I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore • Hacker News Board

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#41

Post by jckahn » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #18

b3lvedere wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me how someone born disabled made the wrong decision? After that, tell me how someone who became disabled after an accident which they themselves did not cause, made the wrong decision? Thirdly, tell me how someone who lived perfectly healthy just happend to have some blood clot shot into their brain suddenly, made the wrong decision?

The wrong decision is not being insured for disaster and not saving enough when you were able to work, electing to spend the money instead. Not being unlucky with your health or having an accident. That's clearly stated in my original response if you care to read and not knee-jekingly respond. For someone who has been born disabled, the conversation should be moved to the people who brought them to life and are respo…

> For someone who has been born disabled, the conversation should be moved to the people who brought them to life and are responsible for their survival.

Please explain exactly what you are suggesting or advocating for here.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#42

Post by ghusto » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC

> Earn slightly too much, and vital support disappears

My reading of this is that the threshhold for the USA government to withdraw financial (and other?) support for disabled people is too low, is that right?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#43

Post by esseph » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #18

b3lvedere wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me how someone born disabled made the wrong decision? After that, tell me how someone who became disabled after an accident which they themselves did not cause, made the wrong decision? Thirdly, tell me how someone who lived perfectly healthy just happend to have some blood clot shot into their brain suddenly, made the wrong decision?

The wrong decision is not being insured for disaster and not saving enough when you were able to work, electing to spend the money instead. Not being unlucky with your health or having an accident. That's clearly stated in my original response if you care to read and not knee-jekingly respond. For someone who has been born disabled, the conversation should be moved to the people who brought them to life and are respo…

Everyone that doesn't die early will become disabled, that includes you. You just hope it happens after you've made some money, but maybe between now and then you end up with a cancer or two.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#44

Post by seanclayton » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #15

AllegedAlec wrote: post #7

> Capitalism has defined ‘health’ itself as a capacity to submit oneself to labor People keep mindlessly saying this but I have never seen evidence for it. Before money was ever invented the idea was already there that if you're healthy you can sustain yourself. All 'capitalism' did was saying "and most people nowadays perform abstract services in trade for an abstraction of a promise of a pinky swear saying "if you…

You are a fish unable to see water. Yes, you need food. Guess what, we have plenty of food. But the system for allocating food says this guy doesn't get any because he's disabled.

We could make virtually infinite food as well, but that isn't profitable enough.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#45

Post by Aperocky » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

> If your worth is not determined by your productivity, then what remains of you underneath it all?

Worth and productivity are synonyms in direction, wouldn't a better phrase not track either? It's difficult to answer anything other than naught without some mental gymnastics because the words themselves are implicit.

How about happiness? That is one human quality that is not directly tied to any of worth, value or productivity.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#46

Post by theflyingelvis » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

Telaneo wrote: post #13

avalys wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who produces the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the house you live in, the energy you use, the medicine you consume, etc. while you airily define ‘productivity’ as reading the classics and spending time with friends?

We have enough excess in society that we can spare enough of those things to those who are unable to take care of themselves.

It almost seems as if you are trolling. Surely we can, at least, agree that the excesses you mention exist only because of those who produce.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#47

Post by neom » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

avalys wrote: post #8

Telaneo wrote: post #5

> If your worth is not determined by your productivity, then what remains of you underneath it all? Everything else. You are worth so much more than your productivity. I'm glad I never got sucked into the protestant work ethic, since defining yourself based on your labour and the value you generate from that sounds woefully narrow-minded (this doesn't feel like quite the right word, but close enough). It's probably h…

Who produces the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the house you live in, the energy you use, the medicine you consume, etc. while you airily define ‘productivity’ as reading the classics and spending time with friends?

[dead]

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#48

Post by quietbritishjim » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

seanclayton wrote: post #12

Ozzie_osman wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how it has always been throughout history (and still is in most parts of the world). Individual is part of nuclear family, nuclear family is part of extended family, extended family is part of tribe, etc. When one part is in need, the others jump in to help.

> throughout history Ancient egypt? Roman times? Medieval times? Byzantine times? Pre-colonial Philippines? Pre-colonial America? I think it may have started in the late 1800s at the earliest. I would need a bit more evidence to be convinced that your model of individual to nuclear to extended etc has been a thing longer than a few centuries, vs the vast majority of human life experience being in nomadic hunter-gathe…

I think I'd need quite a lot of evidence that families weren't the major unit of society. A hunter-gatherer tribe is an extended family, so that only proves the point. If there's more than about 30 people in one then surely family based factions will form within it to some extent.

Probably you're focusing too much on the parent comment's mention of nuclear family. Even that, despite only being named a few decades ago, is likely to exist to some extent. Even in some ancient tribe or village, most people would favour their spouse (or equivalent) or child over a cousin or niece/nephew if some dispute formed. That hardly seems controversial.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#49

Post by pjmlp » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

avalys wrote: post #8

Telaneo wrote: post #5

> If your worth is not determined by your productivity, then what remains of you underneath it all? Everything else. You are worth so much more than your productivity. I'm glad I never got sucked into the protestant work ethic, since defining yourself based on your labour and the value you generate from that sounds woefully narrow-minded (this doesn't feel like quite the right word, but close enough). It's probably h…

Who produces the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the house you live in, the energy you use, the medicine you consume, etc. while you airily define ‘productivity’ as reading the classics and spending time with friends?

Many places around the world, we work for what is needed, not for hitting it big.

But since you ask, also many victims of late stage capitalism explored in modern forms of slavery without work rights, so that richer nations can enjoy cheap electronics and clothing.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#50

Post by flkiwi » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 1:09 PM UTC

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #4

[flagged]

> "I made the wrong decisions and I want society to bail me out of them".

The irony of you using this in a negative sense when capitalism has profited mightily from exactly this dynamic is not lost on me, in that insurance companies are insanely profitable things. And that's without getting into what b3lvedere notes in the other comment about disability and the absolute, fundamental dependency capitalism has on socialized risk, e.g., limited liability as a corporate model, bankruptcy protection, even the dependence on national military and economic strength to create the conditions for private profit. Note that I'm not even dinging capitalism here. Not at all. It's just that capitalism wouldn't work without whole social risk networks to create the conditions for private profit.