1.
I have often said that the 401k, IRA, and similar programs are this lovely solution that helps precisely the wrong people.
The people who need a secure retirement most are the poor, the less educated, those with less self-control over spending. These people will contribute nearly nothing into their tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
The people who need it least are people like me, probably like you (dear reader); people who are reasonably frugal and plan long-term. Maxing out your 401k and IRA for forty years would almost certainly leave you with many millions of dollars (admittedly not adjusted for inflation). Despite that, we can probably save a bunch of money in taxable accounts, enough that if we plan to work for a long time (because some of us enjoy our work) we probably wouldn't even need the 401k, IRA, or even social security.
So it's an amazing win for the people who have the best skills at managing personal money; and it's a big loss for most people who suck at it.
2.
I have sometimes wondered -
One of the tell-tale signs of a ponzi scheme (bear with me, please) is that returns are too smooth; this might be in the form of returning the same percentage each year, or in the form of the up-and-down peaks not being nearly as jagged as the market as a whole.
However -
I wonder, if I had large cash reserves (ie, capital requirements like banks do), and I offered people a flat 3.5% (or some amount above a 30-year T-bond) return (and limited contributions to ensure the capital reserves were high enough) - and then simply invested their money into the broad market, took most of the gain above 3.5% to bolster the capital reserves, and used the capital reserves to pay out during down years (and to ensure everyone could still withdraw their principal) ...
One could probably mathematically succeed at offering this flat "annuity" (really, non-FDIC-insured investment). Just add a bunch of marketing spin on top, limit managed funds to ensure you can always pay out during a market crash, and have ignorant people wonder if you're a market genius.
But if you do all the above, cut out the marketing bullshit, and just run it as a government program offering maybe 100 basis points above a 30-year treasury, and call it fully insured supplementary retirement funds, you might actually do a bit of good in the world.