“the last 8 years have devastated my chances of ever having a comfortable retirement”
As I’m sure you already know, that was the objective all along, to make you (us) dependent on “them” for everything.
I see that as a result of the easy money policy of the Fed which has turned our savings into sawdust. Keeping the interest rate at or near 0% makes saving money for retirement a cruel joke, and when those savings are in a 401K they're under constant threat of a market "correction".
All that money goes to Wall St where they pump it into stocks and return a retainer to their favorite politico.
At some point the big money decides to call in their "profits" and the bottom falls out of the market.
Public employees, on the other hand. have guaranteed pensions based on salary. Any like pension in the private sector has gone the way of the Dodo.
It might be worth it when President Dipstick is out of office and he is revealed as the jackass he is for all the world to see.
Because he WILL be seen as a fool by most, imo.