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Old 10-09-2015, 05:41 AM
 
31,730 posts, read 26,664,982 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post
not that working until you drop is good but the fact is we have more people than ever that are living longer and are healthier to work . the sheer numbers now reflect the fact more seniors are working longer because they have been able to and have had jobs .

Most Americans still stop working by the time they hit 65. But about 19 percent of Americans age 65 and over were working in 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a nearly 8 percentage point increase from a low in 1985, when just 10.8 percent of Americans over age 65 were still at work.

the number of older people choosing to remain on the job has been ticking upward since the late 1990s and they now represent the fastest-growing segment in the country’s workforce. By 2020, an estimated one fourth of American workers will be 55 or older, up from 19 percent in 2010.
Look around New York City and you'll find plenty of seniors still working. Some do it because they want to, others because they have to.

Know doctors who still are practicing and are well into their 70's, though perhaps they don't keep the same office hours and or have given up hospital admitting. Then again several of the cashiers at local supermarkets are well over seventy but literally have no choice. One poor woman can barely stand up right for long hours, so she leans.....

Ever get into a taxi and find it driven by someone >50 or even >60? There are more than a few of those as well.

New York City being a place of immigrants we have a sizeable population of asylum, refugees, and other migrants who came to the USA late in life (past 40 or even 60). The young may earn enough bare quarters for Social Security but many do not. You also have large numbers of immigrants both legal and not working off the books and or only having occasional payroll taxes taken out. These persons again may reach bare quarters for Social Security or nothing at all. Thus they will either work until they cannot or have to make choices.

Just as they did in so many other ways throughout their lives experts are predicting the vast wave of Boomers moving through the autumn and winter of their lives are going to change what being "elderly" means as well.

We are about to enter a phase when many women who either never married, are long divorced and or otherwise single are going into old age "alone". Some may have enough time that if once married can qualify for spousal SS. That and or will qualify for some sort of spousal pension benefits. Another set will be those who had decent jobs, saved/invested and or have pensions. That plus SS should get them through *perhaps*. The big perhaps is because this group both men and women also maybe entering old age childless and or estranged from family/children. Without immediate family who lets face it provide much of the care for our nation's elderly people are going to have to sort out other ways. Good home help is expensive and hard to find.

Experts are predicting we are going to see more "Golden Girls" sort of arrangements were older men and women pool into communal living and form a type of "family". Everyone thinks in this new era of gay equality everyone is married and or partnered up; that simply isn't true. There are still plenty of older gay men and a wave of Boomers behind them that are facing growing old alone. They are going to need care and the "Golden Girls" type of situation where a group of friends club together seems vastly better than a nursing or care home.

Many Boomers waited until their late 30's or even during their 40's or 50's to have children. This means there are going to be a whole lot of "seniors" footing college tuition costs when they should be socking as much as possible away for retirement. That or will be eligible to collect SS when their kid or kids are taking "the walk".
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Old 10-09-2015, 08:59 AM
 
25,556 posts, read 23,879,013 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post
the poor elderly in most cases just seem to make it through . either moving in with family , cost sharing or assistance . living on just social security is something folks have been doing forever .

people somehow make do and adapt .

right off the bat they can get medicaid which is worth 5 or 6k in after tax dollars . then there are food stamps worth another thousand or so .

there are lots of different senior housing programs too .
folks do it , however they do it .
Yes and the senior housing programs are government subsidized. That was basically my point.

Poor elderly cannot get regular medicaid if they have more than $840 a month. They can get the medicaid spend down, which requires they spend all of their social security on bills.
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Old 10-09-2015, 09:00 AM
 
15,795 posts, read 14,404,698 times
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If you think they're the only one's, you're VERY mistaken. Most people who work to support themselves, and actually have to pay the taxes fall into this category. It's only the welfare class, who collects the benefits who like them (and laugh at the people who work to pay them.)

