easilyscan

Very disappointing.

I feel the same way, but there are instances where people end up in less than ideal financial shape through no fault of their own. Nursing homes for their parents is one example. My parents started purchasing nursing home insurance back in 1998. Neither one of them ended up spending any time in one, but if they had, it would've been paid for. The average monthly cost for a semi-private room is $10,000 & a private room is around $13,000

It can be done. The company I retired from (Crown Cork & Seal) acquired Mundet Cork in 1963. Back then, bottle caps actually contained cork, & that's the only part of the business they wanted. Mundet also made insulation. Crown sold off that part of the business less than 90 days later. Because any other companies that came into contact with that insulation business after that, all ended up filing chapter 11, Crown is the last man standing so to speak, & has to pay millions into an asbestos fund every year. Even though Crown Cork & Seal didn't use asbestos in its own products, it is still responsible for the liabilities associated with the asbestos exposure from Mundet Cork. Crown Cork & Seal has paid out 100's of millions of dollars to asbestos victims through settlements & lawsuits. In 2022, the company estimated its current and future asbestos liabilities to be approximately $220 million. If that wasn't bad enough, in 1995, the CEO decided we were going to be the biggest container/packaging company in the world at any cost. In 1995, Crown Cork & Seal acquired the French packaging company, CarnaudMetalbox, creating the world's largest packaging manufacturer. The acquisition was made for $3.9 billion in cash. This merger, announced by Crown, resulted in a combined entity with significant global reach in the beverage can, food, and industrial packaging sectors. It was a disaster. Between that & having to pay into the asbestos fund annually, the company was almost brought to its knees in 2001. Thankfully, Crown decided against taking the easy way out (chapter 11) & stayed in business. There was definitely some downsizing, & some excesses from the past were removed. Up until 1996, anyone with 30 years service, not only received a defined benefit pension (regardless of their age) but also received healthcare insurance until age 65. There was no match, but they also offered a 401(k) plan to employees starting in the early 90s. Mind you, they've made some adjustments to the pension over the years, but today, they are still a fortune 500 company doing well & in spite of having high labor costs, as far as I know, none of the board members, or CEO have had to start a go fund me page. In addition to that, they offered an employee stock purchase program. After tax money was withheld from your check, & every 3 months you would buy shares at a 15% discount. The only stipulation was that you had to hold them for at least 2 years. Not claiming every company could offer a defined benefit pension, but it can be done. I'm a capitalist pig, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that the compensation for those at the top in far too many companies, has gotten completely out of control. And don't even get me started on some of the golden parachutes they receive, even when they fail miserably. May 12, 2020 at 10:58am EDT AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson announced at the end of April that he’s stepping down. Stephenson is leaving with a golden parachute retirement package. His pension is valued at $64 million with an additional $27.6 million in deferred earnings, according to the New York Times. This massive sum of money, according to MarketWatch, would provide 60-year-old Stephenson with “a guaranteed income of $274,000 a month for the rest of his days.” This is on top of his total last three years of an average $30 million compensation.

Thanks for the reply. We'll just have to agree to disagree. My opinion will never change. There's no reason to specify that an alternative lifestyle person will read stories to children in the library. .

Related: In the 1970s, approximately 45% of private sector workers were covered by pension plans. In 2023, it was only 15%

Fair enough. Is it possible some of those who spend so much time here have some type of disability, mental or physical that prevents them from leaving the house ?

No sir. I'm retired, but not yet age 65. My premiums are only $150 a month, but there's an $8500.00 deductible, & no coverage for dental or vision even if the deductible has been met. What saves me is a special HSA that's available to those with a high deductible HC plan. You can't use it to pay your monthly premiums, but you can invest it however you choose, use it for any healthcare related expenses, & can also use it for dental/vision bills. Once you reach Medicare age, if you still have funds left, you can use it for Medicare part B premiums, or whatever the hell they call it. It's triple tax free. Can contribute up to $5300 per year, it comes straight off the top for taxes, & it's also tax free when you use it, as long as it's for healthcare related expenses. God bless whoever came up with it.

