Posted on 09/20/2010 8:55:39 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX
Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57.
But four years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought: she may never work again.
College educated, with a degree in business administration, she is experienced, having worked for two decades as an internal auditor and analyst at Boeing before losing that job.
But that does not seem to matter, not for her and not for a growing number of people in their 50s and 60s who desperately want or need to work to pay for retirement and who are starting to worry that they may be discarded from the work force — forever.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
We have an HSA. For God’s sake, health care is a cost of living, just like your mortgage or your car. You don’t take your car in for an oil change and expect to turn in the bill to your auto insurance. Some people take better care of their cars than they do of themselves, in part because they have to pay for their car while “insurance” pays for the health care.
Take care of your health; diet, exercise and rest. And if you have to go to the doctor, pay up.
I don’t mean to sound insensitive, its hard for everyone who’s unemployed right now.
Maybe the only thing that will get the government’s attention is armed revolt.
Pretty sad when were hoping for minimum wage department store jobs for 50 year olds, so they can work in stores that push Communist Chinese goods...
Boy, this government has all but destroyed this country....But good.
” and do you think this might be related to health insurance”
Maybe. But there’s also the perception (fact?) that older workers cost more in terms of wages.
Start the business RIGHT NOW on the side, and have it growing by Axe Time. ("Castle Early in the Game.") I did that before Going Away at 62- Department closing.
Self-financed, no long term debt. It has ups and downs, but I'm doing OK. Working for a real @sshole, though-as always, long hours, and crummy benefits.
My wife told me she had never seen me this happy. Tired, look like crap, but smiling every time I look at the traffic report at commute time.
“You mean, these 50somethings can’t even find employment at Walmart? I call bs.”
I think it would be pretty near impossible for a lot of people to make a living (rais a family, etc) on near minimum wages.
Besides, I think it’s basically an urban legend that you can always fall back on Wall-Mart, Mickey D’s, etc.
You have retail of fast food experience? Think there isn’t someone else out there with it (and who won’t automatically jump at any other opportunity to leave)?
For most people, those jobs are only safety nets in their mind.
It should cover hospital stays, emergency care, and not much else. No RX,abortions, physicals,shrinks,office visits, massages,etc etc.
There should be no 100% coverage of anything! Medical costs will go down when those using the most, pay the most.
This may not help anyone on here but around here many business executives serve on the boards of charities. If you have time and you can volunteer for one of those charities you will have a contact who may know someone who can help you find a job. Just a suggestion.
We could let the middle east go to hell if we drilled for our own oil. Let them destroy one another and we could STAY OUT OF IT.
That is just one example of the GOVERNMENT standing in the way of CREATING JOBS!
Or deport 30 million illegal aliens...There was would be millions of construction, restaurant, hotel, warehouse type jobs available, over night.
By Raymond Kraft | June 5, 2008
At $130 a barrel, the real, hiddencost of the liberals’ refusal to open up the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)and the oil resources off our coasts is 10 million jobs.
Ten million jobs for middle-class,working-class Americansthat are being “outsourced” to OPEC daily, evenas the Senate debates bizarrely complex “carbon cap and trade”legislationthat wouldcharge American businesses (most of them) that produce carbon emissions for the right to stay in business; then let those that reduce their carbon emissions sell or “trade” their carbon credits to other businesses that need to grow but will use more energy in the process. The effect of this fiasco will be to impose a new tax on all businesses andon allbusiness growth, which will stunt business growth, economic growth, personal income growth, job growth,and tax receipts.
It’s intended to fix the biggest non-problem in history, human-induced global warming – the fraud that has made Al Gore a centimillionaire.If we look at the real climate data, the long term temperature trends show us that the climate is 0.4 degrees warmer than 1,000 years ago, and 3 degrees cooler than 8,000 years ago (http://www.globalwarmingart.com/).The Hadley Center for Climate Prediction charts the global temperature falling 0.4 degrees from 1988 to 1992, then rising 0.8 degrees from 1992 to peak in1998, then falling 0.7 degrees by January 2008.
The climate has been changing as long as there has been a climate. It’s not our fault, and we can’t stop it.
$100 / hr - not even close my friend.
Not even a third of that - keep in mind I also have to pay liabilty insurance, workman’s comp (even though being self employed can’t collect), commercial auto insurance, travel, etc, etc, etc.
No I’ve gone as low as I’m going to go because I refuse to install equity into “customer’s” homes at my expense.
******
For 20 years, environmentalists, Democrats, and a few misguided Republicans have been busy keeping Big Oil out of ANWR and out of the oil fields on the Coastal Shelves, where there are an estimated 635 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to heat 60 million American homes for a century, and 115 billion barrels of oil, enough to replace 100% of the oil we now buy from OPEC for 21 years. At $130 a barrel,that would cut out trade deficit by $5.4 trillion over 21 years.
Yes, $5.4 trillion, which is enough to pay the entire federal budget for nearly two years.
The gov’t still hasn’t figured out that continual doses of medical marijuana do not cure the cancer. Meanwhile, the patient doesn’t realize it’s spreading.
Not only are the Boomers getting shut out now, but, even more importantly, the current graduating generation is stuck at the side of the road. Worse, when the job market improves (who knows when), they will be a generation with no career experience, and will continue to get passed over for fresh kids recruited out of institutions of higher learning. These students will probably be educated on this horrific business environment, and companies will take them over its victims. In other words, there might be half-a-generation of young adults going to college for nothing, and then getting saddled with the recourse-eligible loans. These are the ones that will take up the pitchforks in despair. They will be hungry, and they will be strong.
But wait ... sometimes it gets even worse ...
Not only am I out of work and over 55, but I’m trying to escape a dying industry (newspapers) and I need to change careers on top of it.
Some college kid with a shiny new degree might be able to land an entry-level job in their chosen field, but good luck landing even an interview (I’ve had TWO in the last 10 years!) when you’re over 55 and have little or no experience!
The sad part is that one would think a lifetime of assorted experience is worth something. I’ve already made all my rookie mistakes and most of my major-league bonehead plays, too. But that doesn’t matter.
They see gray, you go away.
A word to the wise - electrical fires burn down more structures than any other cause. As an electrical contractor I’ve seen many potential fire hazzards set-up by people who think they understand how this stuff works. Even by people who call thenselves electricians. Had a journeyman tell me that an over-breakered service was ok becuase the calculated load was under the equipment rating. Sheesh!!
Make sure your conductors and devices are properly sized and protected. And watch out for split-phase wiring. You may think the power is off but that neutral can still be a part of a live circuit.
So true. The American Dream has become a national nightmare because of our greedy politicians.
This seems to be hitting a lot of us. We are self employed, and business has fallen off a cliff. Mr G is a legend in his industry, and we are still squeeking by..... barely.
We opted to take early retirement for 2 reasons...
1) We get into taking our SS while it is here... won’t be for long we feel.
2) Because we have a child under 18, both our child and I get an additional 50% each of Mr G’s social security.
It’s nice to know the mortgage is paid if things get worse.
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