Article 43
Personal
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
I Give Up
“Losing your job at 50 or 60 is not good for your health,” says William Gallo, a research scientist at Yale Universitys School of Medicine in New Haven. “There is compelling evidence that no matter who you compare the older job loser to, he or she does worse physically and mentally.”
- Some Words About Stress
The pain from the pandemic will last years. For current and aspiring retirees, it may last even longer. Commonsense reforms to our nation’s retirement system will not completely heal the wounds, but we can take steps now to ease the pain.
- Boomers And The Pandemic---
It’s been about 20 years since loosing my career at AT&T.
I never financially or emotionally recovered, and abandoned hope of a happy retirement, but am collecting social security that covers part of my monthy expenses, and still have some money under the mattress for the rest, explaining why me and this website are still around.
It’s not like I’ve been jobless the past two decades - but they ALL KIND OF SUCKED except for one that lasted a few years, and came close to paying the bills.
Across America, TEMPORARY WORK has become a MAINSTREAM of the economy, leading to the proliferation of what researchers have begun to call “temp towns.”
EMPLOYMENT IS THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF SOCIAL STATUS, said the public-health researcher M. Harvey Brenner in 2002, the year he authored a major study that showed that unemployment is associated with a greater risk of death. “When that is taken away, people become susceptible to depression, cardiovascular disease, AIDS, and many other illnesses that increase mortality.” But a new study complicates the idea that literally any job is better than no job, at least when it comes to health outcomes. Instead, some jobs might only exacerbate chronic stress - and in the long run, disease.
This year I threw in the towel, and STOPPED LOOKING for work.
I’M TIRED OF THE STRUGGLE, the MEANINGLESS attempts to find gainful employment - to sell myself to others who AREN’T INTERESTED. I feel FOOLISH FOR EVEN TRYING now. When does one finally realize that NOBODY WANTS YOU? Just like all my other complaints, my job applications were falling on deaf ears. What a terrible waste of precious time. I wish I had the last two years of my life again - I would have done things so much differently.
My CALL CENTER jobs were the worst. They felt like working in a modern day sweat shop.
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It’s been a long road dealing with the depression, but I’ve learned a lot about the job market, people, government, and myself along the way.
One would think that posting your SUICIDE INTENTIONS on the internet would get some compassion from your friends, but sometimes it’s THE OPPOSITE.
It’s understandable as one moves from middle-class to poor some aquaintences will drift away - like your lunch pals, or bowling league buddies after you quit the team - but I didn’t expect real close friends. Some actually YELLED AT ME when I told them how I’m feeling. Those are the idiots that after I do pull the plug on myself - will probably say something like “I had no idea he was that messed up in his head. If only he would have said something.”
IF YOU PAID ATTENTION, you would see the sadness in her eyes, hear that grace note of panic in her otherwise commanding voice… These days, she buys the $1.99 10-ounce “trial size” jug of Tide to make ends meet. You didn’t know laundry detergent came in that size… You invite her to the same expensive restaurants the two of you have always enjoyed, but she orders mineral water with a twist of lemon, instead of the $12 glass of Chardonnay. She is frugal in her menu choices, meticulous, counting every penny in her head. She demurs dividing the table bill evenly to cover desserts, designer coffees and the second and third glasses of wine she didn’t drink.
Even marriages break up from financial stress, so I guess one shouldn’t be that surprised.
AMONG MEN WHO LOST THEIR JOBS, there was a 32 percent higher risk of divorce compared to those who were employed full-time, said the studys author, Alexandra Killewald, a professor of sociology at Harvard University.
SUICIDES ASSOCIATED WITH UNEMPLOYMENT totalled a nine-fold higher number of deaths than excess suicides attributed to the most recent economic crisis..
In 2013 I WROTE
FRIENDS rarely call, email, or show up to see how I’m doing. They know I need their support so bad. So why am I not moved to contact any of them? Because the feelings of inferiority turn to shame, and being absorbed in self-pity turns one selfish, envious and jealous at others’ good fortune.
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One thing I can tell you is the power of love can be transcending. Even for a broke, unemployed, suicidal, depressed senior.
“I SURROUND MYSELF WITH PEOPLE WHO HELPED ME KEEP IT TOGETHER”, so to speak, “when I started to lose hope,” she said. “I have one friend, in particular, who I leaned on quite heavily. Without her, and the counseling, I’m not sure how I would have survived. My family was a great help also. My dad, especially.”
BRITTANY ERNSPERGER’S DEPRESSION and anxiety were so overwhelming she couldn’t even wash the dishes. The messy kitchen made her feel like a failure, which made finishing the dishes even more challenging.“I walked by them morning and night and all day long,” Ernsperger wrote in a Facebook post. And just looked at them. Telling myself that I could do them. Telling myself that I would. And feeling defeated everyday that I didn’t.”
