What happens when we're too old to be 'useful'?

Pension programs are expensive and hard to keep solvent. The outcome has been 401k type programs with an employee match to increase your contributions to fuel your returns. The trick is you have to start early and contribute every pay day and not touch it. for 35-40 years. That is more discipline than most have and there are times where life situations may force you to take money out.

I can work but it is not easy. The advantage is that you are self sufficient and not reliant on the pension program that can go bankrupt. It does happen. The reality is that with longer life expectancies and medical care able to prolong life (albeit very expensively in many cases) it is hard to save for every possible outcome. An axe to the brain housing group might be the easy way out.

I get a kick out of the "peace love a dove" hippie types talking about how wonderful and peaceful uncivilized peoples were, and how great their lives were. As Hobbes said several hundred years ago, the lives of primitive peoples are nasty, brutish, and short.