Would we (should we) riot over raising the retirement age?

You likely saw/heard/read the news reports coming from France, as infuriated workers burned cars and blocked streets in protest of a government to raise the nation’s retirement age from 60 to 62.

My first thought was hoping no one was harmed. But secondly, I thought, “Those French people want to have it all — with their 35-hour workweek and their guaranteed five weeks of vacation. Now they’re grumbling about working two more measly years, when many Americans have given up the idea of retiring at all?! Pfft!”

Here in the States, there already are some in Congress who favor raising the retirement age — currently 67 for folks born in 1960 or later, unless they take early retirement at 62 — to age 70.

And while I’m sure there are some groups that would protest loudly should such proposals gain momentum, I doubt people would take to the streets to the point that police would maintain order in full riot gear.

More likely, we’d just sigh … and keep on working.

But is that the right response? Should we protest like the French about the idea of raising the retirement age?

"Raising the retirement age would be disastrous," Sandra Nathan, senior vice president for economic security for the National Council on Aging, told msnbc.com. As it is, she told the site, older workers are filing for early retirement in greater numbers.

MSNBC.com reports that according to the Social Security Administration, 72% of men filed for Social Security benefits early in 2009, up from 58% in 2008; 75% of women filed early in 2009 compared with 64% the year before.

Would these individuals and their peers riot against working later? Would younger workers protest the erosion of their golden years? Perhaps both? Or, is that just not the American way? Share your thoughts in the comments.