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

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

#91

Post by ghusto »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #30
Brendinooo wrote: post #11

The author lays most of this at the feet of capitalism, and I agree that the system has excesses that have contributed to the atomization of society, which can cause people to slip through the cracks, but...has any other system been obviously _better_ at supporting those with disabilities? Did feudalism or communism do this better? (I think about the "worst system, except for all the other systems" quote often)

Democratic socialism. The US has quite a few such experiments like the New Deal. And they've been quite a bit better than the grinding, unbridled industrialism that consumed and spat out young and old alike.

Read up on "democratic socialism" because it was a term I wasn't familar with. I have to say people should be mindful of words and ideas meaning different things in different places.

"Capatalism" means something different in the USA than it does in say France. In the USA, any attempt to keep check of or reign in capatalism is seen as socialism, and governemnt overreach. In France it's seen as common sense, though they would still say they practice "capatalism". Similarly, taking care of people that can't take care of themselves is obvious in France, but seen as nearing socialism in the USA.

It's important to note, because when people go for things like "democratic socialism", they may not be against what they think they're against.

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

#92

Post by AllegedAlec »

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.

You're missing my point. Shortage and conflict is the default. It's not a fault unique to capitalism, and to say that it's its fault is missing the mark.

I'm not saying it's an ought situation or even an is situation; it's that I disagree with his diagnosis of what causes it.

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

#94

Post by daishi55 »

theflyingelvis wrote: post #46
Telaneo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They are not trolling. They are stating the simple, undeniable fact that there is more than enough to go around and if we had a more equitable distribution of resources, we could take care of everyone with disabilities 10x over with plenty to spare.

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

#95

Post by inigyou »

b3lvedere wrote: post #23

"But I am trying to believe there is more to a human life than how efficiently it converts energy into labor." There absolutely is. Labor can be fullfilling and give joy, but for most people it is just an easy tool on how to survive and hopefully have some comfort as well. Do not ever feel ashamed of your labor and even more, do not ever feel ashamed of not doing labor if you don't want to. You have one life in this…

They may not feel ashamed, but they'll still feel dead when they have no food and shelter.

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

#96

Post by meta_gunslinger »

esseph wrote: post #34
meta_gunslinger wrote: post #4

[flagged]

> Moreover, actions have consequences. Instead of traveling and having fun when you are able bodied, you can work more, save and invest your money for the future and safe-guarding against situations like these. Other people have chosen to do that. In the end of the day, all that outcry about capitalism is the classic "I made the wrong decisions and I want society to bail me out of them". People don't choose to be bor…

> instead of traveling and having fun when you are able bodied

Are you having trouble with reading comprehension? Jesus.

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

#97

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

ghusto wrote: post #42

> 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?

> 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?

In general, step functions (earn 200 get benefits, 201 no benefits) are really really bad from a public policy perspective. If you want to get people out of these dependency traps then you need to taper them more effectively.

Even tapering them is problematic as you end up with astronomically high effective marginal tax rates, but it's better than a hard cut off.

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

#98

Post by butlike »

pj_mukh wrote: post #21
Telaneo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

“We have enough excess in society” How are you measuring this? Hopefully something better than stock prices.

By the fact medicine has an expiration date on the bottle. You can have so much of it you don't have the chance to use it all before it expires.

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

#99

Post by kjjohnsen »

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…

Absolutely. It's a gray area though when you become partially able to support yourself. I think this is what the article is pointing out. You have to come to grips with this grim economic reality and it's hard and your future prospects are almost entirely based on where and to whom you were born. The author is simply lucky that they have a safety net. If you are lucky enough to have time to prepare for these things, you can build your own. If you don't prepare, given the opportunity, that's a 'you' problem.

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

#100

Post by sjsdaiuasgdia »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #38
inigyou wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting how this is always post-hoc justified. It's always "you made bad decisions in the past so now you deserve cruelty". It's rarely "you are making a bad decision right now so you should stop that before you deserve cruelty in the future".

> "you made bad decisions in the past so now you deserve cruelty" Somebody will have to endure cruelty when someone makes bad decisions. The question is whether the cruelty will be received by the person making the bad decision or somebody else. > It's rarely "you are making a bad decision right now so you should stop that before you deserve cruelty in the future". So it's the economic system's fault that you weren't…

[flagged]
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