“This is what depression looks like. No. Not the clean dishes. But that there were that many dishes in the first place,” Ernsperger wrote in the post that has been shared more than 350,000 times and it has more than 17,000 comments since June 2018. “Three-days ago I sat on the kitchen floor and stared at them while I cried. I knew they needed to be done. I wanted to do them so bad. But depression pulled me under.”
As thousands of supportive reactions filtered in, Ernsperger experienced a new feeling: gratitude.
One of my two friends left came over a couple of times and helped me clean the kitchen. Even brought his own mop and bucket. He’s THE GUY I met at Sprint when we were both WORKING AS TEMPS. Like getting hit with a bolt of lightning and having a temporary NADIR EXPERIENCE, my depression lifted for a couple of weeks from that show of compassion. I felt so grateful.
TRUE EMPATHY inspires what sociologists call instrumental aid. There are any number of tasks to be done, and they’re as personal as your thumbprint
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As INEQUALITY keeps getting worse, GOVERNMENT and mainstream news may not be reporting WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON.
Whatever they say about good jobs being plentiful is a load of crap, and the low unemployment numbers that headline the news are an insult to anyone that CAN’T FIND WORK.
EVEN IN SOME of the hottest labor markets in the country - let alone lagging rural regions and former industrial powerhouses - workers, including skilled ones like Ms. Ward, say they cannot find jobs that provide a middle-class income and don’t come with an expiration date.
It’s bad enough being discriminated for being OLD, but now I can add anti-vaccer to my resume.
I’m not planning on getting any of the COVID shots.
COMPLAINTS of [vaccine] complications were ignored and despite promises by Pfizer that all medical expenses caused by the vaccines would be paid by Pfizer, these individuals stated that none were paid. Some medical expenses exceed 100,000 dollars.
Some employers - even though they feign they CAN’T FIND WORKERS - won’t hire antivaccers.
I think we can give President Biden some credit for that.
JOE BIDEN, unhappy with how many Americans were still unvaccinated, called the continued spread of the coronavirus a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” The narrative was simple: Get vaccinated and you won’t get sick. Don’t get vaccinated, and not only can you get sick, but you’ll be a threat to everybody else… But it was enormously divisive to the country. It was also factually incorrect.
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About 1/3 THE U.S. POPULATION IS UNVACCINATED FOR COVID.
I can only wonder what the number of people refused jobs for making the choice not to get the experimental covid drugs really is, and what BLS report they’re hiding in. The figure is nowhere to be found.
Another question is what BLS report does someone who got fired for not having covid shots get put on?
I’d be willing to bet both groups are counted as “not in the labor force” to keep those headline unemployment numbers nice and low. But don’t check the LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE or you may start asking questions.
OVERALL WORK RATES are lower than they have been since the 1980s - and millions of workers who dropped out of the labor force during the COVID-19 lockdowns have yet to return. A peacetime labor shortage has erupted, yet vast numbers of men and women are still sitting on the sidelines of the economy.
ACROSS THE COUNTRY, employers are firing workers for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates. Some people are opting to quit their jobs rather than take the shot.WHILE PILOTS WHO REFUSED to get “vaccinated” for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) were fired by JetBlue executives, Perrys was brought on to take their place despite having broken into the home of a judge and attacking and beating his daughter as she was leaving the shower.
In last week’s news
BOTH HOUSES of the New York State Legislature have passed bills that could pave the way for future legislation that will make it mandatory for adults to report all vaccinations and vaccination refusals to a state database… There is strong concern among health freedom advocates that the state government could use this registry to track COVID-19 vaccination compliance, with organizations like the Informed Consent Action Network warning that such a scenario is already occurring in neighboring New York.
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The biggest trick in calculating unemployment numbers is moving people ”FROM “UNEMPLOYED” TO “NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE”."
THE STANDARD UNEMPLOYMENT RATE equals the number of unemployed workers, divided by the available civilian labor force, at any given point in time.
JOBLESS PEOPLE are classified into one of two categories by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) - either unemployed or not in the labor force. To be classified as unemployed in the month they are surveyed, people must be actively looking for work. If they are not actively looking, they are classified as not in the labor force.
Jim Clifton of Gallup explained a few years ago:
THE OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENTE RATE, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading… If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job - if you are so hopelessly out of work that you’ve stopped looking over the past four weeks—the Department of Labor doesn’t count you as unemployed… That’s right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news… There’s another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you’re an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20—maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn—you’re not officially counted as unemployed… Yet another figure of importance that doesn’t get much press: those working part time but wanting full-time work. If you have a degree in chemistry or math and are working 10 hours part time because it is all you can find—in other words, you are severely underemployed—the government doesn’t count you [as unemployed]
There’s no other way to say this. The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie.