AAA+ Q: When did personal responsibility go out the window in this country ? A: A long focking time ago

I gave you a possible explanation & that's the thanks I get ? Stay classy.

I use eBay's completed listings feature to find out the last price a card sold at. Apparently, there hasn't been any for sale on eBay for a while, because the search doesn't show any. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=2001+fleer+genuine+names+of+the+game+randy+moss&_sacat=0&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_Complete=1 Put in the specifics for your skybox card to see what it last sold at.

Some people may not have received their April 2025 Social Security payments yet, even though the payments are being issued throughout the month. This is due to the Social Security Administration (SSA) using a staggered distribution schedule, where payments are issued on different dates depending on factors like when benefits were approved and date of birth.

I have an insane amount of Randy Moss rookie cards, jersey cards, etc. One of my favorites. I have at least 2 of these https://img.comc.com/ebay-both/0be93107-b86c-41eb-bd93-12c8106e1884.jpg?refresh

Good times! I did something similar with football cards on eBay in the early 2000s. Bought a PSA 9 Dan Marino rookie card for $100 early on a Sunday morning, & sold it for $200 the following Sunday.

Early in 2015, myself & several other coworkers discussed Social Security. I was the only conservative in the bunch & expressed concerns over the future. They told me my worries were unfounded. One of the women decided it would be a good idea to contact Tim Walz. Not surprisingly, his response was less than truthful. TIMOTHY J. WALZ CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES FIRST DISTRICT, MINNESOTA

I propose they keep receiving it, but changes need to be made going forward. Partial privatization for instance. Partial privatization of Social Security involves diverting a portion of the payroll tax into private retirement accounts, managed by individuals rather than the government.

Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman of the year.

The scene in the bar is beyond description. Jenny Wright was so effing cute! Is a first edition DVD of Bad Boys with Sean Penn valuable ?

You got me there troubadour. What was I thinking ?

You mention that quite often, but never suggest/mention possible solutions. Do you have any ideas ?

I blew it off because it was a ridiculous comparison. Especially when you consider the fact that you're an Anti-chiro, Are you an Anti-dentite as well

Fidelity MSCI Utilities Index ETF (FUTY) If the shite ever really hits the fan, & the government can't just print money & distribute it to people, those people would make adjustments. As hard as it would be for some of them, they'd give up that cell phone, broadband, Wi-Fi, cable/streaming services, etc. & say I want to be warm in the winter, cool in the summer, & have lights @ night.

What would you have done if you were one of them ? I'll admit you brought up an interesting point regarding the contribution rate change in 1983. I would very much like to hear how that's their fault, & not the blame of Biden and others who decided to tax it. Maybe this is what you're getting at ? I can't find the file/folder on my computer right now, but I'm sure I remember reading an article that said the reason they were able to pass Social Security reform in 1983, was because those that would be affected were 13 years old at the time. Maybe that's you ? I'd honestly love to hear why you feel strongly enough to call boomers losers. It's certainly possible I'm missing something. Regards

That surprises me coming from you. One of the most ignorant statements I've ever heard.

You're right, there was another promise as well. From day one, social Security benefits were supposed to be explicitly excluded from federal income taxation. (A revision was issued in 1970, but it made no changes in the existing policy.) ex·plic·it·ly in a clear & detailed manner, leaving no room for confusion or doubt. That changed in 1983. Because both sides of the political aisle refused to stop dipping into what @ one time was a real surplus, by 1983 congress decided to tax up to 50% of benefits for individuals who had a certain amount of other retirement income. 10 years later in 1993, they decided to change that to 85% of benefits. The lowlife motherfockers have yet to at least find the decency to adjust those levels of income for inflation. Your boy Joe Biden voted in favor of the taxation both years.

It's a Ponzi scheme, & the so-called trust fund contains nothing but IOUs. To put that in layman's terms, every month that inflow's are smaller than outflows (which has been every month for a long time) the SS administration presents the US treasury with one of those IOUs, & since the US treasury is already broke, they have to issue more debt to cover it.