Pension Buyouts Pacify Dissolutions

The article highlights how Henry VIII defused monastic resistance by pensioning monks as he liquidated their houses. Applied to today, it suggests large buyouts or pensions could be used to neutralize tenured faculty opposition during university downsizing or restructuring in an AI era. — It offers a concrete, politically tractable tactic for higher‑ed reform that shifts debate from pure culture war to mechanism design.

Sources

A Social Security Off-Ramp?

Thomas Savidge 2026.01.08 60% relevant

Savidge proposes complementary measures to protect current beneficiaries while winding down a public pension‑style entitlement; this echoes the earlier idea that payouts/buyouts can be used to neutralize opposition during institutional liquidation or restructuring, linking tactics for managing political resistance to fiscal reform.

The Class of 2026 - by John Carter - Postcards From Barsoom

2025.10.07 100% relevant

Cromwell’s visitations and the First Suppression Act pensioned monks while dissolving lower‑income houses and selling their lands and treasures.