OT - Economy Purrs Extended

Purrs and prayers and love to all those who will be effected by the
discontinuation of the extended unemployment benefits *TOMORROW* (Ben is
included in that number) . The government has the money to build some
homeless shelters (but not enough) for those who will be evicted from their
homes because of this (not even to mention what their Christmas's will be
like). But they've decided to not use funds to extend the benefits.
Congress is deadlocked about whether to go the "tough love" (an exact quote
from my newscast) or the humane way - I have a suspicion that they won't
come to terms as quickly as tomorrow. Funny, we can afford trillions of
dollars to wage two unnecessary (IMHO) wars, but we're going to be putting
our citizens, people who have worked hard all their lives to make this
country what it is, out on the street in the dead of winter.

There's still the additional discontinuation of the Bush tax cuts after the
first of the year. I still don't know if I'll have a job or continued short
term disability pay and health insurance.

So, basically, purrs and prayers and love are about all we (collectively)
have.

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.com/rpcablog/

CatNipped wrote:
Purrs and prayers and love to all those who will be effected by the
discontinuation of the extended unemployment benefits *TOMORROW* (Ben is
included in that number) . The government has the money to build some
homeless shelters (but not enough) for those who will be evicted from their
homes because of this (not even to mention what their Christmas's will be
like). But they've decided to not use funds to extend the benefits.
Congress is deadlocked about whether to go the "tough love" (an exact quote
from my newscast) or the humane way - I have a suspicion that they won't
come to terms as quickly as tomorrow. Funny, we can afford trillions of
dollars to wage two unnecessary (IMHO) wars, but we're going to be putting
our citizens, people who have worked hard all their lives to make this
country what it is, out on the street in the dead of winter.

There's still the additional discontinuation of the Bush tax cuts after the
first of the year. I still don't know if I'll have a job or continued short
term disability pay and health insurance.

So, basically, purrs and prayers and love are about all we (collectively)
have.

America is fast becoming a "third world" country, thanks to our
(allegedly) "elected" officials! Why should THEY worry? Even when they
leave office - usually for a high-paying job with a lobbyist - the
medical benefits continue. The "middle class" in this country is
practically gone - we have the rich and the poor, and very little
in-between. (So far as our supposed "high standard of living" goes,
that's a thing of the fast receding past - I think the #1 spot goes to
one of the Scandinavian countries, with the U.S. rather far down in the
count, and dropping fast.)

You're right, it's so easy to forget about "real" people when your own needs
are being met quite nicely. It's *WAY* too easy to see "street people" and
ignore them by thinking, "they must be mentally deranged" or "they chose
that life for some warped reason" and just drive on by. But when you see,
on the news, a young mother with two children being cut off from any
government funds, funds people have paid all their working lives for, to be
cut off unemployment (and the jobless rate continues to rise into the quite
high double digits, if you count what the statistics don't show, those who
rolled off unemployment already but still don't have a job), *without*
losing her home first - then it gets you right in the gut what this country
has become and how little those elected officials care about where we go in
the dead of winter with no home to go to and not even enough homeless
shelters for who's already out there. Meanwhile all those elected officials
are so busy handing out trillions of our dollars on bailing out big
businesses (who continue to raise their prices *KNOWING* people can no
longer afford them but can't do without), and going to war on third-world
nations, all in *SPITE* of what the "people" really want, it's disgusting.

The "middle class" was the main portion of our citizenry who gave so
generously but now can't afford to if they're going to keep their own family
warm and fed. I have no problem with the rich who have fairly earned it(I
forget who exactly it was, but one very, very wealthy man left almost *ALL*
of his estate to charities without giving anything at all to his children
and grandchildren because he wanted them to fairly earn their place in the
world - I was amazed). It's the rich that will keep controlling our
governmental policies that bother me, and they're not going to do anything
that will touch any of their wealth.

At this point, I have no idea how we could fix this, or even if it *can* be
fixed, and raging about it is taking *so* much strength I just don't have.
It's just sad, it's so *****ing* sad that I just about can't take it any
more, but what can you do when you're just not physically able to earn money
any more? Our baby-boomer generation all retiring and getting SS from a
bankrupt system may be the death of this country. We've already spent all
our tomorrows yesterday.

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.com/rpcablog/

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


CatNipped wrote:
Purrs and prayers and love to all those who will be effected by the
discontinuation of the extended unemployment benefits *TOMORROW* (Ben is
included in that number) . The government has the money to build some
homeless shelters (but not enough) for those who will be evicted from
their homes because of this (not even to mention what their Christmas's
will be like). But they've decided to not use funds to extend the
benefits. Congress is deadlocked about whether to go the "tough love" (an
exact quote from my newscast) or the humane way - I have a suspicion that
they won't come to terms as quickly as tomorrow. Funny, we can afford
trillions of dollars to wage two unnecessary (IMHO) wars, but we're going
to be putting our citizens, people who have worked hard all their lives
to make this country what it is, out on the street in the dead of winter.

There's still the additional discontinuation of the Bush tax cuts after
the first of the year. I still don't know if I'll have a job or
continued short term disability pay and health insurance.

So, basically, purrs and prayers and love are about all we (collectively)
have.

America is fast becoming a "third world" country, thanks to our
(allegedly) "elected" officials! Why should THEY worry? Even when they
leave office - usually for a high-paying job with a lobbyist - the medical
benefits continue. The "middle class" in this country is practically
gone - we have the rich and the poor, and very little in-between. (So far
as our supposed "high standard of living" goes, that's a thing of the fast
receding past - I think the #1 spot goes to one of the Scandinavian
countries, with the U.S. rather far down in the count, and dropping fast.)

