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Not when you realize that the economy is largely a huge ponzi scheme which requires a constant stream of new participants to prop up asset prices and generate economic activity.

The care issue is real, not so much because we need people to look after them, which potentially could be automated, but rather the new generations are the ones paying into the system and funding their pensions.

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The longer you let a ponzi scheme run the worse it gets. So it seems better to take some pain now instead of more pain later.

Unfortunately that would require political action that would never be accepted by society until they're hurting enough that it's too late. No politician is going to win an election by promising to make your life worse now for the future generations.

Not all ponzi schemes are dysfunctional, some are sustainable in the long term.

For instance if you have an asset that appreciates over time and represents true value (say because it generates more income over time) then you can't realize that appreciation if there is no-one to buy that asset from you. That is the marginal effect of having less people.

There's ways to solve that problem, for example: implementing the individualized pension system we have here in Chile.

That still requires rising asset prices and economic growth.

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