Subject: Re: Reading tea leaves
The purpose of RMDs isn't to provide money to live on, it is to make sure the taxes are ultimately paid and not avoided.

But this isn't true. You can't avoid taxes on an IRA, you can delay them, but you can't avoid them, they will "ultimately be paid". After you die, whomever inherits your IRA will pay ALL the taxes due by the end of the 10th year. In fact, it's just the opposite, it is money OUTSIDE an IRA (i.e. in a taxable account) that will usually avoid taxes via the step up of basis upon death.