Ideology is a powerful factor in the way people see things — or don’t see things, either intentionally or because they just can’t. So, when Bruce Bartlett recently wrote about the risks of retiring without a decent pension, it was both comical and bizarre that he chose to ignore the main reason for the destruction of a comfortable retirement.

Let me start with the positive parts of Bartlett’s column. Some of the facts he lays out are stark:

On March 21, the Census Bureau published data on median household wealth – the median is the exact middle of the distribution of wealth. It shows that between 2000 and 2005, median wealth increased significantly, to $106,585 from $81,821. It then fell to $68,828 in 2011. Thus, although the stock market is close to its prerecession peak and aggregate national wealth has largely been restored, the median family’s wealth is still considerably below its peak and needs to rise considerably just to get back to where it was in 2000. [emphasis added]

And:

A key reason for this change has been the switch from defined-benefit to defined-contribution pension plans. In the former, workers are promised a specific income at retirement, which the employer provides. The employer bears all the risk of market fluctuations.

Under a defined contribution scheme, such as a 401(k) plan, the worker and the employer jointly contribute to a tax-deductible and tax-deferred account from which the worker will finance retirement. Thus, to a certain extent, the growth of pension wealth is more apparent than real.

And, finally:

What’s really depressing about these studies is the lack of solutions and the likelihood that the problem will only get worse.

Yes, the situation is depressing. But, this is a classic ideological missing the forest for the trees.

The switch from defined benefit pensions wasn’t just some neutral economic phenomena. It was done because of greed, pure and simple. CEOs of most companies were much more interested in fattening their own wallets and keeping their jobs so, to appease shareholders and keep their salaries and benefits ballooning to astronomical heights, they obliterated the notion of decent pension for their workers.

It was really a conspiracy of corporate America and Wall Street: cut peoples’ defined benefit pensions and, then, turn the money over to money managers in the form of IRA’s (defined contribution pensions). Everyone got rich — except for the workers who were counting on decent pensions.

And what is missing from this article? UNIONS. If you look at the trajectory of the cutting of pensions, it matches the downward trajectory of union power and density in the workforce.

Defined benefit pensions didn’t just magically happen and certainly they didn’t just happen out of the goodness of the hearts of corporate managers. They happened because unions fought hard to get those pensions for their members.

So, the solution actually is quite simple: encourage mass unionization and, presto, you’d have decent pensions again and people could retire with some dignity and respect.

In other words, this is about political power. The elite have it — and have their minions in political leadership to safeguard their power — and they don’t give it up. And that, my friends, means people won’t be able to retire safely and that is the end of the American Dream.

Though it is a great boon for dog food manufacturers — a cheap food source for those humans who can’t afford much else in their golden years.