Old age and the Far Right

[whell]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

If you support old age benefits because you think it's important to ensure that Americans, including yourself are at least somewhat secure in old age, you are supportive of a plan to "enslave" us all by "increasing dependency".

Silly me, I thought you enslave people and increase dependency by starving people and ensuring the only way they have to survive is to continue working until they drop dead? The point of programs like SS and Medicare is give them an out, so that when they become too old and sick to go on, they can stop and not have to worry about it. Does that sound like slavery to you?

I used to think that people who fell for this were the few and unintelligent. And, at the time, I was right. The problem is that the more intelligent have been steeped in a new line of thinking that places self interest above the common good. So long as they're good, they could give a flying shit about the rest of us. They believe it's "right" to be think that people are only poor because they want to be and that if you are poor, you deserve to be desperate. My parents generation, for the most part, saw the wisdom in trying to create security for the elderly, because after all....that's most of us forty years down the road. My generation doesn't give a fuck. They were raised in the 1980s. They think eliminating such programs will make them ALL rich enough to be financially independent in old age. Anyone with an IQ over 60 knows this isn't possible. We can't ALL become millionaires and billionaires. Some, perhaps. But ALL? That's the difference between the America I loved and the one we have now; An apathetic, avaricious bastard only cares about himself and his little corner of the world, fuck everyone else. The far right has tapped into that, legitimized it, advanced it, even made it a tenet of Christianity, ironically enough. God help us. (Pun intended.)

Dave

"We all" don't want to become millionaires. It would be nice not to have to worry about money, but it's not a realistic goal. Most folks get that.

What I'd like is to have back the 6.2% in social security tax that gets sucked out of my paycheck every 2 weeks. Hell, I'd settle for 3.1% of it. For folks that are concerned about their ability to save for retirement, they can put their money into that system. For the rest that are reasonably confident that they can do better that Uncle Sam can with that 6.2%, let me invest it on my own. Social Security is the rough equivalent of a pyramid scheme. Its Bernie Maidoff all over again, except when the gov't does it, they exempt themselves from prosecution or fiduciary liability.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by whell

What I'd like is to have back the 6.2% in social security tax that gets sucked out of my paycheck every 2 weeks. Hell, I'd settle for 3.1% of it.

You'd piss it away and when you got too old to work you'd cry to the Gummint to bail you out.

[whell]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

You'd piss it away and when you got too old to work you'd cry to the Gummint to bail you out.

Been doing it all my life with what the gov't lets me take home and have been doing just fine, thanks.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by whell

Been doing it all my life with what the gov't lets me take home and have been doing just fine, thanks.

Great! Me to. So, what are you always complaining about, then?

Dave

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by whell

"We all" don't want to become millionaires. It would be nice not to have to worry about money, but it's not a realistic goal. Most folks get that.

Money won't make one happy, however, lack of sufficient money will make pretty much everybody significantly unhappy.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by whell

What I'd like is to have back the 6.2% in social security tax that gets sucked out of my paycheck every 2 weeks. Hell, I'd settle for 3.1% of it.

I don't know how old you are whell...but most of our friends of our age group, are quite content with the $35K or so that a typical married couple takes in every year in SS benefits. It's a nice patch that has helped me and the blonde from depleting pretty much any of the principle in our portfolio since we started getting our checks every month a few years ago.

[whell]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

I don't know how old you are whell...but most of our friends of our age group, are quite content with the $35K or so that a typical married couple takes in every year in SS benefits. It's a nice patch that has helped me and the blonde from depleting pretty much any of the principle in our portfolio since we started getting our checks every month a few years ago.

Good for you. Here, we have a single income with three kids all 13 or under. I could use the extra 3.1%. I'm glad you're enjoying it though.

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by whell

Good for you. Here, we have a single income with three kids all 13 or under. I could use the extra 3.1%. I'm glad you're enjoying it though.

Wish you the best Sir.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by whell

Good for you. Here, we have a single income with three kids all 13 or under. I could use the extra 3.1%. I'm glad you're enjoying it though.

Short sighted thinking at it's best: "I need (Or "want", in some cases.) the money now. I'll worry about old age when it gets here."

Problem is, by then we're too old and it's too late. Like all of these guys I work with who think they are going to work until they die. No, they won't.

I look at the money I (we) pay into SS and Medicare the same way I look at my 401ks and other investments. I just keep paying as if the money never existed in the first place. Hopefully, it will be there when I need it.......and I WILL need it. Everyone who doesn't quite achieve total financial independence will and that's most of us. By it's very nature, it's not a choice, it's an imperative. For me and for my countrymen.

Dave

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by whell

Good for you. Here, we have a single income with three kids all 13 or under. I could use the extra 3.1%. I'm glad you're enjoying it though.

You're a Conservative Republican. Want another 3.1% income? Follow the droning advice that we hear out of every right-wing radio talk-show gasbag all day long. Want more money? Work harder, work smarter, get a better job. It's nobody's responsibility but your own.

We both worked hard, worked smart, saved and invested smart for over 40 years. Bought used cars, shopped at the Goodwill, and lived in the same little 1200 sq/ft farmhouse built in 1911 since 1972. And we're enjoying it just fine. You can do it too, whell. Just listen to your mentors of choice, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, get in there and do it.-indeed.