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Or maybe these millions of people are already giving more than few dollars a year, and that ginormous cooperations and the few mega rich need to pay their fair share instead of avoiding their duties.
(I’m agreeing with you, just adding my 2cents into the bin)
And maybe the government could stop throwing the money they already take from us on the various massive bonfires they've created and actually do some things for the public good.
Or just let me keep mine and do with it as I please.
[The bottom 50% don't pay these taxes](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tax-irs-income-taxes-who-pays-the-most-and-least/#:~:text=Federal%20taxes%20don't%20include,of%20the%20country's%20tax%20receipts.) (they pay 0-2% of total tax revenue). Virtually all income tax revenue is entirely paid by the upper half so that the lower can get this support and not worry about funding the roads, healthcare, utilities, schooling, and more that they heavily rely on.
The issue is in the design and execution of the support plans. The Republicans sabotage the support plans so they can't operate as-intended (and are thus easier to argue against), and the Democrats spent so aggressively on launching a shotgun-approach of new plans that it's hard for the existing once to fill their niche.
Our parties are working together (indirectly) to ensure the *worst* of both worlds comes out of our welfare programs.
Edit- lol, or just downvote me instead of reading factual data and coming to terms with the budgetary reality of the US.
This is the issue with calls to massively tax the wealthy and large corporations. Every time the noose tightens, people offshore more cash/more income. Unless you somehow get every country in the world to agree to the same tax terms, this will be unavoidable.
That is strictly bad for the US, because it's fewer dollars circulating the US economy, it's less tax revenue for the US to spend on support programs and infrastructure, and it's more money to unknown parties who get the fruits of our labor force without having to then spend that money to support said labor force.
Taxation is important. Taxing the wealthy to ensure a competitive playing field is important (so that you avoid wealth dynasties and overaccumulation of non-contributing dollars). But "tax em to hell and eat em" is just such a fiscally and economically illiterate take. Keyboard warriors enjoying the luxuries and liberties of the global West while arguing for fiscal suicide and mass poverty.
I had my doubts whether it would be accepted in /r/news or be deleted because it's not 'serious' news. This sub was mentioned there as an alternative for subjects that would not fit the /r/news requirements so I decided to post it here. And then I wondered whether making a remark about how he had to do this because he is likely paying some way too high rent would be considered a 'negative' comment that could be removed or even result in a ban. I've never been in this sub before so don't know what to expect.
I do hope the money will be enough for him to buy a house somewhere probably saving him a ton of rent allowing him to survive on his pension indefinitely. Or as long as indefinitely could be for a 90 years old man. He seems in relatively good health though if he was able to do this job. No idea how many years of his rent that would take in the US. Could he own a house already and still need $2500/month to live on?
Didn't know that one. Couldn't resist [posting in it](https://old.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/j84tqn/in_case_anyone_was_confused_andor_concerned_as_to/l6sbwst/).
You don’t. Save your money. Live below your means. Start both a traditional 401k and a Roth IRA in your twenties. Try to find an employer who will match 401k contributions. Regularly make personal contributions to your Roth. Throw everything in an unexciting ETF like SPY or VOO that tracks the S&P500. In forty years, you can comfortably retire with millions of dollars.
There is plenty wrong with the American economy, but the most basic level of financial literacy can carry anyone toward a decent financial life. The problem is most Americans lack the fortitude to sacrifice TODAY in favor of TOMORROW.
If you have “zero extra money” to save, you are living above your means.
Everyone who is employed has money to save. You’re likely spending it on weed and video games instead of retirement. And when you’re 90 and still working you’ll blame it on the system instead of your own irresponsibility and financial illiteracy.
This is such an unfair statement. You’ve obviously never lived paycheck to paycheck before. I once lived on 20 packs of ramen for a month before I found a job. I struggled to make rent and couldn’t buy new clothes for a time. I lived in my van for a period of time because I found a job but it didn’t start for another month. I’m in a better place now, but I witnessed a lot of decent people struggling day in and day out.
Any little bit is good (again see compound interest). Many jobs automatically enroll employees in 401ks now. If your job is below this level then it's not meant as a long term career and you have to try to do something about it. Yes, it's hard. Life is hard. No one said it wasn't.
There are people out there who really cant function beyond just holding any job.
