> It absolutely is an issue when half the people in the US do not have access to a 401k
As someone else said, IRAs offer the same tax break. The contribution limit is lower (I'd support changing this), but most of the people who don't have access aren't maxing out their contributions, anyway.
>most of the people who don't have access aren't maxing out their contributions, anyway.
Precisely. We should have an account that autosaves and invests ~ 10% of a worker's pay into a simple target date fund. You can opt out, but by default, when you get to retirement you're covered.
I can tell you first hand that many of the blue collar folks I know in retirement almost exclusively live off of social security and that's a sad, restricted life.
As someone else said, IRAs offer the same tax break. The contribution limit is lower (I'd support changing this), but most of the people who don't have access aren't maxing out their contributions, anyway.