Where do you think the insurance companies providing these annuities get the money to fund them?
Market investments. (Ditto whomever is paying for them, such as private companies - generally pension funds are invested, or inflation would eat them alive.)
You may not be able to stomach the volatility, and I respect that, but counting on an annuity provider means they are taking on the risk for you, which leads to one of two things:
1) They are able to make more than they promised, and they can continue to pay you (i.e. they promise you a 6% payout, and they make more than that in the market long term, and they can pay you that 6%). Which means you're giving up a lot of the upside, the extra money they're making.
or
2) They can't make more than that (say they promised you 6%, but we have that decades long flat market you're talking about, a lost generation, and they can only make 3% on the money). They overpromised, run into problems, and suddenly your annuity doesn't look so secure. How do you think an insurance company can pay their 6% annuity when the market is returning 0% real return? It can't. So annuities you may think "feel" safe.. but there very well could be one day where the * hits the fan.