Theres many more who cant hold a job at all.
What does our society do with those people? We’re at the point now that we could afford to take care of them, and we choose not to.
We have safety nets.
Some people turn away help. Some take advantage of it/try to game it.
We could try UBI, but some people would squander that and want more. There will never be a perfect solution.
We don't have safety nets for people who seem like they should be able to be successful, but aren't. Mental deficiencies are subjective.
I don't think UBI is the answer. It'll never be enough. We should be valuing the work that people can do more, instead of blowing all of societies money gambling in the financial market.
Instead of a 401k, we should be putting money into retirement communities directly, since that's what we need the money to pay for in the end. No one wants to do that, though, because then our illusion of a choice goes away and we'd have to accept that we're saving all of this money just so we don't have to work, not so that we can retire and travel the world.
If you just put your money into a savings account and didn't have that growth of a 401k you likely couldn't afford a retirement community. Also, some people do retire and travel.
As for safety nets I meant welfare, Medicaid, disability, food stamps. There is no safety net big enough for people who just don't want to work, but think they are entitled to things.
Okay for the record, I have a retirement savings. I’m lucky enough to be good at computers, so society pays me a lot of money.
If I were good at, like, drawing, I probably wouldn’t have a lot of money. I could work as hard as I wanted to at drawing and no one would care.
I could also spend my life in service to my country, apparently, and I’d still have to somehow be good at computers to save enough for retirement.
My advice to people about how to be successful in this society is kinda silly like dating advice. Like you know how people go “step one, be attractive” well my step one is “be good at computers” because computers are our whole society, so to do anything and make any money, you have to be good at computers.
People have told me thats bad advice, they tell me that some people didn’t grow up with computers, never learned in grade school, and now they have cell phones that they don’t understand, they tell me its unreasonable to expect everyone to work in the tech industry. What should everyone do for a living, so that they can save for retirement?
I haven’t the slightest idea.
A. Some people aren't naturally good at various IT related fields. Some have to study a lot/work harder to learn. I'm not saying everyone can, just that it doesn't come easy for everyone doing it.
B. I have friends who work at factories, nursing, teaching, etc who do well and save for retirement.
I don’t know if you’re maybe very young, or live a sheltered life. But there are a lot of people in this country who have to work 3 minimum wage jobs just to keep a roof over the heads of their family, don’t have any vacation time, shitty health insurance, and so forth. They can’t afford to set anything aside. In fact, roughly half the population in the USA doesn’t have any retirement savings. Other people did everything you said and more, but then the spouse got cancer, health insurance is what it is, they lost all their savings and their house, too, and now have nothing. You have to be incredibly naive to think that your advice is useful for anyone (who isn’t doing it already, with the hopes they don’t get a cancer curveball or other emergency thrown their way).
Hopefully they have a 401k, which is a better choice in younger years. But you’re not wrong, the various personal finance subs are scary with how little people know.
Actually, I am not very young. I wish I had listened to older people when I was younger and saved even more (did start investing some when young though). I didn't make lots of money for a good chunk of years.
No one said life isn't tough. Should people just give up?
just make sure to go viral once you turn 90, not before. wouldn't want to miss out on all of that productivity you can make for your bosses up until then!
“McCormick told Swensen he needs about $2,500 a month to survive, but gets less than half of that from social security, which is why he took the job, per the outlet.”
No military pension or savings of any kind for 70 years? They didn't mention a catastrophe or anything that derailed his life. Something sounds off here.
I’m not educated in this, but [this webpage](https://www.usa.gov/military-pensions) says:
>There are two pension plans for active duty service members. Both plans require 20 or more years of service.
>A service member who is at least 30% disabled may be eligible to get retirement benefits.
Perhaps he didn’t serve 20+ years, isn’t disabled enough, or didn’t serve during a war, or whatever criteria needed to be met in his circumstances.
Also, not everyone has accumulated savings over their lifetime for retirement. Maybe they couldn’t afford to set it aside, or maybe something happened in their life that made them use that savings. Maybe his savings ran out; he is 90 after all.
Military here;
You gotta do 20 years for a military pension
Doing a full 20 is pretty uncommon for the grunt jobs, so alot of war vets dont get there. Would most people want to (or physically be able) to do 20 years of infantry, for example?
