Social Security, once seen as ‘old-age insurance,’ will eventually disappear, this author predicts
Etienne Note: How could the wealthiest country in the history of the world now be dead broke and unable to fund the pension scheme it forced on the population? Because the “government” has been run by intergenerational organized crime that stole the value out of the money the population earned and saved through inflation and then stole more through confiscatory taxation and Social Security underpayment. We document both in our new book: The Greatest Theft in Human History - How the Banks and “Government” Will Steal at Least $1.40 MILLION from the Typical Worker… “Legally”
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The retirement myth of endless golf games or fishing trips melting into decades of elder bliss has been crumbling for decades.
The idea of retirement as a period of contented leisure has come and gone, said Lawrence Samuel, cultural historian and author of the new book “The Rise and Fall of Retirement in the United States: A Social History.” He believes the modern era of retirement is over, and even expects Social Security to eventually “go away” amid a new model in which people work longer into their old age.
“It’s a very powerful myth. It’s almost like the American dream — it’s a myth. But a lot of people think it’s an entitlement: ‘Where’s my American dream?’ But most Americans don’t realize their American dream. The odds are against you,” Samuel told MarketWatch.
The notion of retirement itself is a modern concept, Samuel argued — one showing up in the 20th century and propped up by industries such as travel and housing that created retirement communities, financial institutions that oversaw savings and investing, as well as marketing machines that had consumer products to sell. Before then, people often worked until they died.
“Retirement just came along and became this monolithic concept,” Samuel said.
“The myth is still around. Some people still believe it. The classic narrative can be very fulfilling for some people,” Samuel added. “Over the decades, the cracks in the narrative began as early as in the 1950s, when retirement was in full bloom. You started seeing evidence that it wasn’t a perfect model.”
Many older Americans struggle with lack of purpose or structure, as well as loneliness and isolation. The average retiree watches 47 hours of television a week, according to consultancy AgeWave. Loneliness is so bad that in 2023 the U.S. Surgeon General called it an epidemic as deadly as smoking smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. It’s also linked with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety and premature death.
Then there’s the financial aspect of retirement. As pensions became scarce, Americans were forced to save for their own retirements — and many faltered.
The median amount American workers have saved for retirement is just $955. That figure includes people with no retirement savings at all. Using workers who had at least a positive retirement-savings balance, the median savings totaled $40,000, according to the National Institute of Retirement Security. Americans think they will need to save $1.2 million to retire comfortably, according to Schroders, an asset-management firm.
The future of Social Security? No Social Security.
Meanwhile, Social Security faces insolvency in 2032, at which point beneficiaries will see a 22% cut in benefits unless Congress acts first to shore up the system. Among Americans ages 65 and older, 40% rely on Social Security for half or more of their income, while about 14% of recipients 65 and older depend on it for 90% or more of their income, according to AARP.
Samuel expects Social Security, which provides retirement benefits to more than 68 million older adults, to eventually fade away.
“I think ultimately it will go away; politicians just don’t want to go there. It’s from the 1930s, from the Depression, and it was catered to the ‘Greatest Generation’ and it was seen as old-age insurance,” Samuel said. “Eventually, we’ll move away from that. It could be decades, it could be generations. I don’t think it fits in this model of this new thing we’re creating of the gig economy and older workers back in the workplace.”
When Social Security was created in the 1930s, life expectancy at birth was lower than the retirement age of 65 — roughly 60 years for men and 64 years for women. That life expectancy, however, was heavily skewed by high infant mortality, according to the Social Security Administration.
Now, overall life expectancy in the U.S. is at an average age of 79, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means people have greater potential for living longer in retirement, running out of money and struggling with purpose in life.
“There’s ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’; haves, who have savings or their nest egg or pensions or 401(k), are able to pursue structure and engagement and meaning and purpose. For a big part of the population, it’s about survival — it’s about putting food on the table and paying the rent. There need to be resources to connect [age-]55-plus employers to the workers who can fill these slots,” Samuel said.
He expects older workers to stay in the workforce longer as Americans live longer. About 19% of Americans age 65 and older participated in the labor force in 2025, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Retirement — it’s not the right word anymore. Purpose is the right word. Human beings need a reason to wake up and get out of bed every morning,” Samuel said. “We’re worker bees. We’re trained in the Protestant work ethic from day one. We’re coming around back to the late 19th century, to where it started before this thing came to be — which is a real positive.”
So what’s next for retirement? It’s over, Samuel said.
“Don’t quit. Keep your job — keep it despite having an annoying boss or colleagues. Keep the health insurance coming as long as you can,” Samuel said. “Keep your job and try to pursue your passions.”
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