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As you remember the Pttsburgh Steeler players from way back when I'm 99% you remember HOF quarterback Bobby Layne
Layne spent his last several years with Pittsburgh and has a similar quote to this thread. "The secret to a happy life is to run out of cash and air at the same time!"
Is there anyone to deliver you to that Thai place?
The dementia comes gradually. What would be the cue to the person responsible to get you there?
How much does it cost to move paraplegic overseas? Do you need a private plane?
How can you assure that you won’t be dumped somewhere in Thailand while they still taking your money? (Out of your accounts?)
Like one of the drs/owners needing a bed just put you within some poor person’s home for next to nothing while still taking your money as if you are in a luxury?
Doubt there are extensive safeguards like in US against the abuse?
Even with those the abuse is really a reality here, especially with no relatives or so called unregulated and predatory “guardianship”
- you could become a sitting duck for predators with large accounts?
They could even overrule your wishes in court.
Just can’t see that some judge rules: yes, take her to Thailand as she wanted vs keeping you in US with your cash under the “guardianship”.
I could be wrong though
What if the person you have designated to manage your affairs starts exploiting you here and not following your wishes - like spending all your money and letting Medicaid to pick up the pieces here in US after they done with you?
Seems simpler for them?
It seems that just joining the Dignitas is more realistic in some cases..
The person who is my POA/ survivor trustee/ sole heir/ executor of my will is also the person that would get me to Thailand. I am also in regular mail contact with this person. The person is a relative (I don't have a spouse or children, but I do have extended family), we know each other extremely well, the person is as reliable as a rock, and totally disinterested in any money or anything else from me because is better off financially than I.
No, you certainly don't need a private plane to fly as a paraplegic. You need a wheelchair, two plane tickets, and a person to travel with you :-). I don't weigh much - it would be easy for my designated person to lift me into and out of wheelchair, or even carry me.
The summary of the book is about spending your money to collect experiences & memories. This of course plays in to the stereotypical Gen Z trope.
The author - Bill Perkins - is a billionaire, and, well, we are not. We are merely affluent. Our values are not about spending more money to collect more experiences and memories. Our values are about endowing scholarships to universities for future generations, endowing research chairs in universities to promote academic scholarship, capital campaigns to build university infrastructure, and the like. Yes, we also give to charities for operational expenses they incur (our current favorites include the National Ability Center and Autism Speaks). And yes, passing along to our DD.
But the marginal value to me of collecting yet another experience is less than the marginal value to me of helping another kid go to college.
The last paragraph is admirable, but after my struggle against the pressures of the overpopulated world, I can't love anyone so much any more to pay for their college. It would have to be someone extremely similar to me, and struggling in the same way I did, and making the same efforts and sacrifices I made - if I spotted that, I think I'd be motivated to help them out, but I don't know anyone like that. And if that person is indeed out there somewhere, she is fending for herself anyway :-).
I would, though, volunteer for a person or organization that is trying to spend public money transparently and accountably on assisting people in trouble with getting out of drugs, getting a job, and finding a home in a place they can afford. Maybe I am already doing that? :-)
So what exactly is a veteran? Someone who was in for a few years, or someone who retired from the military? A huge number of baby boomers were in the military because of the draft during the Vietnam war. Why would you actually call them homeless veterans? My DH was in the AF during the V war, and spent three years in Germany. If he was homeless on the streets right now would you call him a veteran?
Yes, of course. I would call him a homeless veteran if he lived on the streets. A U.S. veteran is someone who served in the U.S. military, voluntarily or not. They must receive an honorable, or nothing less than general, discharge to be eligible for benefits. Your DH is a war-time veteran. Homeless vets are those who served in the military and now live in a car, tent, tarp, sidewalk, whatever, disabled or not. elnrgby is convinced that your DH couldn't possibly live on the streets because of all the wonderful benefits for veterans. War-time vets are entitled to a few more benefits, but they don't get a military pension unless disabled due to their service, or served 20 years or more in the military, or are have a below poverty level income. The maximum veteran pension for a low-income veteran without disability and no dependents is $16,037 annually. Any income that vet receives from other sources, like SS, SSI, SSDI, or income from working, or any other government income assistance, is subtracted from that $16,037 amount and they would receive the difference from the VA. So that same veteran, with no disability and no spouse, receiving the average SS of something like $1450 a month ($17,400 annually) would get exactly zero from the VA. There's also a maximum asset limit that could also disqualify a vet from receiving any pension. Many veterans have no idea what they're entitled to, and the VA has no idea that a veteran is on the street, so unless someone in the know connects those dots for them, and they apply to the VA, and then actually follow through, they don't get anything. Since many homeless people don't have a mailing address, or a bank account, I don't see how they would get a monthly check anyway.
Last edited by TheShadow; 11-19-2023 at 02:28 PM..
Pushing for more and more taxes - in a situation when taxes are already high - in order to give free things to people who prefer to take them from the others than to work for them - is actually socialism.
But, big bail outs whether out in the open or hidden and stealth are not? Okay, got it. I am happy for you that the world is so simple and makes complete sense to you. That's easy if you ignore most of it.
