It should be said that the UK pensions debacle was an example of the way that business turns personal anxiety into profits. The overpromotion of pension schemes all came in the wake of the various noises about the inability of the state pension scheme to meet its committments. The vulture-like nature of the private pensions selling worked because it played on precisely those anxieties that are beyond rational calculation. A lot of people were panicked into poor deals.
Other industries that are parasitical upon the increased anxieties of a more atomised age: Further Education (British College numbers continue to rise beyond the million mark, despite the introduction of fees, because people are persuaded that they are 'unemployable' without the qualitications); all species of insurance (another source of scams), expecially health insurance. -- Jim heartfield