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What Dreams May Come

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Re: What Dreams May Come

#71

Post by adventured »

eXpl0it3r wrote: post #43

Yet another example why I try not to make any debts, especially when it comes to such large numbers, because you never know what tomorrow holds. Either you have the money or you don't. It really saddens me that it's normal nowadays to live on debts. I rather live my life less luxurious but debts free. After all, I wish them all the best!

Obviously to be fair, generally people don't expect to get a potentially terminal cancer at 35 either. At worst one might think they have 20 or 30 years to deal with a mortgage taken on at 35.

I can't find a fault with taking on a mortgage at 35 when you have a family. Particularly if you can afford the payments. I'd argue given the historically low cost of mortgage debt today, the cost of renting + trying to save to one day buy a house for your family, is a worse choice.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#72

Post by galactus »

adventured wrote: post #62
stefantalpalaru wrote: post #30

So the house you purchased and the van you upgraded to are not yours, disposing of your body costs more than a car, visiting family means you have to stay in a hotel, the basic survival needs of your wife and four children are not guaranteed and you want to visit Disneyland and meet celebrities before you die? Capitalism is beautiful.

What Capitalism? America is the largest welfare state in history. Total government expenditures are nearly the size of China's GDP. What we have is corporatism, plunder by a combination of bureaucrats + government protected corporations (see: Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Exxon, Pfizer, etc). I wish we had Capitalism. All we have is an extraordinarily misdirected, poorly run welfare state.

in that case, it can be argued that the soviet union was not real Communism either.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#73

Post by theknown99 »

BasDirks wrote: post #68
theknown99 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO we should focus on quality of life. Not quantity.

Yeah, dying from cancer sounds like a great life. You're just babbling.

35 is too young, and I really do feel for anyone in that situation.

But cancer when you're over 60? That's basically just dying of old age...

Re: What Dreams May Come

#74

Post by darthclue »

Jonathan here. Being woke up by my wife crying because the donations just aren't stopping is both heart-breaking and comforting.

For those of you who haven't seen the 'Bucket List' post, here's what it says at the very top:

As I try to deal with the reality that is my impending death I can't help but wonder how many things I might have been able to accomplish given just a little more time. When I was diagnosed, I had only one thing that I wanted; to live long enough to see my children grow up. The reality is that the odds of me living long enough to see my children grow are quite slim. The only available treatment will eventually stop working and then it's just a matter of time.

This is the list of things that I want to accomplish while I still have time. Many of them aren't for me. They are for my family. They are meant to provide security for my wife and kids so that they can celebrate my life instead of mourning my death when that time comes.

My priorities are taking care of my family just as they always have been. Sometimes, we just can't plan far enough ahead to deal with something like this. If you saw the original page you would also note that Trips and meeting celebrities is not high on my list of priorities. Those are things that would provide me with a small boost on an emotional level but I don't consider them something that must happen before I die.

Life Insurance: I changed jobs and don't have any and now that I'm terminal, the cost for obtaining it is prohibitive. I agree that this is poor planning on my part, however, I'm 35 and no one expects to find out that they are going to die at 35. We all think we have plenty of time and the reality is that we don't.

Health Insurance: Thank god that I have this or we would've been sunk from the beginning. Despite having insurance, there continue to be ongoing costs and once I go on long-term disability I'll be paying cobra rates to keep the same coverage. I have no idea how expensive this will be but I don't expect it to be cheap.

This really isn't about me or the money, this is about my family and trying to ease their pain. I know that I'm living on borrowed time right now and I could be dead at any moment. All I want to do is spend as much time as I can with my kids so that they know I loved them. You try telling a 6 year old that her daddy has cancer and will be dead before she turns 8. Hardest thing I've ever had to do and I would never wish it any one.

For those of you that have helped us, thank you is not enough.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#75

Post by naner »

VMG wrote: post #35
stefantalpalaru wrote: post #30

So the house you purchased and the van you upgraded to are not yours, disposing of your body costs more than a car, visiting family means you have to stay in a hotel, the basic survival needs of your wife and four children are not guaranteed and you want to visit Disneyland and meet celebrities before you die? Capitalism is beautiful.

can't miss an opportunity for pointless snark, eh?

Not really pointless... guy is dying and worried about the financial security of his family, which I completely understand, but then outlines some financially irresponsible expenses?

How about posting on facebook "I'm dying, here's a fund we started to help support my wife and children in my absence" and leave it at that. This comes across as entitled and unrealistic.

