The ridiculousness underlying the ridiculousness is that it's possible for retirees to not retire without a major downgrade in their standard of living. Such a phenomenon would be literally unprecedented in human history.
The fact of the matter is that "saving" in the stock market is completely artificial. "Saving" money doesn't create resources for you to use in retirement, it gives you an earmark on the resources produced by people who will be working when you retire.
With current technology and the foreseeable resource limits we'll be encountering over the next 30-50 years, it's just not physically possible for a small working generation to produce enough to support both itself and a large retired generation at the same standard of living the retired generation was accustomed to when it was working.
The fact of the matter is that "saving" in the stock market is completely artificial. "Saving" money doesn't create resources for you to use in retirement, it gives you an earmark on the resources produced by people who will be working when you retire.
With current technology and the foreseeable resource limits we'll be encountering over the next 30-50 years, it's just not physically possible for a small working generation to produce enough to support both itself and a large retired generation at the same standard of living the retired generation was accustomed to when it was working.