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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

#201

Post by lostmsu »

kakacik wrote: post #79
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.

Don't expect much sympathy here, as per many comments folks are mostly on purely capitalistic camps to the extreme. Its distillation of US approach to work and society, something I've grown to detest by mere fact of living in much more humane, while vastly more financially efficient system that doesn't use my tax money to kill civilians all over the world (none other than Swiss system and yes it could easily work els…

Switzerland got its wealth predominantly by shielding money stolen from around the entire world. I'm glad US ended that carnival of happiness to a large degree in 2009.

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

#202

Post by bko »

AlexandrB wrote: post #198
Altern4tiveAcc wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Roughly 20% of undergraduate students at Ivy Plus institutions (including Harvard, Brown, and Cornell) are registered as disabled and receive accommodations. This figure has surged dramatically over time, rising from fewer than 3% at Harvard and under 6% at Cornell in 2015. That seems to check out with the period people started getting more addicted to social media, pandemic side-effects and increased awareness of…

> Roughly 20% of undergraduate students at Ivy Plus institutions (including Harvard, Brown, and Cornell) are registered as disabled and receive accommodations. This figure has surged dramatically over time, rising from fewer than 3% at Harvard and under 6% at Cornell in 2015. I think it's naive to assume that this phenomenon reflects an actual increase in disability rather than a cohort who has been raised to patholo…

Agree completely. Its hard to tease out what percent is a cheating response due to increasing accommodations and actual pathologizing.

Some personal observations, I would say about 90%+ of "emotional support dogs" are fake. And I can't remember the last time I saw someone that was actually disabled use a disabled parking spot. They always have the proper license plate or mirror tag, but every time I've seen someone enter their vehicle it would appear that they do not need special accommodations afforded by the preferred parking spot.

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

#203

Post by bko »

senordevnyc wrote: post #197
Telaneo wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you consider Candy Crush as productive I guess words just don't have meaning anymore so there's no point arguing. I'm using the word differently to you. It's productive insofar as you enjoy doing it. Just to make a point, have these two definitions from Wiktionary: > Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile. Capable of producing enjoyment, yup. I'd call playing Candy Crush productive if e…

Oh come on. Parent is right, at this point, words have no meaning. By this logic, everything produces something , therefore everything is productive.

YES I am vegan and YES I eat meat. We exist

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

#205

Post by gyulai »

bestouff wrote: post #75
Taikonerd wrote: post #27

If you read this article and feel worried about your financial situation if you become disabled, you might look into long-term disability insurance (LTD). It's a policy where, if you become disabled to the point where you can't work, it pays out $X per month, every year until you're 65. And if you're partly disabled and have to cut back your hours, some policies compensate you for those lost wages. These LTD policies…

Wouldn't it be marvelous if these were mandatory and paid by state with huge scale benefits ?

I've looked into these kinds of policies a couple of times now, and the premia are just astronomical. (At least from the quotes I've been given).

It's kind of understandable, given that the risk is not all that low. But my guess would be that it's amplified by fraudulent claims in relation to psychological illness, burnout, etc. I asked my insurance guy to exclude those, but, apparently, it's something he can't do.

You can kind of see, how this works for a roofer: If you hurt your leg and can no longer climb a roof, the policy pays. What does it take for me to no longer be able to sit in front of a screen? Well, it would almost have to be something in the psychological realm. Sure, there's the possibility of an illness with chronic pain or cognitive impairment, but those are orders of magnitude less likely, so the psychological stuff is what completely dominates the high premia.

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

#206

Post by Telaneo »

senordevnyc wrote: post #197
Telaneo wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you consider Candy Crush as productive I guess words just don't have meaning anymore so there's no point arguing. I'm using the word differently to you. It's productive insofar as you enjoy doing it. Just to make a point, have these two definitions from Wiktionary: > Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile. Capable of producing enjoyment, yup. I'd call playing Candy Crush productive if e…

Oh come on. Parent is right, at this point, words have no meaning. By this logic, everything produces something , therefore everything is productive.

> By this logic, everything produces something, therefore everything is productive.

Yes. That word is only useful insofar as you say or imply a goal. Candy Crush is not productive in gathering food.

Most people imply the goal to be money. I'd rather imply enjoyment. See my OP.

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

#207

Post by Telaneo »

giov4 wrote: post #199
Telaneo wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> could you please summarize in short what you meant here as keypoint? > I'm not sure we are interpreting this right,based also on reactions and troll references in clear contrast to your other comment. I'm not sure what's unclear about my first comment, but I'll try to rephrase with new words. People are people and deserve to be treated humanely as such. Productivity is but one aspect of people, and not the only one…

thanks a lot for the clarification and effort for it. Maybe the other reactions made it generally more unclear, but was unsure about the core message. This is much more clear and direct, and yes I was believing you meant something in that direction. Regarding the other comment, thanks also, I understand that feeling the moment of having to ask something like that, but I think that if fought with enough pragmacity I t…

I'm sure it's feasible, but it's treating the symptom rather than the disease. I'd rather people never get to the point of having to call a friend because they can't afford food today than them not feeling shame when it does happen.

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

#208

Post by RobinL »

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?

By that logic someone working in a care home is worth less than someone building a gambling app. There's little relationship between salary and what people deserve, it's mostly just luck to have skills that happen to be in short supply.

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

#209

Post by astral_drama »

avalys wrote: post #155
astral_drama wrote: post #111

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. The able do. The disabled would love to work hard and earn a nice paycheck. It's a privilege to be able to work and be in good health. Hopefully you don't have to learn that the hard way.

A privilege, really? Who bestows that privilege? I am certainly sympathetic to people who are genuinely disabled. That doesn’t mean we have to lie to ourselves that they are being productive by sitting around reading books.

> A privilege, really? Who bestows that privilege?

You do

> I am certainly sympathetic to people who are genuinely disabled.

Agreed, and it can be uncomfortable to sort through what's genuine or not. One of my favorite scenes is in the big Lebowski where Walter confronts the other Lebowski claiming he's not a cripple and lifts him out of his wheelchair...Funny and sad all at once.

> That doesn’t mean we have to lie to ourselves that they are being productive by sitting around reading books.

Not asking for anyone to lie to themselves about what they feel is productive, rather giving another perspective to hopefully help people appreciate being able to work.

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

#210

Post by zbentley »

QuadmasterXLII wrote: post #179
zbentley wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not clear on what you're trying to say here. Are you saying we're providing those things instead of food? Or that if we provided food we wouldn't need to provide those things? If so, that's patently false. A lot more than food is needed to give someone a better standard of living.

I’m saying that providing a better standard of living to adults who cannot work is something we are spending ~3% of our GDP and 5% of all fulltime workers on. That providing these things is something we are doing, that is good, and that is hard work actually.

Makes sense, thanks for clarifying.
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