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In the US are many new retirees who are stuck at minimum Social Security benefits forever, due to having to start their payments early at 62 in order to have ANY income at all. These decisions are not made of freedom but of necessity - decisions made under duress.
With no other income, the arithmetic does not work out at all for living. This is existence, not living! If one is forced to do file early and receive minimum benefits, due to bad economics, the benefits need to increase each year according to what the rate is for that year, as if one is just entering the system, until the maximum is reached at 65 or 66, for those who have no other income at all! Lest we forget - This is America! Where are the organizations who "say" they support the well being of seniors?
The availability of actual assistance is near nil, with none of that offering anything more than emergency or band aid "help". (Don't be a single male with no children!) All the government hype about ending homelessness, helping those who have the least, is just hype, as the "Tale of the Tape" reveals the actual story - Homelessness and need have increased drastically among have-nots. (An exhaustive and continuing, study is done of Connect-To-Care, the Dallas government's excuse for a help mechanism, which showed their listed "resources" to be the same overworked, underfunded, organizations that have always been there.) There has been repackaging of the same "resources" lists in other websites and organizations, while the resources themselves remain unchanged or less funded, leaving those who actually need help the most, in the same or worse overall shape. If there are little to no actual resources available, which is the case in reality, what do these organizations actually do? Jobs for those who have! Notice how many low income people are employed in any of these.
With the baby-boomer generation coming into retirement age, there is a large number of retirees just entering the social security system, who spent their working lives at relatively unskilled jobs that offered no retirement plan, no insurance, no 401s, and the like, that paid so little that saving was out of the question. This was influenced by the full scale and unregulated "outsourcing" of jobs, and the demise of unions. Life after 50 meant jobs and job offers, lessened or ceased altogether. This economic forced many into accepting less than livable Social Security, made and is making, a large group of retirement age have-nots who are out of work and in need of available assistance.
(Of sour note is the many who are plagued by student loans whose collection arms are more than willing to accept and/or forcably take, from those who who have no other income than Social Security and/or who are below the poverty level, leaving that individual with nothing at all, below where rent can be paid, food purchased - a loose cannon. If you are living on the edge, not making enough for basics, this particular organization will still try and take from you, oblivious to the fact they can be rendering a person homeless!)
And no, retraining doesn't get you a job or help with age discrimination. The fact that a senior has to ask someone for a job in the first place instead of having them call you, is the real issue. To say there is no age discrimination is denying reality in many, if not, most, cases. Experience is relatively meaningless after a certain age.
The question is Not how anyone got to retirement without having, but how to remediate it starting, Now, without looking at how and/or, especially, why, that individual got to retirement age in this shape in the first place.
I think that's called - Non Judgemental. Remember that one. Takin a real beatin since the internet! So has honesty.
And especially, of question, why this subject is one that so many don't want to address, see others address, have commentary/dialogue about, and why the refusal to offer explanation to back up this "reasoning"/stance for not wanting such discussion. If a stance is solid, it stands on its own merit, and there is no fear, no reasoning for not putting it up for scrutiny! Of question is the unwillingness-refusal to help anyone who doesn't have, without knowing their pedigree, or more.
What happened to helping someone who doesn't have, without knowing, or even trying to find out, how they came not to have? Not just band-aid motion but sufficient to help fellow humans get themselves out of the cycle of poverty itself.
This came out on CNN. Boy, did they miss the ball. Looks like they had help from JP Morgan.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/28/investing/david-kelly-jpmorgan-markets-now-preview/index.html
Kelly said that the combination of retiring boomers and a shortage of working-age Americans creates a problem that "is particularly awkward for the economy." He added that this trend should "persist throughout the 2020s."
We are looking for, as well as needing, additional sources of income.
We are experienced, knowlegable, available, savvy, and willing. There is no shortage of working-age Americans.
We are in better health than previous generations, many of us still Rockin N Rollin.
We are a strong resource struggling to be tapped. Common sense and arithmetic says this "struggle" need not exist!
Systematic age descrimination has to end! Wake up!
And yes, there are also a lot fo people who blew their money on good times and wound up in the same position.
That's part of why I don't ask how or why a person doesn't have.
It's not how you got here, it's that you did.
Thank you.
I'm one of a lot of baby boomers having to look back at what we did actually do. Some of us are finding things about even the crappiest jobs we ever had, that we can now make some extra with. Yeah. It ain't easy but it is possible.
Even if you never formally held "jobs", look back. There are things that wouldn't and didn't, make us a dime then, that fuel ideas today, especially with the internet. We weren't actually doing "nothing" when we weren't doing anything.
Don't forget. Times have changed. Baby Boomers Rule!
A while back I had the good fortune to come across a number of used computers - throw aways from a big company upgrade. While loading them into my backyard shed the idea popped up that these might help some people. So, instead of selling all of them, I decided it was worth more to do some community service.
After cleaning and reconfiguring a dozen or so of the computers, I loaded them with kid's software - learning stuff. I found as many single moms as was immediately available in the neighborhood and gave each, one of the computers. These were mostly Macintosh due to their having better kids software at the time. Next I went to the community center that served my address and got the administration's permission to finish building their lab. There were a couple of Windows machines already so these were incorporated into what wound up as a 20 machine lab with server, network, with both Mac and Windows platforms.
In appreciation of the actual work and time involved, the community center was very generous with the amount of the service award. Time is logged as hours served plus computers.
Once done, when the subject of the lab project would come up, a lot, if not most, people ask me what I had "done" to "get" community service. Community service is a privilege, not a penalty. The fact that it is used as "punishment" in the judicial system has partially overridden this.
Participate in the process - This is very important. One is disenfranchised automatically in nonparticipation. - Do your homework, determine the record of anyone claiming to represent you and weigh that on its own merit. Elect representives who actually represent your interests, even when in conflict with big business and the rich.Representatives must be drafted/nominated from the people, and by the people, they represent, in order to actually represent the people. Anything less is politics.
Elect statesmen, not politicians.
Dear 78736061,
The employment process is unfriendly to those who go thru the process legally. Employers use any excuse not to hire someone...age, race, religion, etc. They claim they are non-discriminatory, but we all know that's not true.
"I downloaded AARP Perks to assist in staying connected and never missing out on a discount!" -LeeshaD341679
