I think a lot of people assume that pension systems ought to or actually do work as savings/investment systems, like private 401(k)s do. So you pay into the system when you're working age, your money is saved, then it is paid out to you later.
All investment systems suffer from this exact problem: returns aren't guaranteed. Even people with 401ks might experience this same issue if investment returns fall below the conventional wisdom rate of ~7% (or 4% real). But even if that rate holds up over the long-term, there's still to risk of a "lost decade" of no-returns or losses for and extended period, followed by a sudden market pop.
Pensions are hard.
If a government "invests" in its own bonds, that's not an investment.
Takes one to know one
You can always lose your money. Best to accept that and not worry too much.
Hence why I think an SP500 investment is risk free on a >3 year timeline.
The stock market went to shit, not the providers. The 401k appeal is that it's an account you *own* and the government can't touch for money, it would be the same as expropriating a bank account, which to be fair, the Argentinian goverment kind of did in 2001, hence why since then, people there save money in usd cash or in a foreign account, not in the local financial system. If the US government has to expropriate or do weird stuff in general with 401k accounts, we are in a situation where shit hit the fan long ago.
It went somewhere.
Boomer generation globally accumulated a lot of claims and considered them their "wealth" but forgot to produce enough people that are going to be willing to put an effort to satisfy these claims.
Now is the time when boomers will want to use their savings and discover their error.
It works more like a Ponzi scheme.