The other big trick is messing with the “household” and “establishment” BLS surveys. Read all about it HERE.
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Although medicare elegible, I can’t afford it, and even if I could, the coverage is PRETTY BAD for its $164.90/month premium.
Although the inpatient (part a) part of of medicare is free, a hospital stay is $1,600 copay. Over 60 days they add a few hundred a day to your bill.
Outpatient - doctors and things outside a hospital (part b) - the $164.90 part/month - covers 80% of whatever it is they decide to cover - but doesn’t include your head (eyes, ears, teeth) or drugs (part d) at all.
For an extra few hundred dollars a month, you can buy SUPPLEMENTARY INSURANCE from corporate America to cover some or all of the out-of-pocket expenses. Figure $400 - $500/month total for reasonable coverage.
The absolute worst part of medicare is - if you can’t afford don’t apply for medicare’s $165/month premium when first turning 65, a 10% penalty is added for every year you wait.
How cruel is that?
The government and corporate America have another thing (part c) called MEDICARE ADVANTAGE. It’s an alternative to medicare totally run by the insurance companies. Some plans may give back part of the ($165/month medicare) deductable, but 99% of the ones I found costs extra.
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The great recession hurt a lot of people, and a lot of stories here spotlight their suffering.
2008
“IT WAS A REAL EYE OPENER to see the caliber of people we were in line withvery EDUCATED with vast skill sets,” Easton said in an e-mail. Afterwards, we went to the restaurant located in the same hotel and it was filled with unemployed professionals sharing their story, from engineers to graphic designers to marketing professionals"… Across the nation, people like Easton are feeling the pinch. Good jobs have EVAPORATED. Former full-time employees are now working part-time contract positions just to get by.
2014
I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S WORSE. never having a career and family or losing them both. I know that when i got the honor of handing 20 years of hard work to the chinese it plunged me in to despair and a horrible spin. 3 years later and a college degree and ive lost my home and my family over it. and all i got was, you could have, you should have. so its all my fault that someone elses greed caused all this. by the way the corporate CEO that did this makes 7 million bucks a year. she caused 2 divorces. a dozen early forced retirements, countless career losses and multiple wrecked families. Im lucky i still have my RV which is home now. i used to have a nice 4 bedroom house with all the middle class trimmings. now i consider myself lucky to have a job where i barely make the space rent and no hope of recovering my former career or my family. i had it all and lost it so i dont know whats worse having or never having it at all and pining for it. either way it hurts knowing that no one wants you after you fall apart you’re just a hot potato. all i know is that im lost with no hope with a clean 30 year work history thats now moot. in retrospect i wish i had stayed in the saddle and kept riding my motorcycle till i was no more.
2016
”UNLESS A MIRACLE HAPPENS” Joe will likely live in his 2001 Chevrolet Venture minivan by the summer. He removed the seats in the back to make space for a sleeping bag, his laptop and some clothes.
2022
APPLICANTS SAY they’re being ghosted by recruiters, having their resumes eliminated by applicant tracking systems (ATS), and struggling to find remote work opportunities. At the same time, unemployment benefits have been cut off.
By the end of September, Holz had sent out 60 applications, received 16 email responses, four follow-up phone calls, and [one] solitary interview.
This year - layoffs are ALL OVER THE PLACE.
IT APPEARS that the tsunami of layoffs that started late last year is starting to accelerate. January was a horrible month for job losses, and major layoff announcements are coming fast and furious here in February. But of course the Biden administration would have us believe that everything is just fine. Last week, the government told us that “the U.S. economy added 517,000 jobs” in January. But as I discussed in previous videos that wasn’t what actually happened. The raw, unadjusted number showed that the U.S. economy actually lost 2.5 million jobs last month. That is a terrible number, but after the bureaucrats in Washington were done with their “adjustments” it magically became a gain of 517,000 jobs.
A WAVE OF LAYOFFS that hit dozens of US companies toward the end of 2022 shows no sign of slowing down into 2023… The layoffs have primarily affected the tech sector, which is now hemorrhaging employees at a faster rate than at any point during the pandemic
Just yesterday:
DISNEY is eliminating its metaverse unit as part of its plan to lay off 7,000 workers that will save the company billions of dollars.
I wish they sold suicide pills over the counter - something guaranteed to work quick and painless.
Take the pill, go to bed, and don’t wake up.
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Friday, October 21, 2022
Medicare Part A, B, C and D: What’s the Difference?
If you miss your 7-month Initial Enrollment Period, you may have to wait to sign up and pay a monthly late enrollment penalty for as long as you have Part B coverage. The penalty goes up the longer you wait. You may also have to pay a penalty if you have to pay a Part A premium, also called “Premium-Part A.”