In the end people need to support themselves. When they're young enough to work, they have to provide for when they're older. If they don't, they're going to be screwed, and probably should be.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kefir King View Post
No, the RICH hate welfare and taxes...and the rich make the laws.
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Old 10-09-2015, 01:51 PM
 
119 posts, read 110,330 times
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That's why civilized countries have support systems to help very poor people, the sick, the elderly, etc. Unless one has a very rich family, just about all of us could fall on hard times and need a bit of help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BBMW View Post
In the end people need to support themselves. When they're young enough to work, they have to provide for when they're older. If they don't, they're going to be screwed, and probably should be.
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Old 10-09-2015, 04:01 PM
 
15,795 posts, read 14,404,698 times
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There a difference between "falling on hard times and needing a bit of help" (which strongly suggests a temporary situation), and breeding a culture of entitlement to permanent government assistance. We've fallen into culture of the latter.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Uptowner10 View Post
That's why civilized countries have support systems to help very poor people, the sick, the elderly, etc. Unless one has a very rich family, just about all of us could fall on hard times and need a bit of help.
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Old 10-09-2015, 04:19 PM
 
31,730 posts, read 26,664,982 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BBMW View Post
There a difference between "falling on hard times and needing a bit of help" (which strongly suggests a temporary situation), and breeding a culture of entitlement to permanent government assistance. We've fallen into culture of the latter.
True. True!

When you walk up and down the avenues of the UES and see persons digging through rubbish bags for food you see wide variation. The elderly, working poor and homeless are well represented. However you also have the "career" poor. Persons whose entire lives basically have been on one source of public assistance or another.

There is a some sort of supportive housing on East 81st just off Third and each night an older
man comes out of that building and goes to the garbage put out by the Arthritis Thrift Shop on Third and begins fishing out things of value (the place throws away tons of donated goods that don't sell in a certain period of time). You'll see him later in front of Food Emporium a block away doing the same.

This is why you cannot lump all elderly into one group needing "assistance". Some persons worked all their lives; maybe they didn't earn much and or perhaps something happened like an illness or other major event that brought them low. Others have been getting "checks" and "benefits" almost from the day they were born. NYC and NYS are welfare "states", but even then there are limits.
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Old 10-09-2015, 05:05 PM
 
Location: Staten Island, New York
3,727 posts, read 7,018,267 times
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Illness will be the hardest thing, even for those who put $ away. Nursing homes in NYC are about $11,000+ per month. When the cash is gone, you have to go to medicaid.
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Old 10-09-2015, 05:11 PM
 
593 posts, read 467,924 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BBMW View Post
There a difference between "falling on hard times and needing a bit of help" (which strongly suggests a temporary situation), and breeding a culture of entitlement to permanent government assistance. We've fallen into culture of the latter.
Well put, totally agree.

I am not rich and am sick of all the money taken out of my paycheck and dumped into the sewer of welfare programs. We do not need yet another program in addition to the hundreds that already exist. It is turning into an unsustainable mess.
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Old 10-10-2015, 05:51 AM
 
Location: Manhattan
25,365 posts, read 36,934,766 times
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Quote:
the sheer numbers now reflect the fact more seniors are working longer because
they have been able to and have had jobs .
I disagree, people in their 70's do not work "because they are able to," they work because they MUST.
Quote:





the number of older people choosing to remain on the job has been
ticking upward
I disagree with the words "choosing to."

It is akin to someone "Choosing" to work 2 or three jobs. No sane person does it for any reason other than their circumstances make it necessary for survival.

Both are signs of a sick society.
What's next, child labor because some study found that 5 year olds choose to work 40 hours for self-fulfillment.

Oh, for the record, Social Security will again post a ZERO PERCENT increase for 2016 because, as we all know, prices have not been going up. <dripping with sarcasm>
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Old 10-10-2015, 10:41 AM
 
Location: New Jersey!!!!
18,938 posts, read 13,819,005 times
Reputation: 21309
Get rid of all the fraud and abuse, return Social Security to the original intention (ie, get rid of the "disabililty" scam) and structure support in a way that no longer encourages single-parent households and we will have enough money to take care of our elderly as every strong society should!
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