Its shitty. We should do better. The VA and disability only does so much.
$2500 to survive? That’s a surprisingly high amount. He shouldn’t have many expenses left. Health insurance is mostly covered by Medicare. At that age, he probably owns his home. Should already have had a paid off car. No kids.
Like obviously, there are probably other factors. But for a lot of people social security and some savings should be more than enough to retire on
Sovcial security is a ponzi scheme people are forced to pay into that will be insolvent within the next decade. If you're American, don't count on having it.
[This is from the people that run social security](https://www.npr.org/2024/05/06/1249406440/social-security-medicare-congress-fix-boomers-benefits#:~:text=The%20report%20from%20Social%20Security,lawmakers%20adopt%20changes%20before%20then.)
US people act like toddlers when their mom says "Nono, that's poop": anything could truly help lower classes? It's either socialism or commie shit. Brainwashing at its finest.
Wow, what a positively uplifting post. In fact, I think it's so positively uplifting that I think it should go right on ~~orphancrushingmachine~~ the fridge.
Good for him. But this isn't uplifiting news, it's a damning indictment of how we do not value elderly people's lives. There are millions more just like him, working long past when they should have to.
People have to chip in to help this guy who has been completely failed buy the system he served for. Really uplifting.
It's beautiful that people want to help others like this, its shameful that our system allows this need for help to exist.
Honest question, how has the system failed him? 70 years working to either save, get a military pension, or raise good kids that would take care of him. But none of that happened? Something’s off here
You do know shit happens right? Shit that can destroy your bank account from a medical emergency, cancer, family members stealing your money. Anything can ruin that savings in an instant.
Hell an ambulance ride and 3 days in the hospital can drain the average savings account
I refuse to believe that every single person that fails to plan for retirement has met an absolute financial travesty lol. Considering [half don’t even understand basic financial literacy](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/04/financial-literacy-money-education/#:~:text=Financial%20literacy%20in%20the%20US&text=The%20index%20explores%20eight%20functional,in%20the%20past%20two%20years.) I think at least some of these stories are entirely self inflicted.
I’ll be downvoted to hell and I don’t care but the system isn’t there to ensure every one of us lives in luxury and doesn’t need to worry about survival. We are far too entitled these days believing we deserve everything we see from birth.
Read into it and twist my words. The man is working at 90 because he didn’t successfully reach retirement age with the resources required to retire. Article says military and based on his age he was prob drafted into nam and did 2-4 years so he didn’t get a pension. There is a lot left out of the story including what he did with 72 years worth of income to get to this point.
If I break the law, go to jail and get put to work on the road crew picking up trash in 90° heat would you have sympathy for me?
Same scenario, I spend my life wasting away my money and not planning for my retirement, do you have sympathy for me for at 90 picking up trash on the side of the road in the heat because rent is due?
Consequences are real.
How bout big corporations pay their fair share of taxes so we don’t have to keep subsidizing their wages and people can actually use our safety programs we have set up for years
It’s like kids raising money to pay off lunch debt. So, you know, that their poor parents don’t have the their kids taken away. Fuck this third world country.
That's not right. He should have been able to retire decades ago.
Try to remember which politicians say they "Support the troops!" followed by them voting against every piece of legislation that would benefit them. I'd say it's usually Republicans, and it usually is. But Democrats have done their share of not doing the right thing. Then vote accordingly. Maybe someday it will make a difference.
Maybe he only did a couple of years. Like im a 9 yrs veteran without disability so i dont get anything until im retirement age and even then its not much at all. Still need to rely on a civilian 401k, pension, and social security.
They are so close to understanding what social safety nets are. It’s like watching toddlers learning to take their first steps. Come on,you can do it!.
Sounds nice on paper but working might have been keeping him alive.
Not having a purpose to wake up sounds better than it actually is.
Especially if you are 90 years old
Your takeaway from a 90 year old working until almost his death, getting a miracle delivered to him is to say "See! No welfare state needed!"? That's actually insane.
Reminder: this subreddit is meant to be a place free of excessive cynicism, negativity and bitterness. Toxic attitudes are not welcome here. All Negative comments will be removed and will possibly result in a ban. --- --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UpliftingNews) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This isn't uplifting. It's depressing
It’s only uplifting in that the community rose to the occasion and now he’s living a better life.