- When Does Medicare Coverage Start?If you fail to sign up for Medicare Part B during your INITIAL ENROLLMENT PERIOD (IEP) and you do not qualify for a Special Enrollment Period, you pay a 10 percent penalty for every full year you fail to sign up. That means you pay 10 percent for 12 months, 20 percent for 24 months, 30 percent for 36 months, and so on. You pay this extra fee for the entire time you have Medicare.
- Late Enrollment Penalty, Medicare Solutions, 2018
Medicare Part A, B, C and D: What’s the Difference?
By Felicia Wilson
Curious Minds Magazine
Medicare consists of four parts, each serving a different purpose. Here is a brief overview of each part and its basic features:
Part A
Part A is usually referred to as hospital insurance and covers inpatient services of hospital stays. Here are the services offered under the part:
Hospital services related to staying overnight in a hospital
A person can be treated in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) if he or she is limited or cannot perform daily functions on his or her own and/or needs nursing care for a maximum of 3 months.
Skilled Nursing Facility(SNF)
In order to receive benefits from Part A, the patient must recuperate after an extensive hospital stay that was medically necessary and not self-imposed in an SNF skilled nursing facility. Medicare must approve the place before receiving payment for these services.
Home health benefits
Home health benefits allow patients to receive medical services in their homes. Part A covers skilled nursing, physical therapy, and home health aide services administered under a physicians direction and for which Medicare is the primary insurer.
Hospice Care
Hospice care is designed to provide comfort and relief to terminally ill patients. Part A has specific provisions for the benefit of hospice care. It covers the costs incurred for inpatient hospice services, including inpatient and outpatient hospice care.
Medical Social Services
Services provided under the medical social services part of Medicare are provided to the elderly, disabled, and persons with a mental illness. It covers doctor’s visits and care that is rendered in an inpatient or outpatient setting. This includes but is not limited to:
Medical Services Related to Unexpected Illnesses
This part covers the cost of services provided for unexpected illnesses that occur within 30 days of admission for treatment or recovery from a new illness. These are called “non-Medicare-covered acute illnesses,” that is, illnesses that require hospitalization and treatment if the person does not have health insurance coverage or other means of coverage (not including short-term or temporary coverage).
Part A is generally paid for by a portion of the Social Security taxes paid over a person’s lifetime. The amount of the Medicare tax paid is deducted from one’s Social Security benefits.
Part B
Part B covers fees for a physician, outpatient care, and outpatient hospital care if you have a Medicare-approved home health plan. This covers the cost of the services provided by your doctor, specialist, dentist, or therapist. Part B covers:
Actual Cost of Dental Services
The actual cost is determined using a process called COST-BASED DENTAL EXAMINATIONS (CBDE).
Coverage for Preventive Services
The Plan pays 100% of the cost for some preventive services, including vaccinations, flu shots, and breast cancer screenings. This saves the patient money and can also improve their health.
Medical Equipment
The Plan covers items like walkers, wheelchairs, and hospital beds. It also covers Hoyer lifts for people who need help getting in and out of bed. The Plan does not cover prosthetic devices or equipment like artificial teeth or eyes. However, a separate Medicare program covers stand-alone dental plans and contact lenses. Part B is generally paid by premiums that are deducted from the Social Security check bi-weekly.
Mental health treatment
The Plan covers mental health services provided by mental health care providers. The Plan covers only certain types of mental health services such as counseling, psychotherapy, and personal care services. There are different limits on what the Plan covers for mental health treatment.
Ambulance services
The Plan covers ambulance services, including transportation to and from the hospital (ambulance fees) and emergency medical care while in transit.
Diagnostic lab tests
The Plan covers these services that are administered by a physician who works for a Medicare-approved lab. Medicare does not cover blood tests that are performed at any lab other than a Medicare-approved one. Part B is paid by monthly premiums, which are deducted from the Social Security check on a monthly basis.
Limited outpatient prescription drugs
The Plan covers these prescription drugs that are approved by Medicare only. These medicines have been determined to have a low cost relative to their efficacy and/or benefit, based on studies performed by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Part C
Part C is also referred to as MEDICARE ADVANTAGE. It is the Medicare supplement program, and private insurance companies provide it. It helps save potential beneficiaries money and provides the benefits they prefer.
Preventive care
The Plan covers inpatient and outpatient services that are administered in a medical facility to help prevent illness and/or injury through prevention.
Hospital Services
The Plan has lower deductibles, among other benefits like Medicare flex cards. Visit this page to LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE BENEFITS.
