It is really important for Europeans to understand how helpful the US
government is to its citizens. Which is to say it only does the barest
minimum. Our recent political facts are that we have swung the pendulum to
the far right, so there's hope it will return closer to the center soon, but
the system is generally rigged to help the filthy rich on the backs of
everyone else. Some US retirees are indeed quite well off, but the majority
are living on the edge.
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Braun
Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2016 3:48 PM
To: Olympus Camera Discussion
Subject: Re: [OM] IMG: Slow Night
On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 3:11 PM, Tina Manley <images@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Visit some soup kitchens or deliver some Meals on Wheels. There are a lot
of old people who are eating cat food or are doing without food to afford
their prescription medicines. Almost all of the people who get Meals on
Wheels are elderly.
Tina
And the rallying cry of most Republicans and clueless political idiots
(recently, those two terms seem to be interchangeable) is that we must make
drastic cuts to Social Security to help balance the budget, despite the
fact that SS has nothing to do with the budget and is funded purely by the
workers paying into it throughout their working lives.
Unfortunately with living costs the way they are now, unless you were one
who was lucky enough to have a decent job most of your life and could pay a
decent amount into a retirement fund, one that wasn't decimated by an Enron
or Madoff-level fraud, or if it wasn't decimated by the stock market (one
of mine is worth half of what it was two years ago), it's tough to be
comfortable after retirement. You appreciate the discounts (Sheri is past
the age of retirement, so we take the discount for her whenever we can.)
As to the question of age - in most of the USA, businesses that offer
discounts usually start at 62 or 65.
--
Paul Braun WD9GCO
Certified Music Junkie
"Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life." -- Berthold Auerbach
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