One possible (less dark) side to these losses

Maybe you didn't really need all of that money anyway! (Maybe?) On the other hand, it will still be very hard on those close to or in retirement now.

The article's idea is that people have been encouraged to over-save and take excessive risk. My thoughts:

This reminds me of a book review I read approximately 1 month ago, where the book's author argues the financial sector is built on 'pimping risk'
Seems like a very credible argument to me, given a few direct and indirect glimpses I've had into the industry. Their incentives are aligned to make money off two sources: new vehicles that have not been competed down to commoditization (such as hedge funds) and expensive vehicles that charge high commissions based on sector hype or recent performance. Both things are the continual attempt to achieve superior returns (at superior costs of course) and this chase often leads to superior risk. All of which is not to say that the industry does not add value, but who do you think the bulk of that value goes to? Call it tragedy or call it farce, finance is the grown-up version of 'Telephone'.