Home Health-Services
The Plan takes over the entire cost of Medicare-covered home health services. This includes costs for inpatient and outpatient services, transportation, and rehabilitation services. For some beneficiaries, there is also home NURSING CARE provided by nurses that the Plan contracts. The Plan covers skilled care administered in an extended stay unit (short-term) and skilled care provided in an acute hospital setting (long-term).
Ambulance Services
The Plan covers ambulance services, including transportation to and from the hospital (ambulance fees) and emergency medical care while in transit.
Prescription Drugs
The Plan covers only medications that are approved by Medicare only. These medicines have been determined to have a low cost relative to their efficacy and/or benefit, based on studies performed by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Skilled Nursing Facility Services
The Plan covers only inpatient services that are administered in a medical facility to help prevent illness and/or injury through treatment. The skilled care provided is not always nursing care but can include physical therapy and/or rehabilitation, among other things.
Part D
Part D is a program that was created as a way to help people with prescription drug coverage. The program is managed by private insurance companies that work for Medicare beneficiaries. These companies contract with pharmaceutical companies for the medical services covered by Part D. Beneficiaries pay a monthly premium deducted from their Social Security (or Railroad Retirement) check. Some beneficiaries may also have an annual deductible applied to the monthly premium payment if they choose not to use their Plans drug benefit as part of their prescription plan. Here are some of the items covered by Part D.
Mail-Order Pharmacies
The Plan uses mail-order pharmacies to provide prescriptions for their beneficiaries. However, this does not mean that beneficiaries cannot use local pharmacies.
Prescription Drug Coverage
The Plan provides coverage for these prescription drugs, which are approved by Medicare only. These medicines have been determined to have a low cost relative to their efficacy and/or benefit, based on studies performed by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Some of the more popular Part D prescription plans are as follows:
Continuing Coverage
These are Medicare supplemental plans that cover certain people who were formerly covered under their original Medicare plan. Some of these groups include but are not limited to individuals who have had a late enrollment penalty applied to their Social Security check and those beneficiaries who have had a previous private Medicare supplement plan terminated by the insurance company. In some cases, a beneficiary might be ineligible for Original Medicare but can qualify for an approved Part C or Part D Plan. These supplemental plans can be valuable to individuals who want additional coverage beyond their Original Medicare coverage.
Concurrent Coverage
These are Medicare supplemental plans that cover certain people who were formerly covered under their original Medicare plan. Some of these groups include but are not limited to individuals who have had a late enrollment penalty applied to their Social Security check and those beneficiaries who have had a previous private Medicare supplement plan terminated by the insurance company. In some cases, a beneficiary maybe not be eligible for Original Medicare but can qualify for an approved Part C or Part D Plan. These supplemental plans can be valuable to individuals who want additional coverage beyond their Original Medicare coverage.
Creditable Coverage
People who have had medical coverage that they pay for themselves (e.g., prior employer-sponsored, retiree, or union) may be eligible to apply that coverage toward Part A and/or Part B. Some of these groups include but are not limited to individuals who have had a LATE ENROLLMENT PENALTY applied to their Social Security check and those beneficiaries who have had a previous private Medicare supplement plan terminated by the insurance company. In some cases, a beneficiary might not be eligible for Original Medicare but can qualify for an approved Part C or Part D Plan. These SUPPLEMENTAL PLANS can be valuable to individuals who want additional coverage beyond their Original Medicare coverage.
In conclusion, it is important to be aware of the different types of Medicare Supplement Plans available, the eligibility requirements, and how these plans work to make an educated decision on which Plan is best for you.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2022
The Expendable White Male
Back in 2004 AT&T layed off lots of inside and outside plant technicians, and replaced them with contracted techs.
A friend who was an AT&T executive at the time called it a transition to a FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE.
THE CWA UNION WAS OK WITH THIS, and encouaged layed off members to apply for jobs with the contracting company - doing the same job they did at AT&T - at considerably less pay and benefits, but still represented by them.
TUCKER TECHNOLOGY, INC is a full service Information Technology firm with special emphasis on providing full-service Telecommunications and Information Technology solutions to our customers for Voice and Data applications
Today, the Tucker Technologies website redirects to TTI-USA that says:
TTI is a women & minority-owned 5G telecommunications installation company that utilizes staffing & supplier aggregation to expand the nation-wide 5G network.
I see so many minority-owned, minority-run, and EVEN THE EEO SELF IDENTIFICATION PAGE for government and contractor jobs lists minorites first.
The days of the white male dominated job market are over.
In 2020 Time Magazine POINTED OUT:
White, non-urban, non-college educated men have the slowest wage growth in every demographic category.
