Shouldn't the Baby Boomers Be Paying Down Their Debts?

I was under the presumption that as you approach retirement, you not only store up enough cashiola to float you through to your death, but that you also pay down your debts. Alas, this does not seem to be happening;


And it concerns me a little bit because I see people older than me not only cashing out all the equity in their homes, but more and more people using the reverse amortization mortgage as a means to bleed out all the equity in their homes as they retire. Effectively leaving their children with a fully leveraged house. My question is what will happen to the value of these inherited properties when Gen X sells them, because we already have our own homes and don't need them? The flood of properties will lower the price below the amount owed on it and we'll have ourselves a nice little debt problem.

Alas it seems a generation is unknowingly committing the perfect crime, racking up debt, only to die before they pay for it...then again, I don't know how this materially differs from social security.