[Steve_Seattle]

"In 30 years when the millions of people hit retirement age with ZERO savings there will be carnage in the streets."

Yep. Millions more than today will be forced to live on social security alone, and that will only support life in a heavily-subsidized micro-apartment. The future looks bleak for my children's generation. We're on the way to being a third-world country - a super-rich elite (.01%), a small upper class (5%), a small middle-class (15%), a large lower class (60%), and a large unemployable underclass (20%).

[Obadiah]

Makes total sense, and something I haven't thought about. Many, many workers today are working part-time, or multiple part-time jobs, due in part to Obamacare. Additionally, many are working in low-salary, few benefit jobs.

What are these people going to do? No pensions, no means to save anything for retirement due to healthcare costs, food costs, etc.

Has this ever happened in the past on such a large scale? Sure, maybe in the 1800’s or something, but no one thought about retirement then and things were handled very simply. Now, we are “taking away” the ability to retire — ever.

Moreover, the upper middle class will continue to retire comfortably while the rest of America will be forced to compete for government crumbs. In fact, I think we are already seeing the impact of this stratification.

Ten or twenty years ago cremation was barely heard of or used. Now, due to the economy of cremation, many, many people are opting to have family members cremated. A burial requires assets and many people no longer have such assets at the end of life to afford a burial.