That the majority of white men have benefited from almost none of this growth isn’t because they have lost income to women or minorities; its because they’ve lost it to their largely white male counterparts in the top 1 percent who have captured nearly all of the income growth for themselves. According to economist Thomas Piketty, men accounted for 85 percent of the top income centile in the mid-2010s - and while he doesn’t specify, these men are overwhelmingly white…
Thus, by far the single largest driver of rising inequality these past forty years has been the dramatic rise in inequality between white men.
It stinks that the gap between rich white men and all other white men is growing, - but if the point Time is making is that one percent are mostly white men - I agree. But this isn’t a post about the one percent. I see ads whose first bullet item is “must speak the local language.” For a job. In the United States.
A MAJORITY OF WHITE AMERICANS believe discrimination against white people exists in America today. Many believe its getting worse, even more prevalent than discrimination against black people. According to a Pew Research survey, 14 percent of white folks said being white holds them back from getting ahead.
In 2017 NPR WROTE
More than half of whites - 55 percent - surveyed say that, generally speaking, they believe there is discrimination against white people in America today.
“If you apply for a job, they seem to give the blacks the first crack at it,” said 68-year-old Tim Hershman of Akron, Ohio, “and, basically, you know, if you want any help from the government, if you’re white, you don’t get it. If you’re black, you get it.”
Add that to ageism for white male boomers that don’t have enough to retire, and the situation is as dire as when I ALMOST TOOK MY LIFE ten years ago.
2019
AS MANY AS 25,000 COMPLAINTS CLAIMING AGE DISCRIMINATION have been filed each year since 2008, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission… A work study conducted by AARP in 2017 found that age is the leading reason for negative treatment by an employer.
2021
THERE ARE SOME STARK DISPARITIES in both gender and race when it comes to SUICIDE. Men die by suicide 3.6 times more often than women, and the suicide rate is more than twice as high among Whites compared to African Americans or Asians and Pacific Islanders. The result? White men account for nearly 70% of suicide deaths.
The ENGERS VS AT&T LAWSUIT led to my first retirement kick in the face:
In 1997, AT&T converted its traditional defined benefit pension plan to a cash balance plan. As a result of the conversion, the accounts established for older participants were significantly less than the value of the accumulated annuities they had already earned under the old plan. The workers sued, claiming that the conversion discriminated against older workers and that AT&T executives knew that employees within seven years of retirement eligibility would not earn any additional pension benefits for several years… The bad news for those people who had their AT&T pensions cut from the cash balance transfer years ago - is they lost the 12 year court battle.
Over the years
WE’VE SEEN MANY LARGE CORPORATIONS choose to cut employee benefits whether that be pension, 401(k), or healthcare. Verizon created headlines all the way back in 2005 when they announced they would freeze their pension program.
[AT&T] Employees retiring after 2022 will be hit the hardest, as they will lose all medical coverage typically given to retirees. AT&T will no longer supplement monthly premiums for medical or dental.
Things like this may help explain the violence from so-called right-wing EXTREMIST groups of mostly white men like the ones President Trump coaxed to BREAKING IN to the Senate chambers last January.
THESE ARE GUYS that really think that they don’t matter in the world and have been tossed aside.
Some say it’s a conspiracy theory.
THERE IS A RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY theory called the great replacement, which says that white people are being overtaken by minorities and that this is going to cause a loss of rights for white people. It used to be on the fringe. Its been around a long time, but what’s special now is that that theory is embraced in full-throated fashion by major political leaders and also by major media figures. If you live in an area thats losing white population, you can start yourself to connect the dots to the spinning that’s going around with these narratives.
Not me. Like I said before - even the SELF-IDENTIFICATION PAGE on job applications I fill out lately defaults to Hispanic or Latino.
I lost a central office tech position because of EEO QUOTAS in 1988, that saved a black guy’s job who had less seniority than me. But I didn’t wind up hating black people. It’s hard not to notice most techs were white men, and coming from BROOKLYN where just about everyone black was poorer than me and my mom - they deserve a break.
IN THE BEST OF TIMES, many African American communities are forced to tolerate levels of unemployment unseen in most white communities. The 2001 recession pushed the white annual unemployment rate up from a low of 3.5% in 2000 to a high of 5.2% in 2003. During the same period, the black unemployment rate shot up from 7.6% to 10.8%. National recessions take African Americans from a bad situation to a worse one.
What I object to is the SYSTEM THAT CREATED THIS SEPARATION AND FRICTION, feeding hate and resentment between all workers.
Today it’s WHITE MALES being shafted in the job market along with THE GIG ECONOMY bringing everyone down. Before that TWO-TIERED PAY, before that the FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE with CONTRACTORS AND TEMPS, and the big ones going on since NAFTA - OFFSHORING and OUTSOURCING to cheap overseas labor that may have slowed down from COVID TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, and the RUSSIA/UKRAINE WAR - but after that will probably pick up again.
Let’s remind ourselves again, in 2020 70% of suicides in America were WHITE MEN.
