Printable View
When I read the OP, I put it in context with the 81 year old lady, I think it's a good thing she has that job. I never visited Canada & my only Canadian friends are here on SRP.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan82
But in America, we treat our elderly or Seniors like crap. It's been our shame for as long as I've been alive. Truly the dark , hidden embarrassment of American society.
I wish we could come up with a method of passing on the knowledge of our seniors to our youth in schools.
When I read the OP I was wondering what the heck an 81 year old woman has to work for in the first place. It is one thing that at that age you work to keep busy but a very different thing to be forced to. It is a sad commentary of the economic times we live in that this is becoming the accepted norm it seems for a lot of seniors. I don't think that in the future a comfortable retirement will be within reach for more people than it has been for previous generations. I don't think we have bottomed out yet.
Bob
While my children and grand children love and respect me; for many years I've wondered about someday 'Being Old and In the Way'!
I've seen it! I check out people who have very little patience with their elderly parents and often raise their voice in frustration!
As far as employment goes, I've worked outside of the home ever since I was 11 years old; shoveling snow from walkways, mowing lawns, hoeing gardens, pulling rye from wheat fields what ever it took to make some extra money! All the while I still had 'chores' to attend to at home!!
I had my first 'real job' when I was 15, my oldest best friend was going to college and working part time and needed an operation on his shoulder so I stepped in as a replacement 'bus boy' for him for the summer while he healed up! I made about $300 that summer and the boss let me and my friend live with them for free and our meals were provided at the restaurant at no charge!
I'm 60 years old and I 'hope' to retire when I'm 62. If I find that my retirement and such will not support me, I'd gladly deliver pizzas to help fill in the gaps!! :tu
At times, 'Any Work is Good Work'!
I hope you like the song! Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead is playing banjo on it!
Old & In The Way - Old & In The Way - YouTube
Pix. 'Don't really care who or how others might see it differently - You're on to something important. Long term unemployment is brutal on a guy. You're in a *very* large boat w/ good company. And this has nothing to do w/ 'underperforming', 'dead wood', etc.
Very talented and highly skilled guys are rotting in the field 'cause we've collectively bought a line of bull that we don't need to make anything tangible. Lines like - 'its an information economy', or 'its a service economy'. There's a reason Germany is the strongest economy in the EU. They heard the same sales pitches and explicitly rejected them - and kept on making good products that people want.
I hope you get alot of time w/ people with high regard for your skills and who fertilize your imagination as to how you can make those skills into a satisfying living.
The service sector of the German economy contributes 70% of their GDP Economy of Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . They do make and also export goods too.
Bob
What alot of people do not realize is that older folks that draw SS do not get much because they worked in an era of low wages' thus what they paid into SS was not alot during their working yrs.I have read that the average payout per month is about $400.Factor in that Medicare is deducted from the 400 and is $120 so have 280 net.
I think it is wonderfull that older workers who make minimum wage ($8.50/hr) continue to work,any work is good work.
Thats one of the American ethics that today has fallen bye the wayside.
I was outta work for over a year at one point and I was on anti depressants and crap like that. I also had anti anxiety. But all of the meds literally made me feel crazy. But after the doc prescribed those for me, she sat and talked with me. She said with a man (more so than a woman) u have to get out and work. She went on to tell me that unemployed men are 80% more likely to abuse their spouses and or children. Also that work (especially labor type work) is the perfect stress reliever for men (although they don't realize it with the daily aches and pains).
It wasn't until after I was called back in that I realized that what she said was true. Not just any but all work is great work. Especially for me I stress if any of my bills get behind, even 1 month. It drives me crazy and I obsess about it (it consumes my thoughts). I can't even hone if im behind on a bill (found that out the hard way). But I've found out when I've been laid off since to go outside and find something to work on. If I don't I notice im a lot more snappy with my kids and that's unfair to them. So I don't care if im busting rocks with a sledgehammer. Im determined to be the best dad I can be. ( im so glad to be back to work now)
Without diving into detail, we could also show how US mfg has *increased* in the US in the last few decades - while the depth and breadth of industries - and the jobs have evaporated.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
An interesting view would be # of industries and % of population employed in mfg.
The issue is less an aggregate or total financial output - 5 min. of programmed trading in stocks & futures can outperform years of normal output - but what provides a stable and robust economy vs the frail economy vulnerable to boom & bust.
'Nothing new is going on. Calamities from monetary manipulation are as old as currencies themselves - from ancient Romans shaving coins to the 'Merchants of Venice' (banksters of their day) almost bankrupting Britain by manipulating the preference for gold over silver or vice versa.
In our present cycle, the more historically savvy responded to the '07-'08 panic by saying - they'll erase the middle class. We're just talking now about that erasure and how to survive it.
'Hope you & yours are doing better up north than our foolishness here.
Yeah robotics in factory work really is killing their jobs. I recently was involved in installing paint robotics in a Volvo truck factory that put about 40 people out of those jobs. I didn't and don't agree with it but it was my job as an electrical contractor to "give the customer what they want". That's a small number but that's just 1 of the 5 projects in the past 5 years just at that facility.
To beat it all the paint usage went from gallons to pints but the robots leave flaws that humans didn't.
It's not as simple as "they" would have us believe. Up until 1978, "quarters" of Social Security (SS) coverage were actual calendar quarters, and a person had to earn a minimum of $50 during a quarter, in order to qualify for SS coverage for that time. From 1978 and onward, SS used a formula of the ratio of the current years average wage to that of 1976, multiplied by $250. It's important to note that even if a person qualifies for the minimum coverage (40 quarters of employment, in which the employer paid FICA taxes, (or qualifying self-employment), the SS benefits one receives are based on how much that person paid-in. According to "Social Security: The Minimum Benefit Provision", in 2010 the average minimum SS payment was $639, and the average regular payment was $830.Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
Difficult, but not the figure you quoted. I will be receiving early SS benefits in a few months -- $726/month. Difficult, but doable.
There are problems with earning SS benefits.
- Some employers (state/local governments, educational institutions, etc.) have their own retirement plans, and "opt-out" of participating in Social Security. Look at what's happening, today, in Detroit (and elsewhere): they're "gutting" the pensions earned by city retirees.
- Some employers offer their own retirement/pension plans, in addition to deducting FICA payroll taxes. Depending on how much a person earned and paid in FICA payroll deductions, their SS benefits might be decreased by what's known as the Windfall Elimination Provision.
And then, there are those 401(k) plans that were the rage...