If GAAP is the only measure, then Amazon and Salesforce have been utter failures for 20+ years, only returning 120,000% and 4000% returns to shareholders.
In fact, if an investor went by GAAP, he would have missed the entire massive SaaS boom of the past decade.
These mandatory pension plans exist in several countries. They are a good idea in themselves, but they often provide governments an excuse not pay decent direct benefits to the elderly.
So many people are not able participate in the workforce for the decades necessary to profit from these plans.
How can there still be these huge gaps in salary between Europe and the US ?
You would expect US Tech giants to come in and swoop all the top local talent, thus raising overall demand.
These "bonds" are an illusion.