavy why do they want to extend the work instead of really going into retirement? Because they’re already retired and they want to keep it that way.

What would be a good retirement age for state workers? What’s wrong with 30/55? 30 years of service, minimum age of 55?
You don’t see many state workers, especially in the professional ranks, suffering from Carpet Layer’s Syndrome. What’s that, you ask? Did you ever see an old carpet layer? Young carpet layers work on their hands and knees most of the day. It’s true grunt work, hard on the joints and fit only for the young and not so smart– and even the not so smart can figure out that laying carpet your entire adult life does not for a good retirement make.

The smart young carpet layers look for state jobs.