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Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

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Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#191

Post by Sfi81 »

roymurdock wrote: post #48

Here's a breakdown of the US 2015 combined (Federal, State, Local) government spend: Total Spend: 6.18tn Total Revenue: 6.08tn Healthcare: 1.32tn (21.3%) Pension: 1.20tn (19.7%) Education: 0.93tn (14.8%) Defense: 0.80tn (13.1%) Welfare: 0.50tn (8.2%) Other*: 1.43tn (23.1%) *Other = Protection, Transportation, General Government, Interest Currently, social security is taking in ~$74bn less in payroll taxes than it pay…

Do what other civilized nations do.. Control drug prices and rein in military spending.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#192

Post by unprepare »

creshal wrote: post #100
roymurdock wrote: post #48

Here's a breakdown of the US 2015 combined (Federal, State, Local) government spend: Total Spend: 6.18tn Total Revenue: 6.08tn Healthcare: 1.32tn (21.3%) Pension: 1.20tn (19.7%) Education: 0.93tn (14.8%) Defense: 0.80tn (13.1%) Welfare: 0.50tn (8.2%) Other*: 1.43tn (23.1%) *Other = Protection, Transportation, General Government, Interest Currently, social security is taking in ~$74bn less in payroll taxes than it pay…

Healthcare spending is at least as broken as education: The US health care system is 50-100% more expensive per capita as comparable European systems, yet less capable. There's lots of savings potential here.

I'm not saying i believe it but the counterargument i've heard to this is that the US also funds the most medical research.

I havent seen anyone clearly explain how more expensive bandaids trickle down into the pockets of researchers, but nevertheless it is a common counterargument to the US spending much more than other countries on healthcare

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#193

Post by hapless »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #144
hapless wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of social security is that it is a social insurance program. It's funded out of workers wages, and paid back to workers in proportion to what they paid in. If you remove the cap on social security contributions without removing the cap on payouts, how is it anything but a special surcharge on people who earn money from wages?

> If you remove the cap on social security contributions without removing the cap on payouts, how is it anything but a special surcharge on people who earn money from wages? I never said it wasn't. I can hardly shed a tear (for myself included) for anyone making over $120K/year who pays an extra few percents of tax on income to prevent elderly poverty.

I am not opposed to the tax rises needed to make social security more effective, but if benefits won't be tied to wages, why should funding come out of special surcharges on wages?

If we're going to break the logical connection between the wage surtax and social insurance, let's end the surtax and move social security obligations and funding into the regular budget, so that ALL sources of taxation are used to fund SS.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#195

Post by kafkaesq »

Spooky23 wrote: post #66
kafkaesq wrote: post #6

Westfall — 5 feet 1 tall, with a graceful dancer’s body she honed as a tap-dancing teenager — is as stubborn as she is high-spirited. But she finds herself these days in a precarious place: Her savings long gone, and having never done much long-term financial planning, Westfall left her home in California to live in an aging RV she calls Big Foot, driving from one temporary job to the next. This is just shameful. You…

It's really a indictment of basic income as a concept. She's 79, gets social security, medicare, and a small pension. She has $50,000 in credit card debt, and drives around the country in an RV. Why do you feel sorry for her? How much more are you supposed to give her? When she can't travel anymore, she has no assets and will be able to get a subsidized senior apartment. When she can't care for herself, it will be to…

Why do you feel sorry for her?

Because she's a human being.

...she'll get a nursing care of some sort through Medicaid.

Having seen what "nursing care of some sort" look like close hand, for friends and extended family members -- it's not something I'd wish on anyone, even my worse enemies.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#196

Post by kafkaesq »

6stringmerc wrote: post #31
kafkaesq wrote: post #6

Westfall — 5 feet 1 tall, with a graceful dancer’s body she honed as a tap-dancing teenager — is as stubborn as she is high-spirited. But she finds herself these days in a precarious place: Her savings long gone, and having never done much long-term financial planning, Westfall left her home in California to live in an aging RV she calls Big Foot, driving from one temporary job to the next. This is just shameful. You…

You do know you're talking about a generation that essentially had every opportunity to provide for themsleves, but squandered decades of prosperity out of their own selfishness, most easily seen in the recent $4 TRILLION spent on war as the domestic infrastructure crumbles, medical care costs skyrocketing, and the largest ideological gap in politics according to some scholars?

And how do you think your own generation will be judged, in decades hence?

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#197

Post by caskance »

jtuente wrote: post #157
caskance wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For most of us with dependents, that's what private life insurance is for. The social safety net is for people too poor or irresponsible to have life insurance.

Do people not understand the safety part of the safety net? It's not there because you expect to fail, it's there for if you happen to. I don't keep a fire extinguisher in my kitchen because I expect to set it on fire, but rather I want to be able to stop a fire should one ignite. If you're reliant on a safety net, then you've failed at what you were trying to do.

What does that have to do with what I said? Why do you think I mentioned life insurance?

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#198

Post by 6stringmerc »

kafkaesq wrote: post #196
6stringmerc wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do know you're talking about a generation that essentially had every opportunity to provide for themsleves, but squandered decades of prosperity out of their own selfishness, most easily seen in the recent $4 TRILLION spent on war as the domestic infrastructure crumbles, medical care costs skyrocketing, and the largest ideological gap in politics according to some scholars?

And how do you think your own generation will be judged, in decades hence?

Probably akin to The Enlightenment following the Dark Ages, provided my generation can revise the programming of selfishness, greed, and war-mongering international meddling that was presented by our elders. It's honestly not a high bar to clear. It just takes a revision of principles that is deployed through action (and voting).
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