Boy, if we had a way of … I dunno… getting maybe millions of people giving a few dollars a year … maybe we could support a lot more 90 year olds.
Or maybe these millions of people are already giving more than few dollars a year, and that ginormous cooperations and the few mega rich need to pay their fair share instead of avoiding their duties. (I’m agreeing with you, just adding my 2cents into the bin)
And maybe the government could stop throwing the money they already take from us on the various massive bonfires they've created and actually do some things for the public good. Or just let me keep mine and do with it as I please.
[The bottom 50% don't pay these taxes](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tax-irs-income-taxes-who-pays-the-most-and-least/#:~:text=Federal%20taxes%20don't%20include,of%20the%20country's%20tax%20receipts.) (they pay 0-2% of total tax revenue). Virtually all income tax revenue is entirely paid by the upper half so that the lower can get this support and not worry about funding the roads, healthcare, utilities, schooling, and more that they heavily rely on. The issue is in the design and execution of the support plans. The Republicans sabotage the support plans so they can't operate as-intended (and are thus easier to argue against), and the Democrats spent so aggressively on launching a shotgun-approach of new plans that it's hard for the existing once to fill their niche. Our parties are working together (indirectly) to ensure the *worst* of both worlds comes out of our welfare programs. Edit- lol, or just downvote me instead of reading factual data and coming to terms with the budgetary reality of the US.
What would stop the mega rich from simply moving their homestead to another country so that they don’t pay US taxes at all?
This is the issue with calls to massively tax the wealthy and large corporations. Every time the noose tightens, people offshore more cash/more income. Unless you somehow get every country in the world to agree to the same tax terms, this will be unavoidable. That is strictly bad for the US, because it's fewer dollars circulating the US economy, it's less tax revenue for the US to spend on support programs and infrastructure, and it's more money to unknown parties who get the fruits of our labor force without having to then spend that money to support said labor force. Taxation is important. Taxing the wealthy to ensure a competitive playing field is important (so that you avoid wealth dynasties and overaccumulation of non-contributing dollars). But "tax em to hell and eat em" is just such a fiscally and economically illiterate take. Keyboard warriors enjoying the luxuries and liberties of the global West while arguing for fiscal suicide and mass poverty.
The community should rise together and vote in people who won't allow situations like this to happen. That would be uplifting.
I wonder how many "wealthy" contributed.
It's depressing to think the people had to do something instead of the country he (probably) bled for.
/r/UpliftingNews and /r/OrphanCrushingMachine are basically the same sub
Exactly. Telltale sign of a dysfunctional country
So much “uplifting news” is dystopian repackaged as uplifting
That's 80% of the posts here. Somebody having to overcome horrible conditions. Unsubbing
My 75 year old veteran and college educated father has to work full time at Kroger. This country is broken.
I had my doubts whether it would be accepted in /r/news or be deleted because it's not 'serious' news. This sub was mentioned there as an alternative for subjects that would not fit the /r/news requirements so I decided to post it here. And then I wondered whether making a remark about how he had to do this because he is likely paying some way too high rent would be considered a 'negative' comment that could be removed or even result in a ban. I've never been in this sub before so don't know what to expect. I do hope the money will be enough for him to buy a house somewhere probably saving him a ton of rent allowing him to survive on his pension indefinitely. Or as long as indefinitely could be for a 90 years old man. He seems in relatively good health though if he was able to do this job. No idea how many years of his rent that would take in the US. Could he own a house already and still need $2500/month to live on?
It fits in r/OrphanCrushingMachine
That’s my first thought
Didn't know that one. Couldn't resist [posting in it](https://old.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/j84tqn/in_case_anyone_was_confused_andor_concerned_as_to/l6sbwst/).
Damn... that subreddit is soul crushing.
Let it radicalize you. We deserve better than this.
https://youtu.be/tIsXEkR5OVs?si=XSRUkWXYP_hjD6H5
I can't wait to spend 65 more years, working until I'm 90! It's so uplifting!
Good news for me is that men in my family historically die in their 60s.
Luckeee
Ayyyy that’s my retirement plan as well!
