All of the chickens are coming home to roost: decades of stagnant wages, elimination of DB pension plans in the private sector, skyrocketing education costs. These burdens are difficult to manage, but the burden is compounded by people's financial illiteracy. They blithely live beyond their means on credit as if they are entitled to the lifestyle that advertisers show them. A lifetime of such unconscious living leads directly to old-age poverty. We need to address the deteriorating economic position of the population, especially the young people. But no one should be let off the hook for failing to adapt to the realities of life as they encounter it.