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Background
Birthday: March 15
Gender: Male
Location:
KODAK, Tennessee
United States
KODAK, Tennessee
United States
School:
Marietta High School,Marietta College, Chicago Tech
Marietta High School,Marietta College, Chicago Tech
Hometown(s):
Marietta Ohio
Kodak Tennessee
Marietta Ohio
Kodak Tennessee
Quote:
Never get so busy making a living, you forget to make a life
Never get so busy making a living, you forget to make a life
One of 5 bridges I built for a R.V. Parkneed to do
It’s Sunday , September, 28, 2008. At 10:30 A.M. my wife ask me to run to Food City to get a can of pineapple for a cake she was baking. It was an easy task and I found the pineapple and as I was headed to the check-out spotted some imitation crab meat, which I picked up. Upon arriving at the check out their was an elderly couple in front of me dressed for church, his suit was clean and pressed as was her dress ,but both were many years old. At first I started to get impatient that they were taking so much time with the few items they had, till I discovered that she was digging in her purse and counting their pennies to have enough to pay for what was most likely all they would have to eat today. As I thought this could be me a few years down the road, these are proud people that has worked there lives away and are trying to survive there golden years , instead of enjoying them.
WE need to do something, I don’t know what but they deserve better. It’s time the government is made to put back all they have taken from social security and give retires a check that they can live on.
Alexxa says:
Hi Old Grouch!
I am a Geezerette, vintage 1944. I totally agree with you that something needs to be done. We seem to have money to support starving people workd wide, but we cannot take care of our own. We have a huge influencial segment in our society who feel like retired traveler, that there should be no help, that people should help themselves. Careful Traveler, all your carefully laid plans, and secure retirement may unravel in the next few years, and land you in the real world. What ever happend to that good old American ethic of neighbor helping neighbor? That's not a Socialist ethic. That's American. Socialists stole it from us. The goverment is stepping in more because there are too many people like retired traveler, who have rocks for hearts and who care about nothing but money and themselves. Most people who end up needing help didn't think they ever would. I know of two younf people who have developed terrible illnesses , can't work, and have no health benefits now. What are they to do Traveler, curl up and die? How about the rest of us? Should we curl up and die too? I am afraid Old Grouch, I don't know what to do. Those hard hearts have to be softened before anthing can be done
Posted: November 25, 2008 8:16PM EST
joyceinohio says:
hi thereeveryone. i am 61 and had a stroke in '97 . after returning to work i had an accident at work in'98 causing me to lose 4 fingers on one hand. so i returned to work and had a major heart attack in '98. my doctor told me i could not return to work so i filed for ss disability and got it in 2002. because i never started to work outside the home until '95 i didn't have enough time into ss to draw very much. i should say now that my husband divorced me after my stroke and talked me into turning my share of our property to him to avoid losing it to any future hospital bills. i was left with no home but my insurance from work covered me almost until my disability was approved. now i live on 695 dollars a month. by the time i pay my rent, telephone,electric and cable, i have very very little left for taxable items that are necessities. if i didnt have food stamps and humana to get all my prescriptions, i don't know how i would live without moving in on my kids. i believe we need a third political party of honest, decent people to run for offices in our government that really care about the elderly in our country.
Posted: October 30, 2008 3:30AM EDT
mvjeff says:
I sent a request to my senator asking about salary and BENEFITS that a senator
receives and have not received a reply. Does anyone know? Are they required to WORK total hours in a year?
Posted: October 29, 2008 11:01AM EDT
cerramzone says:
I'm 84 , been around long enough to see , hear and watch our greedy,cowardly , lieing bunch of politicians ,just as is happening now;promise "CHANGE' and all I've see in 80 plus years,except for one maybe two presidents ,are the same old BS to the public ,until they sit down in WASHINGTON ;and this includes ALL of the one WE voted for.Every one of the are looking out for "SELF" ,First last and always. The come BUSINESS !!! And if you think "WE' the public stand a chance,you are totally and absolutely wrong.ONE may think I and a pessimist ,but I just LIVED this view . WE use to be the BEST,our country made the BEST , built the best , and the rest of the world looked up to AMERICA : NOW they " LOOK DOWN AT us "After ww2 The politicians SOLD US OUT .THE big MONEY BOUGHT the POLITIANS and they in turn took away our constitutional rights,one by one . And until WE wake up and smell the stink , We will sleep in their garbage until our GOVERNMENT is call the "UNITED CORPORATION of BUSINESS AND FINANANCE"of America !!!! This what 84 years of watching my country get SOLD down the sewer by POLITICAL THUGS that have done and continue to do : THAT IS LIE to US and PROMIS us what we want to hear . THEN AFTER ELECTION DAY.WE ; the voting public are forgotten WE HAVE ONE CHANCE next WEEK to get rid of of some of the liars ,And NEXT time ,we can finish the JOB. " VOTE WISELY AMERICA" your running out of time . ( JUST AN OLD SALT)
Posted: October 29, 2008 12:48AM EDT
mvjeff says:
maybe we expect too much from government. think about it .