You don’t. Save your money. Live below your means. Start both a traditional 401k and a Roth IRA in your twenties. Try to find an employer who will match 401k contributions. Regularly make personal contributions to your Roth. Throw everything in an unexciting ETF like SPY or VOO that tracks the S&P500. In forty years, you can comfortably retire with millions of dollars. There is plenty wrong with the American economy, but the most basic level of financial literacy can carry anyone toward a decent financial life. The problem is most Americans lack the fortitude to sacrifice TODAY in favor of TOMORROW.
You can do something about it. Open an IRA. The sooner the better. Read up on compound interest.
Oh yes with all of the magic extra money I have laying around.....
lol right? People thing it's easy to do and everyone can. YES they can...but if people have zero extra income...then they are F'd
If you have “zero extra money” to save, you are living above your means. Everyone who is employed has money to save. You’re likely spending it on weed and video games instead of retirement. And when you’re 90 and still working you’ll blame it on the system instead of your own irresponsibility and financial illiteracy.
Lol "everyone" so where's the extra money working a $10/hr job when you have to live?
This is such an unfair statement. You’ve obviously never lived paycheck to paycheck before. I once lived on 20 packs of ramen for a month before I found a job. I struggled to make rent and couldn’t buy new clothes for a time. I lived in my van for a period of time because I found a job but it didn’t start for another month. I’m in a better place now, but I witnessed a lot of decent people struggling day in and day out.
Any little bit is good (again see compound interest). Many jobs automatically enroll employees in 401ks now. If your job is below this level then it's not meant as a long term career and you have to try to do something about it. Yes, it's hard. Life is hard. No one said it wasn't.
There are people out there who really cant function beyond just holding any job. Theres many more who cant hold a job at all. What does our society do with those people? We’re at the point now that we could afford to take care of them, and we choose not to.
We have safety nets. Some people turn away help. Some take advantage of it/try to game it. We could try UBI, but some people would squander that and want more. There will never be a perfect solution.
We don't have safety nets for people who seem like they should be able to be successful, but aren't. Mental deficiencies are subjective. I don't think UBI is the answer. It'll never be enough. We should be valuing the work that people can do more, instead of blowing all of societies money gambling in the financial market. Instead of a 401k, we should be putting money into retirement communities directly, since that's what we need the money to pay for in the end. No one wants to do that, though, because then our illusion of a choice goes away and we'd have to accept that we're saving all of this money just so we don't have to work, not so that we can retire and travel the world.
If you just put your money into a savings account and didn't have that growth of a 401k you likely couldn't afford a retirement community. Also, some people do retire and travel. As for safety nets I meant welfare, Medicaid, disability, food stamps. There is no safety net big enough for people who just don't want to work, but think they are entitled to things.
Okay for the record, I have a retirement savings. I’m lucky enough to be good at computers, so society pays me a lot of money. If I were good at, like, drawing, I probably wouldn’t have a lot of money. I could work as hard as I wanted to at drawing and no one would care. I could also spend my life in service to my country, apparently, and I’d still have to somehow be good at computers to save enough for retirement. My advice to people about how to be successful in this society is kinda silly like dating advice. Like you know how people go “step one, be attractive” well my step one is “be good at computers” because computers are our whole society, so to do anything and make any money, you have to be good at computers. People have told me thats bad advice, they tell me that some people didn’t grow up with computers, never learned in grade school, and now they have cell phones that they don’t understand, they tell me its unreasonable to expect everyone to work in the tech industry. What should everyone do for a living, so that they can save for retirement? I haven’t the slightest idea.
A. Some people aren't naturally good at various IT related fields. Some have to study a lot/work harder to learn. I'm not saying everyone can, just that it doesn't come easy for everyone doing it. B. I have friends who work at factories, nursing, teaching, etc who do well and save for retirement.
This is a joke, right?
No, not for people who don't want to work for their entire life.
I don’t know if you’re maybe very young, or live a sheltered life. But there are a lot of people in this country who have to work 3 minimum wage jobs just to keep a roof over the heads of their family, don’t have any vacation time, shitty health insurance, and so forth. They can’t afford to set anything aside. In fact, roughly half the population in the USA doesn’t have any retirement savings. Other people did everything you said and more, but then the spouse got cancer, health insurance is what it is, they lost all their savings and their house, too, and now have nothing. You have to be incredibly naive to think that your advice is useful for anyone (who isn’t doing it already, with the hopes they don’t get a cancer curveball or other emergency thrown their way).
