It's called a "forced retirement" and in the long run, it works. Ahem, every other year that you didn't mention in your post.
Can you make money shorting the market? Of course! Does everyone have time to actively pay attention to which areas of the market to short at what point in time? No.
That's why people (middle class) invest the way that they do. It makes sense based on ROI and amount of effort, and knowledge, required to enter the space.
It worked historically, but what about the last crash in 2008-2009? Did the middle class really recover to pre-2008 levels? People lost their house, savings accounts, and jobs. They went into debt and the past 8 years people have been recouping but before they get back to where they were, another crash might happen. So, I'm talking about modern day investing. Not historical norms.
Its sad they lie thoso commercials alall time telling people silver is on the rise when its Cryptocoins that are on the rise
Its Cryptocurrency that is on the rise and ICOs