As a poor, retired senior of 72, even if Social Security is not slashed and eliminated,

[elocs]

how could I ever have faith or trust that it will be there when I need it ever again?
I'm sorry, but I would be a fool to do that. Fortunately I am in good enough physical condition, no aches and pains that I could get a job if I could find one.
Now I know why I see these older guys in the supermarket when I shop before 7 a.m. working there, pulling the product forward on the shelves. It's honest work though. Even bagging groceries pays $17/hour when I never made more than $11 when I was working.
Welcome to the new America that has changed forever.

I think we were guilty of the sin of national pride. We thought we were to rich and powerful for something like what is happening could happen here, to the United States. That happened to other once powerful nations, but how art the mighty fallen.

[LogDog75]

1. They're trying to make you distrust government

For decades, republicans have been telling Americans not to trust the government but they really didn't make that much headway. Now, by trying to eliminate things like Social Security, Medicare, etc., they can say "See, you can't trust the government." Their destruction of government programs for their personal economic and political gains is doing real damage to the American people and to our system of governance.

[LoisB]

2. Very well stated. I agree.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. for almost 50 years

[elocs]

14. If that's the case, then it's worked. Because I would be a fool after this to have blind faith

in the government. But Republicans are willing to play the long game to attain their goals.
Take Roe for instance. It took the right-to-life crowd 49 years to attain their goal and they never gave up. Meanwhile, those of us on the Left took Roe to be a done deal and all but a guaranteed constitutional right. So you got to give the right credit for their tenacity as much as I would disagree with their views.
My criticism of the Left is that too often, too many of us can be complacent about voting and over-confident about its results. I think last year that too many Democrats were overconfident and believed Harris was a lock to win because, after all, who but the maga cult would ever vote for Trump? We were complacent about the possibility of an election being stolen from us because we are too smart and sophisticated for that to happen. All of the swing states were close, yet somehow Trump managed to win every one of them.
I sure hope we get the chance to vote again, but I am doubtful at this point.

[calimary]

22. NO, Republicans. It's NOT the government we don't trust.

It’s YOU!!!

It’s YOU, DAMMIT!!!

[Meowmee]

31. Most of us know "they" are who we can't trust

They are looting our money as we pay for everything with taxes, including their salaries. They are lying and saying that there is mass corruption in these programs etc. but we know what they are really doing- 1- destroying the governmental structure with mass firings etc. and 2- looting the money for themselves/the rich and billionaires etc. and 3-making sure those remaining are loyal to the fascist king- it seems they may have not succeeded in 3 because people are leaking information about what is happening with doge etc.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. I'm 72 too...in 5 days.

2 months ago, I had my business, SS, and investment. Now, who knows? He's killing my business with tariffs, the stock market, SS, and home valuations.

[Tarzanrock]

4. So much "winning!"

It will be worse on Monday; then worse again on Tuesday; and, worse again on Wednesday ... it's a vicious downward economic spiral that one monstrously evil man, alone, has started and initiated. The downward spiral will cause higher and higher unemployment and upwards inflationary pressure which will most proximately effect the poor and the lower classes of what remains of what is left of the diminishing middle class throughout the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter of 2025 as the Trump economic recession worsens. It will worsen because there are no competent people in this Administration who are capable of retarding its downward spiral much less stopping it. At some point in early or mid-2026, the Stock Market will likely crash and the Trump economic recession will become the Trump economic Depression.

[erronis]

13. Agree with your general sentiment but not the "one monstrously evil man alone"

This is a coordinated attack on the US economy and society by a group of malefactors. That inept orange zit is just the figurehead who was placed there to utter inanities and perform limp spectacles while the country is being looted.

[slightlv]

15. They'd hoped they'd have all the idiot they needed when they got

SCOTUS to install GW as president. Unfortunately, he wasn't as stupid as they needed. Not even antics by Cheney could dumb it down enough to work. And then came trump -- the most stupidest, manipulative, easily manipulated man in the whole wide world and the game was on. PNAC on steroids in the form of Project 2025.

[Bread and Circuses]

5. Those 'old' people may not be as old as you....

Stores will not higher people over 70… potential injuries etc. are a real issue.

They older folks who used to work the cash register have also disappeared.

[elocs]

9. Well, I did a Google search to check out your assertion and didn't find agreement there.

Unless they are checking my ID like I was in college trying to buy booze, they're not likely to guess my age. The hair on my head (I still have a decent amount of hair there) is still mostly dark but like many men, my facial hair has gone grey to white so I dye it to make the carpet match the drapes so to speak.
So the long and short of it is they're unlikely to guess I am 72. I've kept in shape and look it I don't shuffle or have balance problems, still work out being able to do 100 pushups, in a row. So hopefully, if there's a job to be had I could get it.