The rate of suicide is highest in middle-aged white men.
White males accounted for 69.68% of suicide deaths in 2020.
In 2020, men died by suicide 3.88x more than women.
Not to mention
SINCE 2000, the suicide rate in the United States has risen 35 percent, primarily because of the significant increase in such deaths among the WHITE population.
[T]he death rate among men tended to rise in cities where jobs were vanishing because of competition from cheap foreign goods.
In 2015
A STUDY released late last year by two Princeton academics, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who won the 2014 Nobel prize for economics, revealed that the DEATH RATE FOR WHITE AMERICANS AGED 45 TO 54 has risen sharply since 1999 after declining for decades. The increase, by 20% over the 14 years to 2013, represents about half a million lives cut short.
What does my crystal ball think?
President Trump may come back STRONGER than ever in 2024 with promises of a new ARYAN world.
Remember these guys?
IN GERMANY, the Nazis promoted this false notion that glorified the German people as members of the “Aryan race,” while denigrating Jews, Black people, and Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) as “non-Aryans.”
But this fat, old white man, who isn’t happy with our system of rule, is not someone they’re looking for.
Nor would I want to be one.
We’re all human beings, and we ALL deserve a good life.
In 2011 OCCUPY WALL STREET was called A MOVEMENT TOO BIG TO FAIL, and I really thought it would be a defining moment in taking back our country from the OLIGARCHS and PLUTOCRATS that have taken over.
It wasn’t.
Then in 2020 we tried to roll out the President’s chair for America’s most loved politician - BERNIE SANDERS - who may have sold us out, and backed PRO CORPORATIST, REPUBLICAN LITE, FASCIST WANNABE Joe Biden - the same Joe Biden who WROTE ME in 2012 asking for a camapign donation after I asked to help the long-term unemployed - whose now our 46th President, throwing us into the WORST SUFFERING we’ve ever experienced.
I’m guessing a food crisis will lead fossils like me (and the poor, and the disabled, and anyone not FITTING the neo-fascist mold) into the gas chambers so the HARD WORKING Aryans have food.
IN MARCH 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a hurricane of hunger and a meltdown of the “global food system” in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine.
Guterres said food, fuel and fertiliser prices were skyrocketing with supply chains being disrupted and added this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe.
Rember what the GEORGIA GUIDESTONES said
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual BALANCE WITH NATURE.
Did you know
In many states, laws say that doctors can sterilize disabled people against their will. This is called forced sterilization. MOST STATES ALLOW FORCED STERILIZATION today. Laws allowing forced sterilization exist in 31 states plus Washington, D.C.... Sterilization is an operation that stops someone from ever having babies.
The only reason they may be keeping old people alive is because they’re big dollar signs to the drug and health care industries.
“In 2003, SENIORS IN MEDICARE MANAGED-CARE PLANS will pay an estimated $1,964 in average out-of-pocket expenses for health care, 10 percent more than last year and twice as much as four years ago.” (Marsha Gold and Lori Achman, Average Out-Of-Poket Health Care Costs for Medicare+Choice Enrollees Increase 10 Percent in 2003.” The Commonwealth Fund, August 2003).
Costs are expected to grow because scientists are continually discovering medicines to treat diseases of aging and people are living longer. The elderly population, now 36 million, is expected to reach 70 million by 2030. (Robert Pear, Prescription Drugs Now, Day of Reckoning Later, New York Times, 19 August 2003).
Today more dollar signs are waving at big pharma.
LECANEMAB is the first drug to help improve the symptoms of Alzheimers by slowing the disease. These are very promising results, although the only data we have at the moment is from the drugmaker’s PRESS ELEASE.
When famine is the issue, there may be a big fight between the companies that want to keep pill popping seniors alive, and goverment propaganzing there isn’t enouigh food for everyone - turning into a war between the young and the old.
And the old divide and conquer will go on like it always has.
IT IS AS IF millions of our fellow citizens have fallen asleep, as if they have become hypnotized and brainwashed by the powers-that-bes incessant managing and massaging of reality. These powers simply manipulate an already gullible and highly suggestible public into a game of “divide and conquer.” They get rich off of others blood - they incite conflict, and covertly support both sides, as they themselves reap the benefit of the conflict.
Chris Hedges PREDICTS
The step from dysfunctional democracy to full blown fascism was, and will again be, a small one. The hatred for the ruling class, embodied by the establishment Republican and Democratic parties, which have merged into one ruling party, is nearly universal.
By next spring, following a punishing winter of rolling blackouts and months when families struggle to pay for food and heat, what is left of our anemic western democracy could be largely extinguished.
