My theory on this is that as a civilization, humans are experiencing the pains of a system of living introduced 137 years ago, that unless confronted, will topple the western way of life.
We cannot advance our next generation unless we remove the care (healthcare and retirement) of our elderly back to the system of relying on sons and son in law(s) (in scenarios whereby a family has only daughters) instead of relying on the government. This used to work. Then it stopped working and we've gotta get back to it.
The ~140 year old experiment of outsourcing the healthcare and retirement of elderly family members cannot be left to the government if we as a civilization are to persist and thrive.
It will take a strong person to battle the following factions in the spaghetti code that is the public pension/retirement system and healthcare systems in all of the western world.
Voting Blocks - The Silver Haired Mafia - Retirement boomers and gen x'ers that will age into retirement and are an ironclad voting block.
Money - The Montauk Wall Streeet Trustwads - Public pension money rotates $300B/yr of gov't employee money into the markets as it is allocated across many different assets and funds.
Unions - Unions are a cartel
This is just a few of the cartels that have to be battled.
No civilization on the planet has proven that governments spend efficiently on healthcare or retirement/pension allocations and it has broken the way of life for many creating big poorly managed pools of capital far from the source of productivity, the individual's reach and as well made quality of life worse.
While this sounds doom and gloom, I'm of the mindset that the USA is still the place on the planet with the greatest upward mobility for young people.
If I had to estimate it, I'd say we are about 15-35 years behind Europe in a sense. It will take longer for us to get there since as a country we have seemingly limitless revenue levers.
The History of it all goes back to Otto Van Bismarck or so Grok tells me.....
In 1889, Otto von Bismarck pioneered the world's first modern government-mandated old-age pension system in Germany— a compulsory contributory program to secure workers' retirement and blunt socialist momentum. From GROK:
"multi-generational living was widespread in pre-industrial and early 19th-century Europe, with elderly parents typically co-residing with married sons or other kin; for instance, in many Western European samples from the 19th century, around 50-70% of the aged lived with kin, though three-generation households averaged lower (e.g., ~11-28% in Northwest Europe and North America) due to nuclear family norms and economic factors. When family support failed—due to childlessness, migration, poverty, or death—elderly individuals without resources turned to local poor relief, charitable institutions, religious orders, mutual aid societies, or harsh poorhouses/almshouses, which were stigmatized and often inadequate; public poor relief systems predated Bismarck but were limited, local, and means-tested, shifting burdens to families or communities rather than the state. Bismarck's reforms addressed the growing strains from industrialization and urbanization, which eroded traditional family-based care by creating smaller nuclear households and increasing elderly vulnerability."
I could go on and on about healthcare, but we know the racket doesn't work domestically and globally and that insurance is pretty much a full on regulated racket. Maybe at some point I should do the story on how Berkshire bought and rolled up HIV patient life insurance policies with sharks in Miami who took them on cruises and did presentations for pennies on the dollar. Alas, I digress.
My twitter friend Peter perfectly captures what thousands of years of tradition proves, the family is the greatest provider of care for their elder members. Honorable guy’s . The Payroll Tax cartel is massive as well.
Grok:
Since Otto von Bismarck introduced the world's first modern government-mandated old-age pension system in Germany in 1889, payroll contribution rates started at a modest 1.7% of wages (split among employee, employer, and a small state share), but have grown dramatically due to expanded benefits, longer lifespans, and demographic pressures.
By 2026, Germany's statutory pension insurance contribution rate stands at 18.6% of gross wages (split equally between employee and employer at 9.3% each), reflecting over a 10-fold increase from the original level as the system shifted from limited coverage to a comprehensive pay-as-you-go model.
In the United States, Social Security payroll taxes (for old-age, survivors, and disability insurance) began at a combined 2% rate (1% each from employee and employer) in 1937 on earnings up to $3,000, but rose through legislative changes to the current 12.4% combined rate (6.2% each) since 1990 on earnings up to $184,500 in 2026, marking more than a 6-fold increase to sustain the program amid similar aging and funding challenges.
If you're wondering why everything feels out of whack right now, it might be because we are living out a gerontocracy nightmare where local control has been removed and healthcare and retirement tithings to the government are mismanaged and we feel it in facets of every day life.
