Look stranger, no one is saying you're wrong to call out the problems with the economy. Everyone is on your side there.

They're saying that you personally made a mistake, and that's one that other people can and should avoid for themselves. If after 45 years you REALLY TRULY only have like $2k USD in your retirement account then you messed up somewhere. That's almost impossible the way compounding interest works.

Many 401ks are not actually invested by default, it's up to the account holder to assign those funds themselves. Guessing that's what happened to you. Unfortunately this isn't widely known for some reason and companies don't bother to educate employees about it.