Posted on 09/19/2010 2:40:54 PM PDT by Nachum
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In this bloody free-for-all of a recession, Americans in their 50s are really taking it hard on the chin. Their 401(k)s have been cut down to 201(k)s. Their pensions have been frozen, or worse. Their home equity has evaporated just as their kids' college bills come due. And while younger workers may have been hit harder by unemployment, 50-something Americans who get laid off are stuck in jobless limbo longer than any other age group.
(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...
Somebody that’s 50 today will likely arrive on the threshold of Medicare and Social Security about the time they really implode. My hope is that Democrats receive full credit for these wonderful Madoff schemes they’ve put in place.
“Not every 50-something, of course, is in the same predicament...Ron LaPedis, 54, credits his wife with not letting the family go overboard into debt like so many of their peers did. “During the boom times,” he said, “I was scrimping and saving. My wife beat it into my head to live within my means, and it’s paid off.”
His home equity is still intact, and he kept much of his savings in cash, gold and coins, “so I lost maybe only 10 percent of my investments.”
This was the most telling for me. The only responsible person they talked to got through an 18 month job loss relatively unscathed...there is a lesson here for many of us.
“Kinda makes a person wonder if the Obama agenda is trying to make anyone over 50 just...disappear.
...he knows the elderly cannot be taught new tricks nor will they forget the past, in other words they are expendable.”
He & his handlers are dead wrong about that, aren’t they. “Only the good die young.”
Ditto!
Very glad I was able to have good jobs and own a business before all this crap started.
The best bet for folks in their 50’s and 60’s is to band together to create a “value added” “low intensity” small business, based on the “preponderance” of their skills.
This can be a wide range of activities from tutoring children to care giving for the disabled and elderly, to business consulting and marketing, merchandise resale and consignment, and countless other jobs.
Importantly, the organization of these businesses must be such that they are not highly taxed employees, but partners and subcontractors.
Likewise the business needs to have a co-op orientation, so that partners can shift resources among themselves in an orderly manner. The advantage of this is that some of them who just have domestic skills can be part of the group by providing domestic services, things like cleaning, laundry, and cooking.
A goodly amount of this will be in the “gray” economy, such as medical care from doctors who have left medicine to escape Obamacare, and can be paid in cash or with trade goods, and bulk purchases of medicine in Mexico and Canada.
Likewise the business might use a house from a member that can be used as both a group residence and a home office, giving that member considerable credit for other things. The same with vehicles.
The most important thing is organization, to get everyone in the business surviving, then work with the goal of everyone prospering, and being able to set aside resources for when they are no longer a “credit” member, but a “debit” member, due to disability.
As if this is something new. As you get older, it’s harder to get hired. Duh. Seems to me the prudent thing to do as you get older is make arrangements so that you don’t have to rely on someone else to give you a job. But self-reliance is much more fun to talk about than it is to actually do.
An underground economy- which exists in every socialized state in the world. Institutionalizing lying and cheating. In order to get care, bribe the doctor. Bribe the nurse. Bribe the hospital tech. The next thing that happens is that violent gangs to make your doctor or politician treat you right. Talk to the Russians, Armenians, or Italians about that.
This travesty can be put at the feet of the 'progressives' who are stupid and will be made to suffer more in retribution by those they 'helped' than anyone else.
Stupidity.
It is hard to be reliant when your business is legislated out of existence by the scum sucking politicians.
I am 58 years old and have been out of work for over two years now.
The reason?
I was told that a Big reason is because of the uncertainty of the coming Obama-Care.
An employer would rather hire a person who is able to stay on ‘Their Parents’ health insurance .. until they are “Twenty Six” years old than to hire someone who they “Will Be Forced” to insure down the road!
Great Ain’t it?
Ask the employer if he would hire you as a 10-99 contract worker so he doesn’t have to call you an employee. Also, you could ask the employer to give you part time work to avoid the full time coverage requirements to force him to add you to his health plan.
Finally, ask the employer if he would hire you if you had your own personal health insurance policy or (if you are married) had proof of coverage on your spouse’s plan. This would allow him avoid insuring you.
Technically, there is a big difference between the gray economy and the black market. For example, the US has had a gray economy for years, not so much out of the idea of evading the government, as avoiding the government.
Often they are American citizens who choose to not have ID, to not be part of the system, and in all honesty, in either direction, to neither give nor take from the system. They are not doing it to evade taxes, for example, because they are almost all poor, relatively speaking. Many pride themselves on the simple idea that they are not “owned” by the government.
As such, they are the backbone of the gray economy. They deal only in cash and trade, and while they will accept string less charity, they are also charitable to others, as these things go. The only ones who are overtly “illegal” are mostly children who have run away from abusive homes, that the law would seek to return to harm’s way.
(I’ll add that one such I directed to a church, and they were generous enough to informally adopt her until her majority. Her case was extreme, however, as her birth parents would have likely killed her had she been return to them. They even attacked a church member for just knocking on their door—he didn’t even have a chance to identify himself.)
But all this is very different from the black market, which can save a people, or destroy them.
Hell, I’m 48 and figure if I lose my job, I will never work again for someone else. I have started selling some at flea markets on the side as a fall back plan.
Scum sucking politicians are one of many risks we all must face.
Well....we each know exactly how the other feels; I'm but one year older than you. I've taken a contract position, and have now exceeded the amount set by Social Security for "below full retirement age" people.
So, when this contract ends (in about a month and a half), the total amount earned will mean that I'll be without any SS payments at all for 8 months during 2011.
Nice, huh?
As to age being the "unspoken issue"....it's spoken about alright....lots and lots and lots of lip service. But since the 60s when the age discrimination law was passed, I'm betting one could count the successful lawsuits by those over 60 on the fingers of both hands.
On the other hand...the members of this same age group that have been fired, let go, layed off are legion....count is probably in the millions.
Worse, we just roll over and accept our fate.
As an anecdote...I have a "friend" who is over 63 now, but when laid off by their multinational company, was told the reason was the "economic downturn".
He was replaced by a black woman half his age at less than half his salary.
Economic downturn, my aunt tilly's garter!
Any fall back plan is better than nothing.
However, if one is the primary - and only - "bread winner" in the family, than the "fall back" plan better include matching income and full health insurance.
My spouse refuses to work...earn any money at all. The only health insurance we have is my COBRA coverage...and that ends in December of this year....and it's still a very long way to 65.
This situation for people in their 50's existed long before Obama got into office and it'll continue long after he's gone.
Yes, it did. And it was caused by legislation intended to prevent a similar problem concerning pensions. There is an old Chinese proverb that states: "Todays problems were often yesterdays solutions." Unintended Consequences?
Currently my wife works and has insurance also, so that is covered for now. Who knows what lies ahead with obamacare?
You are very fortunate....try it with a spouse that absolutely refuses to bring in any income at all whatsoever and of course, is completely dependent on me to provide not only the total income but complete health coverage as well.
Not a pretty picture....
“I myself am doing okay, but with greatly diminished expectations. There is no joy and little hope among the ordinary Americans I know.”
Even the LibTards I work with weren’t singing 0bama’s praises much past ten minutes after he was crowned king.
And THAT is very telling! Everyone knows we’re doomed unless things drastically change come November; some (i.e. most of us HERE on FR) just know it to our very core...
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