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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

#231

Post by GeoAtreides »

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?

At least for food, we went from 80% 500 years ago to about 1-5% now. Maybe less, soon, when fruit picking robots come online. Work is not destiny.

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

#232

Post by freeone3000 »

Taikonerd wrote: post #107
bestouff wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Worker's compensation is similar, and that actually is mandatory for employers to offer in most US states. But IIUC, that's only for injuries that are caused by your job in some way?

It’s for injuries that take place while you’re on the job. Chronic issues are difficult to prove.

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

#233

Post by sudobash1 »

inigyou wrote: post #14
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.

Wasn't "nuclear family" something marketers invented in post-war USA to sell more houses?

The term I am familiar with prior to that was "immediate family" (as opposed to "extended family").

You come across the term a lot in old genealogy books. For instance in "The History and Genealogy of the Prentice, Or Prentiss Family" (from 1883) contains:

> All his immediate family, himself, wives, and children, are dead.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_History_and_Genealo...

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

#234

Post by shepherdjerred »

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.

I think the key part of the parent was talking about disabled individuals.

I don’t think anyone is advocating to provide a free ride for capable individuals

Of course someone has to produce/work harder — and the parent is arguing that there is already more than enough extra

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

#235

Post by timbit42 »

inigyou wrote: post #175
pj_mukh wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If we all woke up tomorrow and thought 'we need 10 million new homes The cost (no profit) of 1 Million homes where people want to live (where your community is), would be roughly 0.5 Trillion to 1 Trillion USD [1]. So, I don't think this is true :(. We simply don't have the construction workers and the supply-chains to make it happen. Again, these are fixable problems and I want this to be true. But it is not today.…

What if we let people build their own homes and gave them courses on how to do that? Also 1 trillion dollars sounds like a single year of national debt interest, the total amount spent and destroyed by the Iran war, or the Pentagon's black budget. I'm sure we can give up one of those for a year to fix every economic problem plaguing the country .

Yes, make education free, including how to build a home.

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

#236

Post by RhysU »

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 ?

In the US they are. The public programs are SSI and SSDI with both administered by Social Security.

For anything more, this private insurance market works just fine for those who opt into it.

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

#237

Post by b3lvedere »

s_dev wrote: post #184
b3lvedere wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know several families who are absolutely not a building block of society. Some not by choice.

I'll never understand how people think a personal anecdote contradicts a more general point attained by evaluating collected data that would include those anecdotes. e.g. The claim: Planes are a very safe way to travel. Followed by someone jumping up to say: I know a person who was injured in a rough landing. Note I'm not claiming either the individual or family is the atomic unit here just pointing out that your con…

My apologies, for that was not my intention. More that it’s not all binary good or bad. I should not have typed that fallacy.

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

#238

Post by b3lvedere »

ryandrake wrote: post #224
s_dev wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never understand how people think a personal anecdote contradicts a more general point attained by evaluating collected data that would include those anecdotes. e.g. The claim: Planes are a very safe way to travel. Followed by someone jumping up to say: I know a person who was injured in a rough landing. Note I'm not claiming either the individual or family is the atomic unit here just pointing out that your con…

HN commenters do this all the time. A lot of people here treat comments as mathematical or logic proofs. They see a statement like "Planes are a very safe way to travel", and their minds go to: ∀x(X(x)⟹(Y(x)) and then they make it their mission to find the falsifying x sub 0 example.

You’re right it looks that way now i read it back. I’m sorry.

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

#240

Post by [deleted] »

bjertoref wrote: post #214
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?

Stephen Hawking wouldn't exist in our society if we didn't care for people like him.

[deleted]
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