Someone I grew up with told me his stepdad retired after 34 years at the same factory.

His monthly pension? Just over $3,100 guaranteed for life.
Then he looked at his own retirement account after 14 years of faithfully contributing.
Balance: roughly $74,000.
Same line of work. Same state. Same decades of showing up.
One generation retired with certainty.
The next generation retires hoping the market doesn’t crash at the wrong time.
The shift away from pensions didn’t happen because people demanded it.
It happened gradually, while everyone was too busy keeping up with rising bills and making it to the next paycheck.