According to a recent report, after 2033 payroll taxes will pay only three quarters of scheduled social security benefits. Reserves set aside over the past 80 years will be gone. Social security provides at least 75% of the total household income for two thirds of retirees. Imagine what it would be like for most retirees to be living in poverty. Policy and congressional elites in Washington are talking about two ‘fixes:’ Increasing the age of...
Read More“Life is just one damn thing after another … you’ll never get out alive.” (Elbert Hubbard, 1855-1915) Everybody copes with life’s parade of problems as best they can. In her day, my mother kept a stash of 15 mg Phenobarbital pills for especially rough times. Today, some without insurance see alcohol and/or illicit drugs as lower cost alternatives to facing life’s challenges. In the pharmacy, I see the “lucky” ones with insurance. They take...
Read MoreWarning: The following contains disturbing images. Reader discretion is advised. Lorraine is short and obese, with unkempt hair and ragged clothes, missing and rotted teeth and suspect personal hygiene. Wearing dark glasses, her left hand holds a white cane that she swings back and forth, and a large plastic bag that sways to and fro. With her other hand, she leans heavily on her companion and slowly makes her way through the door to the...
Read MoreAfter a two-year courtship, I’ve finally been admitted to granddaughter Maya’s inner circle. I’ve always had a way with babies and little kids, and blissfully assumed that Maya would find my charms irresistible. Things started off well. At an Easter brunch when she was two months old, she became fussy after feasting on her mother’s milk. Anxious to be a hero, I scarfed down my meal, skipped dessert, and offered to take her for a walk. Holding...
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He called it red, but its color was closer to rose, or perhaps mauve. If it had also been a camera we would have a fascinating, sometimes humorous and ultimately sad documentary of the final years and days of a gentle man’s life. Purchased from a discount chain when he moved to the retirement center at age 90, it, along with a love seat and desk, were the only furniture he every bought for himself after my mother died. A model of frugality,...
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What’s the score?” I asked. “I dunno,” my partner said. One of the guys in the old guys’ tennis group had a dentist appointment and asked me to sub for him while the match was in progress. We played a few points and, hoping to get a better fix on the match, I asked an opponent on the other side of the net: “What’s the score?” “I dunno, but I think you’re ahead”, he replied. Even for us, that’s a little unusual, but in this case not knowing...
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