Working until they dropped dead kept the old people from becoming moochers and parasites, dontchakno [View all]

[kpete]

The elderly poor had it so good back in the day

Paul Rosenberg has a very interesting interview on Salon with Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson, authors of
"Social Security Works!"
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/31/tea_partyers_union_members_democrats_republicans_all_love_social_security_so_lets_expand_it/

...............

Rosenberg: You point out that before Social Security came into being, old age and poverty were synonymous, and old age was commonly looked at with dread. Few people alive today have any memory of that, but could you talk about that reality, what it was like, and what kind of difference Social Security made?

Altman: When Social Security was enacted, every state except New Mexico had poorhouses. I know that sounds like Dickens, but this is just 80 years ago. The residents—they were called “inmates”—were not working-age people, or children; they tended to be people who have been independent all their lives, but dependent on wages. When they were no longer able to work, if they didn’t have children who could take them in, they literally went to the poorhouse. It was often common at that time that if the worker died, the family would split apart. Orphanages were full of children who still had a parent living who couldn’t support those children. Often you’d see people begging on the streets; there were lots of stories about that.

Yes, these poorhouses existed all the way up until the 1930s.

Here's what the population looked like:





The second one is a poorhouse broom factory. Working until they dropped dead kept the old people from becoming moochers and parasites, dontchaknow.

Conservatives won't admit that this is the system we will inevitably adopt if they have their way. It's where their philosophy leads. Sure, some people will have children who will be forced to take them in at the expense of their own kids. And some people will make enough money in their lifetime to be able to support themselves in old age (assuming they don't have to spend every penny on medical care, which is probable.) But in the conservative/libertarian system this will be the inevitable end for a whole lot of people.

By the way, they are also trying to destroy disability insurance and are questioning whether mental illness really exists, so there are going to be a lot of folks in the poorhouse. They seem to be willing to spend whatever it takes to keep massive numbers of people in prison however, so I'd imagine that most of the sick, old and mentally ill poor could wind up there, so that's good. They'll have a roof over their heads at least.



More, plus links:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-elderly-poor-had-it-so-good-back-in.html