CatNipped wrote:

At this point, I have no idea how we could fix this, or even if it *can* be
fixed, and raging about it is taking *so* much strength I just don't have.
It's just sad, it's so *****ing* sad that I just about can't take it any
more, but what can you do when you're just not physically able to earn money
any more? Our baby-boomer generation all retiring and getting SS from a
bankrupt system may be the death of this country. We've already spent all
our tomorrows yesterday.

Actually, despite the mis-information being spread by the politicians,
the Social Security system is NOT "bankrupt" - nor likely to be, soon.
Of course, they could prevent that EVER happening by simply making ALL
wages subject to Social Security tax, instead of setting a ceiling above
which one is exempt from withholding. (You pay Medicare tax on all your
earnings, why not SS taxes, too?)

If the government would stop borrowing from SS and start paying back, that
would have helped.
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


CatNipped wrote:

At this point, I have no idea how we could fix this, or even if it *can*
be fixed, and raging about it is taking *so* much strength I just don't
have. It's just sad, it's so *****ing* sad that I just about can't take
it any more, but what can you do when you're just not physically able to
earn money any more? Our baby-boomer generation all retiring and getting
SS from a bankrupt system may be the death of this country. We've
already spent all our tomorrows yesterday.

Actually, despite the mis-information being spread by the politicians, the
Social Security system is NOT "bankrupt" - nor likely to be, soon. Of
course, they could prevent that EVER happening by simply making ALL wages
subject to Social Security tax, instead of setting a ceiling above which
one is exempt from withholding. (You pay Medicare tax on all your
earnings, why not SS taxes, too?)

Are you sure it's misinformation? I've heard that the only money going into
the system is that being paid by those still working (a generation with
*MUCH* fewer contributors than the baby boom generation), that there were no
funds already in the system and it will only get more and more broke the
longer we babyboomers live - and since this is the first general (mayhap
thanks to the Mickie D's of the world) who are not expected to live as long
as our generation.

If you do know where I could get information about the real state of affairs
regarding Social Security (like did they really raise retirement age to 70
already of is that just a proposal) I would really appreciate the link.

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.com/rpcablog/

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


CatNipped wrote:

At this point, I have no idea how we could fix this, or even if it *can*
be fixed, and raging about it is taking *so* much strength I just don't
have. It's just sad, it's so *****ing* sad that I just about can't take
it any more, but what can you do when you're just not physically able to
earn money any more? Our baby-boomer generation all retiring and getting
SS from a bankrupt system may be the death of this country. We've
already spent all our tomorrows yesterday.

Actually, despite the mis-information being spread by the politicians, the
Social Security system is NOT "bankrupt" - nor likely to be, soon. Of
course, they could prevent that EVER happening by simply making ALL wages
subject to Social Security tax, instead of setting a ceiling above which
one is exempt from withholding. (You pay Medicare tax on all your
earnings, why not SS taxes, too?)

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
Are you sure it's misinformation? I've heard that the only money going
into the system is that being paid by those still working (a generation
with *MUCH* fewer contributors than the baby boom generation), that there
were no funds already in the system and it will only get more and more
broke the longer we babyboomers live - and since this is the first general
(mayhap thanks to the Mickie D's of the world) who are not expected to
live as long as our generation.

If you do know where I could get information about the real state of
affairs regarding Social Security (like did they really raise retirement
age to 70 already of is that just a proposal) I would really appreciate
the link.

--
Hugs,


I heard on this morning's news that raising the age is something that some
Congresscritters would like to see this Congress pass before the leadership
changes. That would seem to indicate that it is not yet a fact.

--

Joy

Whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a
spot of ground where only one grew before would deserve better of mankind
and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of
politicians put together.
- Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels

CatNipped wrote:
Are you sure it's misinformation? I've heard that the only money going into
the system is that being paid by those still working (a generation with
*MUCH* fewer contributors than the baby boom generation), that there were no
funds already in the system and it will only get more and more broke the
longer we babyboomers live - and since this is the first general (mayhap
thanks to the Mickie D's of the world) who are not expected to live as long
as our generation.

If you do know where I could get information about the real state of affairs
regarding Social Security (like did they really raise retirement age to 70
already of is that just a proposal) I would really appreciate the link.

Not sure of the "link" - I'm on several "mailing lists" for politically
progressive newsletters, but I don't remember actually subscribing.
"Truth Out" is one, "Huffington Post" is another. There are also "Move
On" and "PDA" organizations, which post regular news updates. Try a
search engine - I'm sure it will lead you to information that includes
how to subscribe. (Or try the name in small case ".com" or ".org" after
it.)

Thanks, will do.

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.com/rpcablog/

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


CatNipped wrote:
Are you sure it's misinformation? I've heard that the only money going
into the system is that being paid by those still working (a generation
with *MUCH* fewer contributors than the baby boom generation), that there
were no funds already in the system and it will only get more and more
broke the longer we babyboomers live - and since this is the first
general (mayhap thanks to the Mickie D's of the world) who are not
expected to live as long as our generation.

If you do know where I could get information about the real state of
affairs regarding Social Security (like did they really raise retirement
age to 70 already of is that just a proposal) I would really appreciate
the link.

Not sure of the "link" - I'm on several "mailing lists" for politically
progressive newsletters, but I don't remember actually subscribing. "Truth
Out" is one, "Huffington Post" is another. There are also "Move On" and
"PDA" organizations, which post regular news updates. Try a search
engine - I'm sure it will lead you to information that includes how to
subscribe. (Or try the name in small case ".com" or ".org" after it.)