But, big bail outs whether out in the open or hidden and stealth are not? Okay, got it. I am happy for you that the world is so simple and makes complete sense to you. That's easy if you ignore most of it.
A bailout is financial restructuring of an institution whose bankruptcy would cause a major harm to the economy of the country. Would you rather prefer the bankruptcy of a mega-institution to crash the whole economy of the country? Somehow I don't see that helping the homeless or anyone else. Also, the bailout generally consists of the government extending a loan, or buying stocks of a failing company - how does that resemble endlessly giving someone money which then disappears into nothingness?
A bailout is financial restructuring of an institution whose bankruptcy would cause a major harm to the economy of the country. Would you rather prefer the bankruptcy of a mega-institution to crash the whole economy of the country? Somehow I don't see that helping the homeless or anyone else. Also, the bailout generally consists of the government extending a loan, or buying stocks of a failing company - how does that resemble endlessly giving someone money which then disappears into nothingness?
Our economy is 70% consumption. So, how does not sending people grocery money help the economy? You cannot see the economics of it because you do not want to.
You need to start another thread on that specific topic in the economics forum.
Our economy is 70% consumption. So, how does not sending people grocery money help the economy? You cannot see the economics of it because you do not want to.
You need to start another thread on that specific topic in the economics forum.
Grocery money given to the homeless in the West Coast cities greatly helps drug economy of Honduras, because it is generally spent to the last cent on drugs. That population knows quite well that you don't buy groceries with $ when you can steal them (the reason why chain stores over there are closing - it eventually becomes impossible to support the volume of theft).
I don't particularly want to discuss this any more either. But these are not the issues that I raised in this thread - all I said was that one can plan to die with $0 if one does not mind living off of social security only (which can't completely run out), or if not even qualified for social security, then off of other forms of social assistance. Then people jumped on me trying to prove that there is no real soc assistance in the US since there are homeless people, including veterans, freezing in the street. I responded that social assistance in the US is good enough so that nobody needs to freeze. At least no US citizen needs to freeze. That's all. I don't need to start any other thread in the economic forum; some other of you folks need to do that, a topic about US veterans freezing in the streets - I didn't bring them into this thread.
Grocery money given to the homeless in the West Coast cities greatly helps drug economy of Honduras, because it is generally spent to the last cent on drugs. That population knows quite well that you don't buy groceries with $ when you can steal them (the reason why chain stores over there are closing - it eventually becomes impossible to support the volume of theft).
I don't particularly want to discuss this any more either. But these are not the issues that I raised in this thread - all I said was that one can plan to die with $0 if one does not mind living off of social security only (which can't completely run out), or if not even qualified for social security, then off of other forms of social assistance. Then people jumped on me trying to prove that there is no real soc assistance in the US since there are homeless people, including veterans, freezing in the street. I responded that social assistance in the US is good enough so that nobody needs to freeze. At least no US citizen needs to freeze. That's all. I don't need to start any other thread in the economic forum; some other of you folks need to do that, a topic about US veterans freezing in the streets - I didn't bring them into this thread.
I think you need to go to the Economics forum with your economic assumptions. Also, as you will see in another post I expressed that you do not know how you sound to people with even 30 hours of Economics let alone the people with advanced degrees.
If you are super interested you live right there near some universities and you can pick up a few classes. Being an MD does not make you an expert in everything.
I do enjoy most of your posts; but, not these (at all). So, I am just not going to respond to your posts that veer into macro economics or heavy finance related topics.
Yes, of course. I would call him a homeless veteran if he lived on the streets. A U.S. veteran is someone who served in the U.S. military, voluntarily or not. They must receive an honorable, or nothing less than general, discharge to be eligible for benefits. Your DH is a war-time veteran. Homeless vets are those who served in the military and now live in a car, tent, tarp, sidewalk, whatever, disabled or not. elnrgby is convinced that your DH couldn't possibly live on the streets because of all the wonderful benefits for veterans. War-time vets are entitled to a few more benefits, but they don't get a military pension unless disabled due to their service, or served 20 years or more in the military, or are have a below poverty level income. The maximum veteran pension for a low-income veteran without disability and no dependents is $16,037 annually. Any income that vet receives from other sources, like SS, SSI, SSDI, or income from working, or any other government income assistance, is subtracted from that $16,037 amount and they would receive the difference from the VA. So that same veteran, with no disability and no spouse, receiving the average SS of something like $1450 a month ($17,400 annually) would get exactly zero from the VA. There's also a maximum asset limit that could also disqualify a vet from receiving any pension. Many veterans have no idea what they're entitled to, and the VA has no idea that a veteran is on the street, so unless someone in the know connects those dots for them, and they apply to the VA, and then actually follow through, they don't get anything. Since many homeless people don't have a mailing address, or a bank account, I don't see how they would get a monthly check anyway.
Re this last sentence, the non-profits that pay themselves for alleged help they offer to the homeless (and are therefore vitally interested in persistence of homelessness) allow homeless people to use the address of the non-profit as the mailing address. That is how the homeless in San Francisco get the monthly check that the city issues to them just for being homeless (it used to be I think $630; someone told me it's $800 now).
Re text that you underlined, the soc security website (to which I posted a link somewhere in this thread) says that SSI/SSDI and veteran benefits are independent of each other.
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