Seniors & Cost of Living

[Markor]

[TJ_98370]

Markor -

If you are saying that there is a disconnect between voters perceptions / expectations and reality, I would agree.

There is a "Yuppie Pawn" shop --- really? Maybe the irony of the store's name is supporting your point of disconnect?

[WestSideBilly]

[TJ_98370]

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This article reiterates what I said in earlier posts. There is going to be a widspread problem with respect to elderly retirees being able to afford basic necessities.



.....Nearly all Americans have felt the sting of inflation in recent months. But when you're retired and your sole means of support is a fixed amount that arrives each month — from Social Security and, for the lucky ones, a pension — the pain is especially severe.

Until recently, many retirees had assumed they had enough income to retire on. That was before gas and food prices began racing out of control......

....."By any measure, people who are retired are bearing the worst brunt of the economic slump," says Jim Dau, a spokesman for AARP. "Because they're living on fixed incomes, they're just getting crushed on food and medicine that they can't do without."....

......Just as inflation is squeezing elderly Americans, the one asset that's traditionally helped soften the impact of rising prices — home equity — has been shrinking as house prices have fallen. When home equity is large enough, homeowners can borrow against it. But lately, falling equity and tighter lending rules have reduced access to loans.

"This is a huge wake-up call for people who had too much expectation that increasing home values was the way to finance retirement," (Anna) Rappaport (a fellow of the Society of Actuaries) says. "The house isn't going up in value, and in many cases today, the mortgage has a higher balance than the value of the house.".....
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[Markor]

There's going to be a lot of begging seniors in the decades to come. All the Social Security contributions made from anyone 50 years old or younger today has been wasted on war to make the rich richer; there's nothing but IOUs in the vault.

On the plus side, we should see a move toward socialism that surpasses the one after the last Great Depression. Ideally it should take an amendment to the Constitution before Social Security money can be spent on something else.

[TJ_98370]

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.......Faced with soaring gasoline prices, agencies around the country that provide services to the elderly say they are having to cut back on programs like Meals on Wheels, transportation assistance and home care, especially in rural areas that depend on volunteers who provide their own gas. In a recent survey by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, more than half said they had already cut back on programs because of gas costs, and 90 percent said they expected to make cuts in the 2009 fiscal year.......
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