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Friday, September 23, 2022
Fleeing America Redux 6
These Are The Best Countries To Grow Old In
By Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
September 23, 2022
NORWAY is the best country for RETIREES.
In this year’s GLOBAL RETIREMENT INDEX by investment bank Natixis, the Scandinavian country takes first pla
As Statista’s Martin Armstrong DETAILS, for the ranking, 44 countries worldwide were assessed, according to factors such as health, finances in retirement, quality of life and material wellbeing in old age. An index score was then assigned, with 100 points the best possible result.
Iceland is one of the biggest fallers this year. With 79 points, the island nation is only good enough for third place in 2022. In last year’s ranking, Iceland scored four points more and held the top position.
Switzerland stubbornly holds on to second position despite a loss of points, as this infographic shows.
The UNITED STATES DOESN’T MAKE THE TOP TEN, only scoring 69 points and finding itself in rank 18 (11th for Finances in Retirement, 17th for Health, 21st for Quality of Life, and 30th for Material Wellbeing)…
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Sunday, March 20, 2022
Psychogenic Death
I’ve THOUGHT about and WRITTEN about SUICIDE so many times, that it’s HARD TO DECIDE if I’m a whiner like teenagers that slit their wrists for attention, or deserve a medal for fighting the urge to kill myself year after year.
- Lost All Hope, 2018
LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT is a terrible TRAUMA. Especially when you’re a single middle-class-turned-poor American fearing a retirement of hunger and homelessness. When it lingers for years - and the universe DOESN’T OPEN A DOOR to help you out - all the self help tricks to try to get your head on strait - fail. Even hope turns to resentment after a while. Your friends give up on you. That’s my experience anyway. And now I’m pretty old - maybe too old to work. Despondency crushed my spirit, I lost the will to live, and came close to suicide. If we can will ourselves to death, I’d be gone.
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You can die simply by giving up the will to live, suggests new research
The five stages of psychogenic death aka, “give-up-itis.”
By Paul Ratner
Big Think
October 2, 2018
Can you die simply by giving up the will to live? Yes, concludes a new study, led by Dr. John Leach from the University of Portsmouth in the UK.
The first-of-its-kind study looked at the phenomenon of “give-up-itis” a word used for what is medically known as “psychogenic death.”
How is this possible? The research says “give-up-itis” can be catalyzed by a trauma that seems inescapable, with death appearing as a rational and inevitable thing to do. Without an interference, death can happen in as little as three days after the initial withdrawal from life.
What’s important to note about this condition is that it’s not the same as suicide.
“Psychogenic death is real,” said Dr. Leach. It isn’t suicide, it isn’t linked to depression, but the act of giving up on life and dying usually within days, is a very real condition often linked to severe trauma.”
The doctor thinks give-up-itis could be caused by a change in the anterior cingulate circuit - a frontal-subcortical circuit of the brain, which controls motivation and the person’s goal-oriented behavior.
Severe trauma might trigger some people’s anterior cingulate circuit to malfunction, explained Dr. Leach. “Motivation is essential for coping with life and if that fails, apathy is almost inevitable.”
But death does not have to be inevitable even if you fall victim to “give-up-itis.” Different INTERVENTIONS LIKE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY that can give the person some sense of regaining choice and control can break the terrible cycle by releasing dopamine.
Dr. Leach identified five stages of progressing psychological decline leading to death.
1. Social withdrawal - this usually follows a psychological trauma and can be considered a way of coping, according to Dr. Leach. This very passive state is marked by withdrawal from social interaction, emotionlessness, indifference, and self-absorption. Former POWs are often in this state right after being captured.
2. Apathy a person in this state exhibits serious melancholy and LACK OF ENERGY, as if they no longer wish to preserve themselves. This goes along with not putting forth efforts towards much of anything, especially bathing.
3. Aboulia - this is when a person not only severely lacks motivation, but also has almost no emotional response to the point of no wanting to speak. The sufferer becomes extremely withdrawn into themselves and has no desire or ability to help themselves or others.
Dr. Leach described aboulia as if having “an empty mind” or a consciousness devoid of content. THE MIND ESSENTIALLY GOES ON STANDBY.
4. Psychic akinesia - this state is reached when a person is conscious but is in such profound apathy that even extreme pain like from getting hit will prompt no response. A person in psychic akinesia would not only not bathe but often just lie in their own waste, found the researchers.
5. Psychogenic death - this final stage involves the person’s complete giving up and subsequent disintegration. Dr.Leach said that someone who reached this stage might be lying in their own excreta and nothing - no warning, no beating, no pleading can make them want to live.
Prisoners in concentration camps were known to reach this last stage when they’d take out a hidden cigarette to smoke. As cigarettes were extremely valuable and could be traded for things like food, a person smoking one was regarded as having truly given up. Their death would usually follow within several days.
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