A better answer would be for seniors who've accumulated some savings to learn something about finance and not depend on the good will of others. Another answer would be to restore interest on FDIC savings so seniors who responsibly prepared for retirement wouldn't be impoverished. JMHO
Retirement assets are being converted (as in, "theft by conversion") to public assets via the engine of inflation, which Greenspan/Bernanke/Yelled has running at full tilt while suppressing the normal metrics so people can't "see" it except at the grocery store. Meanwhile, investor/retiree returns are also being suppressed by Fed policy. It's called "repression", the idea of which is to "retire" TARP and the deficits by inflating them into nonexistence.
The Fed' s been doing that since World War II, but does anyone know about it?
I was with you until you painted with a broad brush.
Some seniors benefit from annuities, namely those who have no guaranteed income. In other words, provided they have sufficient cash reserves, as well as other investment income, an annuity is a great way to insure basic costs are covered every month.
Also, annuities don’t go through probate, some have death benefits attached, and with high-quality companies, fixed annuities have a guarantee never to lose principal.
Are their bad guys out there? Sure. However, there are more good than bad. Stick with reputable companies is the lesson.