Indeed, the root of the problem is financialization.

Where are the 8% annual returns for old people’s pensions going to come from? Because the fertility rates of the last few decades surely is not going to result in growth like it did for previous generations.

Pension funds - the new all-purpose excuse for the blight that is financialization.

A worthy successor to "Think of the children!"

Sure, replace with

“How to provide promised services and goods to a larger and larger non working population from a smaller and smaller working population” and/or the politics of managing this once the working population realizes they are not going to get the same, so why should they bother with providing it?

Pension funding in the US is something of a joke anyways. Is this the icing on the cake?

I don't know what you mean. Money is just a means of allocating goods and services, but by itself, it does not increase the supply of goods and services. So the pensions, the 401ks, the savings, and the cash really all are just trying to grab a portion of the nation and world's goods and services.

Which is why the returns ("financialization") are so important, higher returns means you get a higher portion of the goods and services. But since returns are just money, it does not mean the sum total of goods and services increases, just the proportion that you get is proportional to the return you get relative to others. And you can replace "you" in this statement with "x tribe" whether it be generational, political, racial, etc.

"Financialization" means vampire capitalism.

Case in point: Greyhound. Asset stripping (real estate). Slow death of service.

Find a lever for extracting cash. Lean on it. Pry out cash til there's only a husk. Rinse. Repeat.

"Private equity" - bah humbug.