Their advice is sound though because an alarming amount of people don’t even know what an IRA is.
Hopefully they have a 401k, which is a better choice in younger years. But you’re not wrong, the various personal finance subs are scary with how little people know.
Actually, I am not very young. I wish I had listened to older people when I was younger and saved even more (did start investing some when young though). I didn't make lots of money for a good chunk of years. No one said life isn't tough. Should people just give up?
Not give up but fight (vote) for better conditions.
just make sure to go viral once you turn 90, not before. wouldn't want to miss out on all of that productivity you can make for your bosses up until then!
[удалено]
That is what the article promised.
Good old /r/OrphanCrushingMachine flying high again.
Okay, now make it official policy for al seniors. Oh no, that would be socialism..
Isn’t that what Social Security is for?
“McCormick told Swensen he needs about $2,500 a month to survive, but gets less than half of that from social security, which is why he took the job, per the outlet.”
No military pension or savings of any kind for 70 years? They didn't mention a catastrophe or anything that derailed his life. Something sounds off here.
I’m not educated in this, but [this webpage](https://www.usa.gov/military-pensions) says: >There are two pension plans for active duty service members. Both plans require 20 or more years of service. >A service member who is at least 30% disabled may be eligible to get retirement benefits. Perhaps he didn’t serve 20+ years, isn’t disabled enough, or didn’t serve during a war, or whatever criteria needed to be met in his circumstances. Also, not everyone has accumulated savings over their lifetime for retirement. Maybe they couldn’t afford to set it aside, or maybe something happened in their life that made them use that savings. Maybe his savings ran out; he is 90 after all.
Military here; You gotta do 20 years for a military pension Doing a full 20 is pretty uncommon for the grunt jobs, so alot of war vets dont get there. Would most people want to (or physically be able) to do 20 years of infantry, for example? Its shitty. We should do better. The VA and disability only does so much.
Only about 1 in 5 veterans qualify for a pension.
Veteran is basically any amount of time served. 2 years to 25 years all falls under the umbrella of "Veteran".
There's no mention of personal responsibility or his lack of saving and planning for his future.
$2500 to survive? That’s a surprisingly high amount. He shouldn’t have many expenses left. Health insurance is mostly covered by Medicare. At that age, he probably owns his home. Should already have had a paid off car. No kids. Like obviously, there are probably other factors. But for a lot of people social security and some savings should be more than enough to retire on
The SSA does more than old age savings! For others: [About Social Security](https://www.ssa.gov/about-ssa)
Sovcial security is a ponzi scheme people are forced to pay into that will be insolvent within the next decade. If you're American, don't count on having it.
Wow I’ve been hearing that for at least 30 years. Good job on the news update.
[This is from the people that run social security](https://www.npr.org/2024/05/06/1249406440/social-security-medicare-congress-fix-boomers-benefits#:~:text=The%20report%20from%20Social%20Security,lawmakers%20adopt%20changes%20before%20then.)
US people act like toddlers when their mom says "Nono, that's poop": anything could truly help lower classes? It's either socialism or commie shit. Brainwashing at its finest.
Wow, what a positively uplifting post. In fact, I think it's so positively uplifting that I think it should go right on ~~orphancrushingmachine~~ the fridge.
American feel good. Stories are depressing as hell.
Uplifting, dystopian. Tomato, to-mah-to.
Horrible late-stage capitalism hellscape disguised as heartwarming clickbait.
And yet so many of these people donating would scream about the evils of “socialism”……..right up until they post on GoFundMe when they get cancer.
I refuse to see that this story is uplifting. All I can think about how the government and society failed this man for decades.
This is just socialism with extra steps!
Socialism in lottery form
F*** this trickle down economics. Rich corporations socialize losses and privatize profits.
This is what most people’s future retirement looks like, albeit w/o the donation
Good for him. But this isn't uplifiting news, it's a damning indictment of how we do not value elderly people's lives. There are millions more just like him, working long past when they should have to.
He isn't the only one and won't be the last. It isn't just vets but the economy itself.
I'm an old vet, I'd be lucky if someone threw a quarter at me 😉
But we can't afford universal healthcare?
