What you've described is a symptom that can't just be fixed by closing your eyes and throwing money at the government while saying, "Give this back when I need

What you've described is a symptom that can't just be fixed by closing your eyes and throwing money at the government while saying, "Give this back when I need it, OK?" If the populace doesn't have the discipline to control and organize their extra resources, how can we expect politicians to do so? And why do we even trust them to do it? It's sad that people with the attitude you've described were able to convince the government to enact this as a mandatory thing -- but, the government likes money. We've seen what a faithful steward they have been for us. People without the self-restraint to save money for a period of time where they expect to live without performing any money-generating work have problems that can't be fixed so simply. Maybe that's the cause of all of this turmoil in the first place. The idea of "retirement" is also a curious new invention; people didn't save for retirement before the industrial revolution because back then, people would own houses and lands, accumulate real wealth that could be used to sustain life (e.g., agricultural assets) when individuals got too old to perform the work themselves, etc. The pace of change since the 1860s has been extremely staggering and has introduced many concerns that hadn't existed previously. It is an intriguing matter to be sure. Hopefully we can come out of it all right.