revenue at least equivalent to the eu average, our budgetary inflows would have been about 2 billion euros higher. is this a lot or a little? that is almost as much as the amount of total pension expenditure that year. the level of redistribution ( and thus budget availability ) is primarily an issue of the equity and efficiency of tax policy. nevertheless, even if the most effective changes in taxation were implemented, they would not be enough on their own in the longer term. this is because alongside redistribution problems we have another adverse factor, namely, a highly complicated demographic situation. this leads to a worsening ratio between working - age and retirement - age population, which implies a heavier burden on public finances. against this background, it has become crucial to create the right conditions and incentives for income - generating residents to start accumulating their own financial reserves for old age. to the best of our knowledge, however, so far about 800 thousand persons – more than half of the working population – rely only on minimum accumulation or refrain from acummulating altogether. i do not want to sound too dramatic, but … this situation cannot be called anything other than a ticking time bomb. our honourable speakers will shortly present a broader picture – the practices of other countries and regions. we are likely to see that our challenges are not unique : most advanced economies have faced, or are currently facing, similar problems. and although they all have specific national characteristics and thus each seeks the most suitable solutions in its national context, all highly regarded models share certain features. first of all, one finds a focus on long - term sustainability. second, one notes transparency and, consequently, a high level of confidence among the population. these features contribute to the achievement of the core objective, namely, to ensure more even consumption, that is, level of income, throughout the human life cycle. the pension systems of our close neighbours, the nordic countries, are considered among the best - rated in the world and are characterised by all of these features. i am therefore pleased that we will soon have the opportunity to hear professor edward palmer ’ s presentation on the swedish experience in reforming their pension system and shifting towards a notional defined contribution - based model. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches colleagues, when analysing the good practices of foreign countries, we note that, in addition to the aforementioned similarities, they have one more thing in common : none of the pension systems in which people today have confidence was created in a

to many as the dual mandate. it directs the federal reserve “ to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate longterm interest rates. ” 3 while there are actually three discrete objectives in the dual mandate, most economists would say that moderate long - term interest rates are a tool to produce maximum employment and price stability. such economic reasoning also involves some clever and simple arithmetic – it reduces a tripartite mandate to a dual mandate. with respect to financial stability, leading economic thinkers would now say, and the financial crisis seems to offer us the perfect illustration, that price stability and maximum employment are possible only in a context of financial stability. this is an implicit part of what chairman bernanke was communicating at the national press club – until financial stability could be restored, the ability to achieve the goals of maximum employment and price stability through the monetary transmission mechanism were beyond the federal reserve ’ s reach. accordingly, the federal reserve used its monetary policy tools to lower the targeted fed funds rate to zero. in addition, the federal reserve used its lender of last resort authorities in new and creative ways to restore financial stability to the u. s. economy. when the crisis in the united states abated in late 2009, following the successful introduction of stress testing, the federal reserve began to speak about terminating some of its emergency facilities. these facilities had been introduced during the “ whatever it takes ” era, and when the federal reserve was executing the delicate task of winding these facilities down, the federal open market committee ( fomc ) made clear that financial stability remained a key objective. for example, the committee said in its release of december 16, 2009 that “ [ t ] he federal reserve is prepared to modify these [ wind down ] plans if necessary to support financial stability and economic growth. ” 4 the legal basis for deriving implied powers from the penumbra of other express powers is best seen in justice douglas classic opinion in griswold v. connecticut. 5 in the griswold case, the united states supreme court struck down a connecticut law prohibiting the use of contraception. justice douglas ’ opinion struck that law down as inconsistent with a constitutional right of privacy, notwithstanding that the u. s. constitution nowhere mentions any such right, let alone even using the word “ privacy ”. justice douglas noted that individual privacy concerns were protected by a series of express constitutional provisions, like the third amendment ’ s prohibition on quartering soldiers during peacetime, the fourth