Posted on 01/01/2015 12:46:57 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
I’m not judging his life choices, but his situation isn’t surprising, its about what you would expect. You make your decisions and live with them. Its undignified to complain about it afterward.
Yup. You also have to wonder where his family is in all this.
It's worth pointing out that retirement isn't a Christian concept. While we're not obligated to work a 9-5 job for our entire lives, we are obligated to serve our fellow men, no matter what our estate in life.
I remember reading in our local diocesan paper about a hospitalized 93-year-old nun who spent her time knitting socks for infants. That's the example we should follow.
Unfortunately, the author leaves out most of the numbers so it is difficult to sort out folly from bad luck. The one set of numbers he gives are for an unindexed pension from the Washington Post which has been sadly reduced by inflation. A conservative would have no difficult drawing conclusions from this about government's war on middle class savers and its sabotage of the poor, but that is not apparently in his wheelhouse. But he also acknowledges that he had a Keough, a 401(k), and several inheritances, and made some money in real estate. But he never comes clean on how much, exactly, he blew through before reality caught up.
That said, I am somewhat sympathetic. He gambled on early retirement at 53 to pursue a dream. He is not the first person to go broke trying to write the great American novel. Other people take big gambles at similar ages to set up their own businesses. I respect the risk takers, but a self-pitying tone after it doesn't work out as planned is unmanly. The initial chatter about tumbrels and the class solidarity of the rich is nonsense when set against the story of a man who was cruising to a comfortable retirement, and chose instead to chase a rainbow.
As Gomer might say: “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” NOT
Hell, he’s a writer, an artist.
Artists are supposed to starve
Always have and always will
When whores get old and are no longer useful, the madam turns them out onto the street. Maybe this particular presstitute should have found a more honorable profession. Pedophile, perhaps. Or cesspool diver. Or he could hang around the bus station and polish knobs for spare change.
Is he relying solely on SS for income? Sounds like some really poor planning (total lack of planning) with the liberal nanny state stars swirling magically in his mind.
“He gambled on early retirement at 53 to pursue a dream. He is not the first person to go broke trying to write the great American novel. Other people take big gambles at similar ages to set up their own businesses.”
I also sympathize - up to a certain extent.
It’s always sad when dreams don’t come true, however, he took early retirement in 1986. He’s had plenty of time to work a Plan B since he couldn’t hack it with writing.
I "quit work" (Rertired) at age 54, I'm 69 now with a wife and two minor (adopted) children and we are doing quite well. Of course I'm not a s### for brains liberal either.
Property owners insist on references, W-2s and such in my area because your property will be destroyed before the years it can take to evict someone have passed.
NJ.com just had a piece about the welfare motels of Seaside Heights NJ; the gibsmedats (primarily white - mainly drug addicts or unemployable sex offenders) housed there view their inability to use the pool or panhandle from paying guests as some kind of incarceration.
He took a leave of absence and the company asked him to show up to work and he said no. I wonder how long he was gone? Sounds like he was a bum.
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