I have a simpler argument. The necessity of being fed, clothed, and housed, comes with a monthly price tag. The price of an annuity which pays for these things is the amount of debt that you are born with. That debt is completely undischargeable in bankruptcy, and is, in fact, the zero value to which you are set should you declare bankruptcy. The (inflation adjusted) price of that annuity varies wildly with the economic circumstances, even if the monthly payout does not. Being born in a time with low annuity rates could mean that you intrinsically owe hundreds of thousands of dollars more than someone born in a period of high annuity rates. This is obviously a knob that should be turned.