Respect for Old people

[Rockstar]

[CushiticReflections]

There's a certain amount of respect and tenderness I feel towards the elderly. While I might feel that way initially, a very rude elderly person would still annoy me but I tend to treat them more carefully than others. It seems as though ageism is very prominent in our (Western) society and it might be related to the prevalent fear of aging and death.

In Western culture, it also seems as though the elderly are seen as being less valued members of society and are at times seen as even burdens by their own family members. I've seen elderly people who seem to be isolated, impoverished, and fragile (not saying all elderly people are this way). It really breaks my heart when I see those who clearly need someone to take care of them but have no one to do so. Even if they were able to receive care from a nurse, it's not the same as being loved and cared for by your own blood. I'm rambling as usual but my point is that I have a soft spot for the elderly.

[Navy9]

On Sep 15th, it is a national holiday in Japan to honor senior citizens.

[Hyperactive]

فthey are so cute. i love listening to them after salat, trying to catch up. they may cranky but yet to see an eldery who holds a grudge.

[Grant]

With respect to age and the West, you folks are seriously all wet: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/ec ... 51098910/1 There are folks planning retirements to last them well past 100.

And then there's this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... idens.html

[Rockstar]

With respect to age and the West, you folks are seriously all wet: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/ec ... 51098910/1 There are folks planning retirements to last them well past 100.

And then there's this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... idens.html

All the more reason to have them done away with, and impose a 100% tax on inheritance.

[Grant]

So the kids and government can fight over something they never earned?

[Rockstar]

So the kids and government can fight over something they never earned?

Never earned? Everything this generation earns is syphoned off by the grey folks. Come on.

[Grant]

Beg your Pardon Somebody didn't read the wealth article. The old folks aren't siphoning; they have.

[Rabshoole]

On Sep 15th, it is a national holiday in Japan to honor senior citizens.

Kudos! to japan, too bad to the rest of the world.

[zulaika]

I have only ever seen 3 somali elders past 60... somalis generally do not live that long

Both my grandmothers passed away well over 60. And I've seen many Somali elders over 60, it's not uncommon

[Rockstar]

Beg your Pardon Somebody didn't read the wealth article. The old folks aren't siphoning; they have.

The report, coming out before the Nov. 23 deadline for a special congressional committee to propose $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years, casts a spotlight on a government safety net that has buoyed older Americans on Social Security and Medicare amid wider cuts to education and other programs, including cash assistance for poor families.

"It makes us wonder whether the extraordinary amount of resources we spend on retirees and their health care should be at least partially reallocated to those who are hurting worse than them," said Harry Holzer, a labor economist and public policy professor at Georgetown University who called the magnitude of the wealth gap "striking."

Very fair, isn't it? They earned it, right? Fuck the younger generations, right?

For young adults, the main asset is their home. Their housing wealth dropped 31% 1984, the result of increased debt and falling home values. In contrast, Americans 65 or older were more likely to have bought homes long before the housing boom and thus saw a 57% gain in housing wealth even after the bust.

I don't know how the housing market is in the US, but here, we currently have a bubble. It is benefiting nobody but the rich and old. Old, rich retirees have the market cornered. They buy more properties, and rent them out an exorbitant rates. The rat race and the poor getting poorer benefits them directly.

Older Americans are staying in jobs longer, while young adults now face the highest unemployment since World War II. As a result, the median income of older-age households since 1967 has grown at four times the rate of those headed by the under-35 age group.

Social Security benefits account for 55% of the annual income for older-age households, unchanged since 1984. The retirement benefits, which are indexed for inflation, have been a consistent source of income even as safety-net benefits for other groups such as low-income students have failed to keep up with rising costs or begun to fray. The congressional supercommittee that is proposing budget cuts has been reviewing whether to trim college aid programs, such as by restricting eligibility or charging students interest on loans while they are still in school.

Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty, noted skyrocketing college tuition costs, which come as many strapped state governments cut support for public universities. Federal spending on Pell Grants to low-income students has risen somewhat, but covers a diminishing share of the actual cost of attending college.

"The elderly have a comprehensive safety net that most adults, especially young adults, lack," Danziger said.

Cut everything except what the old people want, right? I mean they earned it, right?

This is the greatest movement of wealth from the poor, younger generation, to the older and richer generation. You will have a young generation who will not better what their parents accomplished. If this isn't siphoning off, I don't know what is.

[Grant]

Rocky,

What you fail to understand is that social security is an entitlement, something we retired folks paid into all our working lives. It's a siphon only in the sense that the government didn't invest the money and has to rely on new payroll taxes to make the payments. It is a social contract spanning generations that you apparently do not have where you live.

The larger part of the equation is the savings, 401Ks and other retirement plans retirees have invested in. These are in no way part of the siphon, and, in fact, provide much of the capital that keeps the economy flowing for the rest of you.

Frankly, you sound to me like a lazy, envious, bililiqo-addicted nut-job. Try somewhere else. Killing people here in order to take their assets is regarded as murder and theft and is appropriately dealt with. The US does not provide your kind of cayd.

[Rockstar]

Rocky,

What you fail to understand is that social security is an entitlement, something we retired folks paid into all our working lives. It's a siphon only in the sense that the government didn't invest the money and has to rely on new payroll taxes to make the payments. It is a social contract spanning generations that you apparently do not have where you live.

The larger part of the equation is the savings, 401Ks and other retirement plans retirees have invested in. These are in no way part of the siphon, and, in fact, provide much of the capital that keeps the economy flowing for the rest of you.

Frankly, you sound to me like a lazy, envious, bililiqo-addicted nut-job. Try somewhere else. Killing people here in order to take their assets is regarded as murder and theft and is appropriately dealt with. The US does not provide your kind of cayd.

You have been here too long. I sound like a crypto-fascist,not a bililiqo-addicted nut-job.

I forgot you were retired. It just means you are bias in your responses. The money you paid into the system, has been raided and never invested by people of your generation. It is a generational crime. We have to foot the bill, so that you with your 401Ks and wealth can get even more benefits. You don't keep the economy afloat, you are a net drain on it. Without all the old people in Japan, it would not be in the red. In fact, it would be one of the richest society on earth.

[Grant]

SXB,

You have a lot to learn.

The net contribution in pounds sterling of the elderly in Britain:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011 ... lunteering

The national treasures of Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Li ... 8crafts%29