Thread: Any work is good work

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.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

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.

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.

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...

No matter how we piss and moan, that does not fill the spirit nor put food on the table. Find something to do. And no matter how hard we try sometimes nothing will work for a period of time. But..from my experiences, there is a time when something again does work.

Many jobs requiring knowledge and skilled jobs and semi skilled jobs are going begging around the country. Few persons nowadays can use their hands and brains to accomplish something. There are a lot of small contractors that need occasional help in their field of work. The CNC shop that occasionally does my products has about three retirees that were machinists and good at what they do work part time. A local contractor has retirees doing the supervising and light work..all part time. The paint stores, hardware's, and lumberyards have at least one retiree working full or part time. Accounting help is often needed by the small contractors and stores.
Plan now for then! Pix has the answer! Do something! If I hadn't I would have gone nuttier than I r now.

I guess that I was lucky! Worked from the time I was nine and store clerked at 12 and was a butcher at 14, etc. I learned few skills in service. I was downsized many times, moved around a lot and was able to survive. Worked in Pizza joints, Janitored, and worked a lot of "Temporary Agency" fill-in jobs while finding a "real job". The agency jobs often got me hired from the agency when the employer found I could do the job they wanted done. This has also worked for more than one person I know. Some folks like the change of venue enough they stay with the Temps'. I have gutted houses and buildings with demolition crews. I've worked on assembly lines. I've cleaned out homes for the Estate Sales or for sale. Some of the local auction houses have temp jobs for putting together the auctions. There are now local on-line auctions that need full and part time help at over min. wage. There are dealers that want stuff refurbish or cleaned on a piece by piece basis. That has brought in cash. My neighbor, after retirement, became a maintenance man for a nice golf course and gets his link time free.

I retired ten years ago to a tiny house in a small town. I had paid off my home and a fairly new vehicle bought from a car rental agency. That made the bills as monthly expenses which I could regulate by my spending's. I had accumulated a shop of tools and knew how to use them. I was lucky, as are some others, to have had a hobby that turned into an income that helped a lot after retirement. Still I am one of the very few that could live within the SS Benefits: (The new word for the shafting) as though we didn't pay in and it is now considered a Gov't gift! I paid in for 45+ years.

Again, Pix has the answer, If you can find something to do, do it! A class at the local vocational school or college. Sr's are almost free, and I was hired part time by the college to do maintenance and fill in for shop supervisors when they were indisposed. Volunteering at a facility and listening to older geezers put their history together, can be uplifting. Crossing guard at a local school can be rewarding and..it get your butt out of the house!

This is just my point of view, your location and horizons are different than mine. But...look toward, and move toward those horizons!

Good living to you all!
~Richard

Having a job is better than not having one.
However, having a job that you enjoy is immensely better than one that you need to drag yourself to every day.

Originally Posted by BobH

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

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.

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.

Originally Posted by pinklather

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.

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.

I think I saw stats that said the service sector in the US economy was about the same as in Germany but that the manufacturing percentage of GDP was slightly smaller in the US. So the two economies are roughly similar. Official unemployment figures are about 2 percentage points apart with the US being higher. I think if you took a look at most western industrialized countries we are all in similar positions to each other.

Got to agree on the erasure of the "middle class", it is a done deal and we are having to deal with it. That did not happen over night either and was a long time coming looking back on it. The need for a fat and contented middle class has been determine to be of no necessity, for whatever reason, so now you will take whatever is offered and be happy with that. There are few if any choices in the matter.

No, realistically we are not doing much better up north either because the foolishness is and was not confined solely to the US. I just got off the phone with a relative in Germany and there is plenty of talk there in the media of future generations there being poor too compared to the way it used to be. Same contributing factors, lower wages, fewer benefits, having to work longer before being able to collect a government pension compounded by increasing costs of staples not really allowing money to be put aside for retirement at the rate it once was. I am seeing something similar happening here too. If it makes anyone feel better there is plenty of company.

Bob

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)

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.

Here in VA, my mother gets disability type social security and only gets $835 a month and barely has enough to get thru the month. She also gets her rides to her Dr through medicaid. And she received $35 a month in food stamps. If she needs to buy anything over 1 tank of gas for her car or have any home/car maintenance I have to foot the bill for it and most of the time do the work. It's just flat out pathetic what they expect a person to make it on. She spent 50 years working (most of the time 2) full time jobs with a 7th grade education. Being the only bread winner for me and my brother, never made over $9.80 an hour. She worked on factories and as a regional manager of Bojangles and as the head chef/ kitchen manager at the roanoke moose lodge. She was also a security guard and she was a sewer at oak hall cap and gown. Ended up cutting off the tips of 3 fingers on a frank-o-matic making sausage links and had to have tendonitis surgery on both wrists. She finally became disabled because of severe degenerative arthritis in her back that was so severe her pain management doctor told her she shouldn't even be walking.

After all of that disability only giving her $835 a month, what a slap in the face. But it is what it is, and I am very thankful to have such a devoted mother.

Freaking social security and disability tick me off, they denied her twice before approving her application. Witch was approved on my 18th birthday, I had to work a full time job my Jr and Sr year in high school to keep a roof over our heads. I think they should take some of those $135 hammers the government "buys" and do how everybody else does not spending over 50, and use the money where it's needed.