“So that leads most Americans and their pensions into the “financial markets” and speculative ventures over which they have almost no understanding, and zero control.”
Very few go into speculative adventures. Most go for indexed funds and ETF’s.
The entire article was about such speculations by a PA pension fund. I am sure others are doing it also
Indexed Funds and ETFs underlying values are based on what exactly? Stock, bond, real estate and other markets.