And what about the “pension mugging” produced by low interest rates produced by monetary policy?

Sir you write that Britain must make sure that the conversion of lifetime saving into decent retirement incomes is performed with total honesty, “Act now to prevent pension mugging” December 13.

But the number one factor which determines the amount of the annuity, at the moment of conversion, is the interest rate that insurance companies can earn long term on the “lifetime savings” received. And so now, when monetary policy is officially manipulated, so as for interest rates to be artificially low, especially the long side, the question is who is going to be responsible to the retired for the low annuities they receive?

How would you to explain to a retiree who converts into an annuity today if his neighbor, converting the same amount at a future time, receives a much higher annuity?