He quit work at 53 years old and doesn’t have much retirement.
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.
I guess it never occurred to him to go out and get a job. Whining leftist scum.
Super! Then you'll have lots to talk about, huh?
Even in his poverty, he doesn't miss the chance to propagandize for his marxist masters, and repeat the slander du jour, like an obedient Beria.
He is an idiot who by being in the lucky sperm club, lived better than he should have.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint. This man did not understand this, but lives in a world built by those who do, which does indeed make him fortunate. I guess it’s lucky for him that enough tweedy old guys are rich and have wives who regularly cull their closets so that he can get by on donations without looking out of place. Fashion choices for the personal trainer wouldn’t be nearly so forgiving, but thats cultural. Rich black people don’t tend to walk around looking like refugees from Goodwill. If you stop dressing the way you used to you take yourself out of context for people who used to know you, which is the principle behind wearing a disguise.
The thing that keeps me up at night is that millennials are building a world optimized for sprinting rather than marathoning (which is to say, not a working long term strategy). Where mistakes are never forgotten leading to a world where resilience to setbacks counts for nothing because the rug gets yanked out from under you on the first setback. Either that or this will instead encourage dishonesty and vibrant business opportunities for people adept at scrubbing the web and databases of boo-boos. Kinda sounds like China. In any event this guy and Tolstoy’s grandchild would likely be up a creek without a paddle in such a world.
Life is hard, it’s harder when you’re stupid.
Ah, all those tassel loafers with run-down heels...
So, he’s 83 years old and has learned nothing from life. In Washington, D.C, he should know that homeless black beggars often approach people on the street and beg for money. Many live on the streets and no one moves them and they are kept afloat partly from foolish people giving them money. There are shelters but they will not go to them.
People learn quickly to flee from the the beggars. Perhaps his black ‘trainer’ should have said, “Hello, Jan,” or whatever her name was before giving her the bum’s rush. To extrapolate from one event to condemn all white people is simply standard operating procedure for leftists.
Also, the guy has a ‘trainer’ and thinks he’s living in poverty? When you throw in the subsidies, he is living a good life and in an expensive city. What a whiner.
Also, what happened to his Social Security. Did he fail to report his income over his life. Is he lying about his monthly income?
The sentence about his 401(k) losing half its value because of inflation is just cuckoo. If it was invested in stocks it would have increased with inflation. If it was invested in bonds, it would have earned interest and that would have compounded. For the account to lose half its value it would have to be entirely in cash.
Finally, methinks the old codger might also be gay and his misfortunes are partly due to that lifestyle, which is live for today and forget about tomorrow. He’s lucky to be alive. Where’s the gratitude for good luck, the generosity of the taxpaying public at large and for all the family and friends who have helped him even though he’s made a complete mess of his life?
There’s no fool like an old fool.
I've got a great idea for a book for him; "How to Afford the Millionaire Washington Lifestyle on $11,670 a Year"!
In the United States in 2015, "poverty" doesn't have much if anything to do with money. McPherson clearly has most of his basic needs met, except (maybe) a new Bimmer and first-class vacations to Tahiti.
I wouldn’t hard times for anyone. Nonetheless, o how the mighty have fallen.
The Pulitzer is given to the author of the best political hit piece against the right.
Great use of language isn’t a consideration.
Obama got a Nobel Piece Prize - I rest my case.
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.
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 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.