It doesn't (you can retire early), but it does decide part of what you will need to be saving and how.

And the reason it decides that, apart from "because it can", is because many societies have seen what happens when it's left to individuals to take care of this, and they fuck it up in massive numbers, and the outcome of that then fucks up society.

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foxyv 4 hours ago | parent [-]

It is really easy to "Fuck it up" when greedy assholes jack up the price of necessities like food, shelter, and medical care. 66% of bankruptcies are due to medical costs. We should just socialize necessities like food, shelter, and medical care so there is no chance of "Fucking it up." That would cover the possibility of disability as well.

It sounds to me like we have built a system to exploit people as much as possible. Treating them like farm animals.

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lotsofpulp 2 hours ago | parent [-]

>We should just socialize necessities like food, shelter, and medical care so there is no chance of "Fucking it up."

How does socializing work if there are insufficient workers relative to non workers? I.e. the supply of food/shelter/medical care is insufficient to meet the demand?

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foxyv 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Why would there be insufficient workers relative to non-workers? Socializing health care, shelter, and food does not lead to a worker shortage. In fact, having a healthier and taken care of population leads to prosperity in general. In addition, it leads to reduced costs. Countries with socialized medicine pay a fraction of what America does for better health outcomes.

	▲	lotsofpulp an hour ago \| parent [-]
		>Why would there be insufficient workers relative to non-workers? The total fertility rate and the trends of that rate of basically every country, especially the ones with socialized medicine. https://www.populationpyramid.net/norway/2025/