That being said, his situation is extremely shitty and it is probably worthwhile for anyone with the means to help him out for that reason alone.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#76

Post by theknown99 »

ryanjshaw wrote: post #60
pbateman wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're getting downvoted because: 1) Despite your disclaimer you are sounding unfeeling. 2) It seems convenient for a (presumably) relatively healthy and youthful person to be advocating large sacrifices that will hit others first. 3) Many of us don't share your pessimistic view of human progress. If we can figure out how to thwart death from disease, we can probably figure out how to deal with overpopulation. 4) And…

5) He hasn't offered a sensible and complete policy - what counts as saving lives? Cancer treatment? What about transplant surgery? What about amputations? What about medicines that prevent many conditions from becoming serious? Or lets make things really fun - what about mental illness? How about a person who's solving overpopulation in some way who suddenly contracts cancer? Where does one draw the line and who get…

There is no solution I can see, and that's worrying. While we're all running around curing diseases, solving global warming etc, the thing that will kill off our species is our own "success".

Re: What Dreams May Come

#77

Post by adventured »

chongli wrote: post #70
adventured wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Capitalism? America is the largest welfare state in history. Total government expenditures are nearly the size of China's GDP. What we have is corporatism, plunder by a combination of bureaucrats + government protected corporations (see: Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Exxon, Pfizer, etc). I wish we had Capitalism. All we have is an extraordinarily misdirected, poorly run welfare state.

You can't separate the state out like that and pretend it's not a player. Capitalism is what gives rise to corporatism. Oh, and welfare state is not a bad word. Some of the most prosperous and equitable countries in the world are welfare states[0]. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model

A poorly run welfare state is a bad word, to so speak, and that's exactly what America has.

Some of the worst functioning countries on earth are also very poorly run welfare states. Feel free to point out several poorly functioning, free market Capitalism countries though.

Socialism is what gives rise to Corporatism. The intrusion of government into the economy - rather than the proper separation of the two - through regulation and bribes, opening up a flood gate of protectionism, lobbying and special favors.

I'm well aware of the arguments on the nordic model. Most of them had to reform their poorly functioning welfare models over the last few decades (see: Sweden).

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0803/international-invest-...

Re: What Dreams May Come

#78

Post by vishnugupta »

timr wrote: post #54
not_paul_graham wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one deserves this, especially not at 35. That is far too young. I've had more than a couple of people close to me pass away from cancer and other causes and it all seems very depressing that in some cases you can't really do anything at all. Forgive me for asking but doesn't health insurance cover costs of cancer treatment even in the USA? I really don't want to sound like a narcissist and I'm not trying to judge…

If you're insured in the US (sadly, this is still a fairly big "if"...) the costs of cancer treatment will be covered, but unlike most of the rest of the developed world there are still a lot of caveats: depending on the quality of your coverage, you could end up paying very little, or quite a bit of money. It's not a simple question, unfortunately. That said, it sounds like he's not looking for money for treatment ,…

>If you've just bought a house and a car and had a kid you're probably in a lot of recent debt, with the assumption that you'll have a lifetime to pay it down

Out of self discipline I bought a life insurance at the same time my home loan was approved; the insurance amount being same as loan amount.

I have always wondered why don't Government have regulations in place that forces a borrower to purchase a life insurance. Or at least make the borrower opt into insurance by default with the option of opting out.

Left to themselves borrowers are not likely to think about insurance at the time of taking loans. I think by nature we underplay risks to our life because of which our loved ones end up suffering financially over and above emotionally.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#79

Post by jsmeaton »

theknown99 wrote: post #34
Blahah wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Earth is not full, it is just badly managed. And overcrowding is only happening for poor people in parts of the world historically exploited by people who are now rich. Even if we accepted that Earth is full, surely we don't just let all the poorest people die? And extending that reasoning, why treat any diseases at all? The fact is that we could feed everyone and cure some of the biggest killers in the world today.…

IMHO we should focus on quality of life. Not quantity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4

Re: What Dreams May Come

#80

Post by pawelk »

girvo wrote: post #3

I feel nothing but sympathy for Jonathan. I can barely imagine the pain he and his family would be going through :( What are the medical costs for someone with terminal cancer in the USA? I assume they're pretty astronomical, so I can understand why he'd ask for help (I'm donating myself). In terms of his house and the like, I was always led to believe that life insurance was specifically for cases like his? Is life…

> In terms of his house and the like, I was always led to believe that life insurance was specifically for cases like his? Is life insurance a big thing in America?

I found the "Pay off our mortgage" part a bit strange. Living in Poland I don't know anyone who managed to get a mortgage without mandatory life insurance which makes the bank the first beneficiary. You die, they get the money, mortgage is paid off, family keeps the house. Pople like to bitch that it's a scam, hidden cost, extra money for the bank etc, but it's designed for situations like this (it protects the bank as well as the customer).

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