[radical noodle]

39. I see older people working all the time

I'm in Florida, but still... older people are reliable. They show up. They do their best.

Even if you couldn't do 100 pushups, I bet you could easily find a job if you weren't picky about working in retail or grocery stores.

[elocs]

40. I'm not picky at all about where I might work. I picked up my first application today

and it's the same as it ever was especially when I have not worked for more than 10 years.
But going back to the point of my OP is that I just no longer have any faith or trust in Social Security anymore. But I also have too much time on my hands to think and worry about everything.

Oh and the pushups....when I started doing them a couple of years ago I had trouble even doing just 10. So nobody who sees me will feel sorry for a decrepit old man.

[radical noodle]

41. I admire your spirit!

And none of us should have to worry about our Social Security payments, but here we are. I'd probably survive if I didn't get mine, but so many others would not. I'm old enough now (77) that a full time job would take a toll on me, but I might be able to do part time if there was nothing heavy involved. I often think now about the possibilities if trump and the party of death gets their way, while it never really entered my mind before.

I might be able to get down to do pushups, but I damn sure couldn't get back up again.

[elocs]

42. Thanks. I really need to keep my house not just to keep from homelessness,

but my humble abode is a memory palace for me, the place where my 33 year old daughter grew up and there's not a place in it that I can look and not see her there at some point in her life. It means a lot to me and I don't want to lose it before she could see it once last time because it's the only place she has known all her life that she could still return to see someday.

[electric_blue68]

43. The point is an old peson Shouldn't have to ($) Unless they Want to....

Certainly various reasons for that: they enjoy that work field, particular job, their colleagues in an office, some other kind of team, etc. That's good, that's cool.
Or maybe for a bit of extra money

It should be by those choices and not the serious pressure of financial nescessity for a roof over your head, food, etc!

[radical noodle]

44. I agree, as I clearly said in my follow-up

Still, it's where we may be.

[electric_blue68]

45. Mine was a general comment of the situation; not at you to be clear. 👍

[Emile]

6. Predatory capitalists are salivating over the

thought of a huge pool of desperate, hungry and willing to work cheap seniors.

[Evolve Dammit]

8. That sounds right.

[OldBaldy1701E]

10. They sure are!

They know that they have corrupted the entire situation so that one either has to be a wage slave or homeless and starving.

There are no other choices. Of course, there have not been other choices for a long time now, but it is now that we see that having only two option is not working out so well.

We used to have more options, but those did not make the oligarchs richer, so they did away with those.

[slightlv]

16. Remind you of the pictures of lines of men

queued up, looking for work assignment handouts back in the 1930's.

[erronis]

19. More likely they are hoping for home foreclosures. Buy up the real estate at a huge discount.

Last edited Mon Mar 24, 2025, 09:59 AM - Edit history (1)

We may be evicted (busy sheriffs) and on the street while the piranhas are stealing our homes.

[Aussie105]

11. The very thought of needing to go to work again makes me feel sick.

At the age of 76, retired for 10+ years, I look back in amazement at how much I could do in my younger days, things I couldn't pack into a day now.

I mow the back lawn one day. Recover for the rest of the day.
Front lawn, the next day.

Today, walk the dog, do a bit of shopping. Marvel at the rising prices.

Sympathies to those who face going back to the 8 hour work day for $17/hour.

[DENVERPOPS]

12. Many places have raised the minimum wage...........

and all the Corporations did, was to raise prices by EVEN MORE than the minimum wage was raised, and cut the quantities As a way of saying: WE'LL SHOW YOU.......they needed to once again show us who is boss..........

With the Corporations and Government merging, which is the definition of FASCISM, I suspect the RepubliCONs and Trump/Musk will soon be renaming our country from The United States of America, to The United Corporations of America....or even better yet
The Corporate Tyranny of America......

[slightlv]

17. Oh, besides the prices that will blow your mind,

the "rightsizing" of the packaging is a shocker. Raise the prices, decrease the amount of product, and call it good. I hope there's a version of Dante's hell for these people.

[elocs]

18. I am happy with my decision to retire at age 62 and have gotten to enjoy 10 years of retirement.

I could have worked longer, but now, even though I need to go back to work to not become homeless, I'm glad I didn't.
Trump promised shock and awe and it seems that is one of the only promises he has ever kept.

[Escape]

20. A bunch of us in the same boat, Elocs...

I am also 72 and, for the first time in my life, I was able to put a little money in savings. Took forever to get here and now the new Nazis are talking about ways of ending the FDIC insurance for our accounts.

If he declares Martial Law, everything might very well be lost for all of us.

