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Not for the majority of retirement savings in the US, where Social Security makes up only about 25%.

In the case of 401(k)s/DC plans and private pensions/DB plans, the government allowed savings without "confiscation," i.e. immediate taxation. They gave us the benefit of deferred taxation if you wait until retirement age.

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What about the people who do not make enough to save and all their money goes to inflated living expenses? When do they get to retire?

They get Social Security and Medicare, which while insufficient for many these days is a lot more than they would have gotten 100 years ago.

No one is going to argue that the system is perfect or can't be improved. Good people get screwed over all the time and always will, the most we can try to do is minimize that population.

We could socialize the necessities of survival like all the other civilized countries in the world.

Easy. We don't. Work until we die.

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