Our Reps. in congress too busy to taking care of themselves.
The president can serve for eight years .
Congress forever and they run for higher office and go a year or two without working for the same pay. Maybe we have to take care of ourselves! DA
Posted: October 27, 2008 6:29PM EDT
nataneh55 says:
This is for the retiredtraveler's comment above. I am 63 and retired. I had to retire last year, because after my sons's suicide I had to take time off, then when I tried to return to work nobody wanted to hire me because of my age. I worked ALL of my life and paid into SS but off course because I took an early retirement my SS was cut. I am still trying to go to work and have NOT given up..I am trying to make ends meet but having a hard time on just SS. I never ran up high CC debt or bought $4 lattes like you suggest those of us did because now we complain about the government and SS..I hope for YOUR sake you never find yourself where most of us hardworking people find ourselves right now..Shame on you.
Posted: October 26, 2008 3:33PM EDT
hamminanax6 says:
We worked hard all our life and we are now on S.S. for 6 years, twice we have seen our 401K mutual funds lose more than half their value (in the Tech Bubble) and now in the mortgage crises, after the first crash, we invested in bank funds and insured bonds,...now the banks are in crises and the insurance isn't worth a darn. I wish we had more of a socialist democratic government, maybe not as much as some of the european countries but when there's no safe place to grow any personal wealth and we are not experts on what's good and what's bad as far as investments and when I see that wealth doesn't "trickle" down but that greed and larceny step up to the plate I wish we at least had government medical ... why can't we have the same plan as congress and the senate, etc? All that deregulation has done for us is raise the price of everything we pay, and it was supposed to do the opposite but look what we pay for just the simple pleasure of the TV....first it was cable, now it's dish, and now it's HD which our provider so graciously officers for a slight increase in our already high monthly fee just to watch TV. The telephone long distance is now very reasonable but have you checked out what "bundled services" are costing? Yesterday, I bought one of my favorabe vegetables a Hubbard Squash..it cost $6. Imagine that...a $6 squash.
You would not believe how many in our town of 2,000 are just scraping by trying to raise their small families, most have only 2 kids at the most and both work and both are poor, not everyone can be a rocketscientist you know
Posted: October 24, 2008 5:32PM EDT
nrappelt says:
hi im norma
i am on social security and i am forced to go back to work. now heres the catch: if i make more than $12,000 DOLLARS A YEAR I HAVE TO PAY BACK 1 DOLLAR FOR EVERY 2 I MAKE WHAT KIND OF CRAP IS THAT? I WORKED 40 YEARS AND PAID IN TO SOCIAL SECURITY AND AM STILL PAYING IN. WELL NOW I GOT LAID OFF AND HAD TO GO ON UNEMPLOYMENT AND GUESS WHAT BECAUSE IM ON SOCIAL SECURITY I ONLY GET $28 DOLLERS OUT OF $176 DOLLERS A WEEK. WHAT KIND OF CRAP IS THAT?
Posted: October 24, 2008 9:25AM EDT
retiredtraveler says:
Social Security was never intended to be the socialist, entitlement program it has now become. What are we to do? You have to save yourself. As rich as you may think this country is, we simply cannot support everyone. Sure, everyone 'deserves' to live decently and not have to worry about food, basic shelter, electricity, or heat.
If you believe the government should support everyone, how are we going to pay for it?
It's always simple to talk about poor old people, or helping the children. We could do that with a different form of government --- Democratic Socialism where we tax people at 30%-50% and have cradle to grave benefits as many western European countries do. But, do you want to convert to that kind of system?
It's a campaign issue right now --- distribution of wealth. If those that have more money give it to support those who do not, it's a socialist distribution of wealth.
I don't have the answer. I don't know the overall statistics on poverty as far as the percentage of people who despite all their good efforts, cannot make it. There is also a percentage of people incurring credit card debt that continue to shop at high-end stores and purchase $4 lattes. Some of those people retire after having paid 10's of thousands of $$'s in credit card interest that could have been saved had they been frugal. Was this couple living beyond their means all their lives, run into difficult circumstances, who knows...
Posted: October 21, 2008 9:07AM EDT
gstelt says:
I bet you never thought you would be the old person? I didn't & neither did my spouse. Remember saying "can't wait till I retire" I'm going to !!!!! Where was the class (Retirement 101), when we needed it, we always believed that SS would always be there for us and with a little saving we would be able to enjoy our Silver years. I look around and tell my spouse I wonder how these people survice on just their ss checks? I will say it took my spouse working 30 yrs and 2 retirements checks with my 1. in order for us to live , but not without worry, the fear of health problems could destroy what we have worked for. We as Americans should see to it that our children & our elderly are taken care of mentally and physically. We would have done the world a favor, if instead of paying for war in Iraq, we should have put this money into the education system & guaranteed good , affordiable health care for all the Americans that need it. You say" FREE "I say why not? do we expect Iraq to pay back all we have invested into their country? Why can't americans expect the same?
Posted: October 20, 2008 7:50PM EDT
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