Surely, there are good people, in positions of power, who will step in to save us. Republicans would also be losing their Social Security, their life savings and even their homes.

It is time to start talking about "IMPEACH and REMOVE"!!!!!

It could be done quickly if a few decent Republicans could join the Democrats in the House and Senate.

I don't see any other way out of this.

[BidenRocks]

24. Ditch the bank!

Go to a credit union. We have the NCUA, not FDIC.
I spoke with the manager about chump just for some reassurance.
All I have is hope. 70 in April. Retired 6 ago.
I exercise by checking out different stores and price shopping.
I make simple projects last a while.
I quit sitting on a bar stool. That got expensive.

[Escape]

25. Thanks BR

Actually, we have the money in a CD at our local credit union. I didn't know there was a different insurer.

I will talk with them this week to make sure our assets are as safe as possible.

[elocs]

32. Impeachment is a relatively simple matter, after all, Trump has been impeached twice.

The hard part is conviction which requires 67 votes and we would need 20 Republicans to vote to convict Trump and that's just not going to happen.
We had our chance last November to stop Trump, but too many of us (Democrats, the Left, those who really love America, what it has come to be and represent in the world) were complacent, not vigilant to the true dangers of Trump and Musk, and we were overconfident as well that Harris would win because we believed that his core support only came from his maga cult. I believe there was cheating as well, not widespread but concentrated in the swing states but enough to swing the election to Trump who at the end of the campaign didn't seem like someone trying to win but was confident that the fix was in.

So we had our chance to be rid of Trump in '24 and it's highly, highly unlikely to happen any other way now with either impeachment and conviction or by use of the 25th Amendment (which is the reason that Trump picked the cabinet he did).

[onenote]

37. Impeachment is simple if you have a majority.

There isn’t a single republican in Congress that would vote to impeach Trump. So not so simple.

[elocs]

38. Impeachment without conviction is as satisfying as a hug without a squeeze.

On YouTube, I see constant cries in hundreds of posts for impeachment like by itself it would accomplish anything. Yes, it would take Republicans to cooperated even to impeach. So it's an exercise in futility.
Our Founding Fathers never anticipated a Trump and Democrats and those on the Left should have been more vigilant and united to stop him from even getting elected.

[Martin68]

21. This all assumes Trump has already won and we have no recourse. I can sympathize with this kind of defeatism, but I

thinks it guarantees that we will lose before we actually have. I'm a 73-year-old senior on social Security, and I haven't given up yet. The vast majority of Germans supported Hitler. Trump does not have that kind of support. Conceding defeat before we have been defeated is self-defeating.

[elocs]

33. Ever hear of "into the valley of Death rode the 600"? They knew they would die, but still rode.

Let's hope the rest of the world can learn the lesson of the United States and be vigilant to the evil that has overcome us. That is, unless we manage to destroy the world first.
Reality may suck but it is what it is.

[BaronChocula]

23. "I think we were guilty of the sin of national pride."

Yep. And it's not the bad things in our history that make us a bad country. It's the resistance to facing up to the bad things in our past. Of course, the more progressive an American is, the more they're willing to admit our transgressions and move on. But it's the cons who resist so they propagate their culture wars against racial minorities, sexual minorities, the poor and anyone else who isn't your prototypical American champion. That's a lot of people. And even some within that fold defend con policies. It's mind-boggling!

[CountAllVotes]

26. My friend is in her late 70s

She's working full-time in NC for a thrift store for $7.25/hr. min. wage.

Her daughter is a well-off dumper and got sick of her and her cats.

She bought some sort of a shed and moved her to the backyard not too long ago.

https://www.tuffshed.com/

I told her to come here, cats included. I'd take her in!

This is elder abuse! Some think everyone around our age is rich. Too bad they never had to work for $2.00 an hour!

[Captain Zero]

27. Purposely Traumatizing Seniors on SS

That's what this is.
The uncertainty is traumatizing.
The threats and rumors are traumatizing.
Any cuts will be traumatizing to so many elders who worked hard for 40-50 years.


No to One Party Rule.
No to the Authoritarian Rich.
Fuck Republicans !! Save the Republic.
Democracy Forever!

[CountAllVotes]

28. Right on!

I agree, this is purposeful.

dump and musKKK must go now!

[elocs]

34. "dump and musKKK must go now!" That's very, very easy to say. How would that happen?

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

[mnhtnbb]

35. That is true

Anxiety and stress are not healthy. Worrying about whether the direct deposit of a SS benefit will appear on time is not good for either mental or physical health.

It's deliberate.

[CountAllVotes]

30. Try it yourself would you?

Let us know how great things are going would you?

Buh bye!

[marble falls]

36. Looks like someone is trying to dodge MIRT! Good catch.