The majority of people do not rationally save for emergencies, let alone retirement.
It is roughly equally true. I have no idea how to compare the relative impacts on social stability; keeping a sizable percentage of the population in economically precarious positions is likely more destabilizing, but spying and blackmail can have massive effects, too.
> A sense of helplessness in the face of seemingly overwhelming force isn't the same as "not caring at all"
I look at this as:
(1) Roughly the same proportion of people at any given time will be [failing to save, feeding the surveillance beast].
(2) Change the environment, and you change their behavior on the margin. (Opt-out 401K increases overall savings rates; safe defaults frequently don't get changed.)
(3) Change the incentives, and you change behavior permanently. (Ownership stakes encourage savings; close channels that leak personal information.)
So, try:
It is roughly equally true. I have no idea how to compare the relative impacts on social stability; keeping a sizable percentage of the population in economically precarious positions is likely more destabilizing, but spying and blackmail can have massive effects, too.> A sense of helplessness in the face of seemingly overwhelming force isn't the same as "not caring at all"
I look at this as:
(1) Roughly the same proportion of people at any given time will be [failing to save, feeding the surveillance beast].
(2) Change the environment, and you change their behavior on the margin. (Opt-out 401K increases overall savings rates; safe defaults frequently don't get changed.)
(3) Change the incentives, and you change behavior permanently. (Ownership stakes encourage savings; close channels that leak personal information.)