What makes this even worse is that a lot of "savings" that people DO have put away for retirement are in the form of pensions, bonds, and other financial obligations that are underfunded and mostly illusory. You need look no farther than the state of Illinois to see just how bad the situation can get. A lot of people who think they have pensions and other payments coming from the state of Illinois (and soon, many other states, cities, and municipalities) are going to be very, very disappointed. We are drowning in debt on every level, both personal and governmental, and the FED and other central banks are running out of ways to make it seems like it isn't a big problem.
Pensions have long been a mess because of shady union practices. They generously award over time to retirees in the last 3-4 years of service, this often sends up their average compensation by a factor of 3 to 4. Then you also have other benefits. No pension fund can pay for something like this. So you have to take money from the tax payer to pay for these people. The day tax payers decide to call it quits, it will all collapse.
Plus this still doesn't say anything about people in non-govt sectors.
