You do realise who makes profits from owning the companies who own the pension and hedge funds that invest in these things?

I have no idea what the best solution is but the road to serfdom we are all on is unsustainable.

I'd say the best solution is to not let power accrue where responsibility is not. Allowing incumbants, be they companies, regulators, legislators, or anything, get too entrenched and the system calcifies around fakeable outcomes.

Keeping productivity and personal choice at the forefront means people have to keep getting value. I can switch away from Netflix at any time. I can't switch away from my local council or choose to stop paying them. And so my local council is allowed to have a terrible track record and keep on existing.

I also don't know the detailed answer, but I think more choice where people individually decide where to spend their money is a big part of building useful things that don't result in crippling expense on an economy.

How many pension funds are private and how many are owned by governments? I ask because I don't know, and it's a global market with foreign funds buying treasuries (or from the other perspective local funds buying foreign treasuries).

I completely agree with your second sentence.