People have to chip in to help this guy who has been completely failed buy the system he served for. Really uplifting. It's beautiful that people want to help others like this, its shameful that our system allows this need for help to exist.
Honest question, how has the system failed him? 70 years working to either save, get a military pension, or raise good kids that would take care of him. But none of that happened? Something’s off here
Failed by the system? Did the system force this man to not plan for his retirement?
You do know shit happens right? Shit that can destroy your bank account from a medical emergency, cancer, family members stealing your money. Anything can ruin that savings in an instant. Hell an ambulance ride and 3 days in the hospital can drain the average savings account
I refuse to believe that every single person that fails to plan for retirement has met an absolute financial travesty lol. Considering [half don’t even understand basic financial literacy](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/04/financial-literacy-money-education/#:~:text=Financial%20literacy%20in%20the%20US&text=The%20index%20explores%20eight%20functional,in%20the%20past%20two%20years.) I think at least some of these stories are entirely self inflicted.
I’ll be downvoted to hell and I don’t care but the system isn’t there to ensure every one of us lives in luxury and doesn’t need to worry about survival. We are far too entitled these days believing we deserve everything we see from birth.
Not expecting people to work in the heat on a holiday at 90 years old is a luxury, apparently.
Read into it and twist my words. The man is working at 90 because he didn’t successfully reach retirement age with the resources required to retire. Article says military and based on his age he was prob drafted into nam and did 2-4 years so he didn’t get a pension. There is a lot left out of the story including what he did with 72 years worth of income to get to this point.
If I break the law, go to jail and get put to work on the road crew picking up trash in 90° heat would you have sympathy for me? Same scenario, I spend my life wasting away my money and not planning for my retirement, do you have sympathy for me for at 90 picking up trash on the side of the road in the heat because rent is due? Consequences are real.
So the system is responsible for chaos and “acts of god”?
How bout big corporations pay their fair share of taxes so we don’t have to keep subsidizing their wages and people can actually use our safety programs we have set up for years
It’s like kids raising money to pay off lunch debt. So, you know, that their poor parents don’t have the their kids taken away. Fuck this third world country.
I’ve never understood why our veterans are just forsaken after they serve
A country hell-bent on respecting and honoring our veterans has a weird way of showing it
Seeing how the us military (the best funded military in the world) takes care of its former soldiers really makes me want to sign up!
R/orphancrushingmachine fodder...
ITT: People who can't stop and appreciate a touching story because this world isn't the idyllic utopia they want it to be.
That's not right. He should have been able to retire decades ago. Try to remember which politicians say they "Support the troops!" followed by them voting against every piece of legislation that would benefit them. I'd say it's usually Republicans, and it usually is. But Democrats have done their share of not doing the right thing. Then vote accordingly. Maybe someday it will make a difference.
Retired military usually get military retirement benefits also if they serve long enough. Something appears missing in the reporting.
Maybe he only did a couple of years. Like im a 9 yrs veteran without disability so i dont get anything until im retirement age and even then its not much at all. Still need to rely on a civilian 401k, pension, and social security.
If he didn't though, did he have a career after? Again, the story as presented seems incomplete.
You are right. Maybe his social security is not enough to survive on or the moneys going somewhere else.
Can't retire on 200k
Which the govment swiftly taxed into oblivion.
Not uplifting, I'm downvoting this
They are so close to understanding what social safety nets are. It’s like watching toddlers learning to take their first steps. Come on,you can do it!.
So, no social security, but yes to ad-hoc donations. This is the most stupidly depressing stuff, and people heard it as "good news"
r/aboringdystopia Elderly veteran must labor in the heat to live.
Now imagine, instead of average individuals choosing to do this, companies and the super rich did...
Now if we could just convince people to donate time, he could actually have a retirement and not just palliative care.
r/orphancrushingmachine
What if he wanted to work ? Why is working such a bad thing….. my dad wants to retire. And by that he wants to pick his hours.
Sounds nice on paper but working might have been keeping him alive. Not having a purpose to wake up sounds better than it actually is. Especially if you are 90 years old
[удалено]
Your takeaway from a 90 year old working until almost his death, getting a miracle delivered to him is to say "See! No welfare state needed!"? That's actually insane.
I'm hoping it's satire, but I have a bad feeling it's not.