BS: Of course this won't affect McCain

Subject: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Bert
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 04:49 PM

Bankruptcies soar for senior citizens
By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Writer
2 HOURS AGO
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - First came the health problems. Then, unable to work, Ada Noda watched the bills pile up. And then, suffocating in debt, the 80-year-old did something she never thought she'd be forced to do.

She declared bankruptcy.

While the bankruptcy filing rate for those under 55 has fallen, it has soared for older Americans, according to a new analysis from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, which examined a sampling of noncommercial bankruptcies filed between 1991 and 2007.

The older the age group, the worse it got _ people 65 and up became more than twice as likely to file during that period, and the filing rate for those 75 and older more than quadrupled.

"Older Americans are hit by a one-two punch of jobs and medical problems and the two are often intertwined," said Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor who was one of the authors of the study. "They discover that they must work to keep some form of economic balance and when they can't, they're lost."

That's precisely what happened to Noda. She worked all her life, on a hospital's housekeeping staff, and later selling boat tickets to tourists. She cut corners when she needed to but always paid the bills she neatly logged in a ledger.

"I was born during the Depression," she said. "I paid the bills whether I ate or didn't, whether I went to the doctor or not."

It all worked fine for Noda, a widow for 23 years, until she was forced to undergo double-bypass surgery and deal with respiratory problems. She started using two credit cards more frequently for food and bills. Before long, she was $8,000 in debt and behind on car payments.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: bobad
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 05:03 PM

It's been said before but I'll say it again - the fact that the US, arguably the wealthiest country in the world, does not provide universal, tax payer funded, health care for it's citizens is an abomination - which, hopefully, will be corrected by the election of Barack Obama to the office of president.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 05:55 PM

Not if Lockheed Martin and its cousins have anything to say about how we split the pie.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: olddude
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 05:58 PM

bobad
I could not agree stronger ... it is a disgrace, we end up doing fundraisers for someone who has a crushing medical bills. The family has to deal with the illness and the resulting financial devastation that goes with it. You can judge the greatness or weakness of a country by how they take care of their poor, sick and elderly. We so far have been dropping the ball

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 06:32 PM

Yup. We are supposedly 'upper middle class' and I can't afford to go to the Dr a LOT. I'm not even on Medicare yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 08:03 PM

I AM on Medicare, and so is my wife...and I (we) have to watch every penny. Neither of us could keep this house with only one of our Medicare checks. We were fortunate that we inherited a house from her mom, and were able to pay THIS one off....now we are occasionally borrowing against the value and barely paying the taxes & utility bills. ANY major problem or health emergency could sink us quickly.

Any guesses why I will be voting Democratic?

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Amos
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 08:49 PM

What WILL effect McCain is when enough people get sick of this kind of bull and vote for Obama.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: kendall
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 09:45 PM

Only if they can get past the fear that the right wing has stirred up.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Riginslinger
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 09:49 PM

Health care is one of the things that has needed to be addressed for a very long time. But if someone were really concerned about it, it seems funny to me that they wouldn't have supported Hillary in the first place.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: CarolC
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 09:58 PM

I would think that if they were really concerned about it, they would have supported Kucinich.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Riginslinger
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 10:07 PM

Yes, Carol, you're certainly right about that. I was only thinking of Hillary's efforts in the past, but Kucinich definately has a more effective approach.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 01:24 PM

Last time I cheked teh only candidate arguing for a publicly funded health sevice in teh USA was Kucinich. Obama was another of the ones who vaguely hoped that encouragement would get the market solution to the right place and the poor (with no money to buy insurance with its many and varied get-out cluases) could be legally obliged to take it out. Yeah right...

Or has he since publicly endorsed taxpayer funded free universal health care (the only civilised solution) while I wasn't looking?

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Susu's Hubby
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 01:30 PM

"taxpayer funded free universal health care"

There is so much wrong with that phrase.


Hubby

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Susu's Hubby
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 01:50 PM

Description: Modular furniture manfacturer with more than 50 sales outlets
Founders: Shawn Nelson, 28
Location: Salt Lake City
2004 projected sales: More than $30 million
http://www.lovesac.com

A Bag Is Born: At age 18, Shawn Nelson was watching TV on the couch when he decided "a huge beanbag thing" might be more comfortable. He bought 14 yards of vinyl, cut it into a baseball shape, and spent three weeks filling it with anything soft he could find. The finished LoveSac was 7 feet wide, and everyone who saw it tried it out--and loved it.
Pocket Power: When neighbors started placing orders, Nelson decided to start his company almost as a joke. With free help from his friends, he made the LoveSacs in his parents' basement and sold them at trade shows, events and even the drive-in. Business was moderate at best, until he got a call on his cell phone that changed his life: a quarter-million-dollar order from Too Inc., which was looking for a back-to-school offering for its Limited Too stores. "I answered the phone and said, 'Twelve thousand LoveSacs? Sure, no problem. That's what we do; we're the best in the world at it,'" remembers Nelson.
Hard Road: Undaunted, Nelson amassed $50,000 in credit card debt building a factory. He worked 19-hour days and slept at the factory. "It nearly broke me emotionally, physically, mentally," Nelson says. "My hands were cracked and bleeding. We finished the order [for Too Inc.] but ate up all our profits." Just when things seemed darkest, a deceptively simple idea presented itself: Open a mall store. Not just any store, but one designed from the beginning to look like an upscale chain--even before it was a chain. It paid off: With some 55 stores, about half of them franchised, LoveSac is looking at sales topping $30 million this year.
Looking Forward: "We're headed toward owning [the market for] oversized living," says Nelson, who dispenses with all modesty where his business is concerned. "We're going to have a catalog that'll be three inches thick, selling everything that's over-the-top, bling-bling, LoveSac-get-out-of-our-freaking-way."
Unstoppable: No one fully expected LoveSac's success-not even Nelson himself. He says being committed to solving any problem is vital to his--and any entrepreneur's-success. "Decide that there is always a way," he says, "and you'll find that there is."

This story is from Entrepreneur.com

I guess there are stories on both sides of the table.

I wonder whose fault this was that he succeeded?

We need to get to the bottom of this and right now!

Hubby

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: CarolC
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 02:05 PM

The issue isn't whether or not people are working hard, or even whether or not they are succeeding. The issue is whether or not, despite their hard work and success, they can get adequate health coverage.

The answer is, at this point in US history, most people cannot.

People shouldn't think that just because they are successful and have good insurance, that they will be covered in the event of serious illness. Because there are many people who fit this description who are finding out that they are not covered even though they thought they were.

And there are others who can't get any insurance because of pre-existing conditions.


But even people who are less financially successful, but who work hard, even those people need and should receive adequate medical care. There's no reason in the world why they shouldn't. And not making sure they have that care doesn't just hurt them. It hurts all of us, right in the pocket book.

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 02:05 PM

What does a poorly written article about and 18 year old selling bean bags have to do with elderly people being bankrupted by a poorly regulated health care system?

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: Amos
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 02:13 PM

The well-being of the nation rests to a large extent on people like those in Hubby's tale, and there is no question their freedoms should be protected and their initiative encouraged and even fostered.

This in no respect gainsays or alters the necessity for a compassionate nation in which those who have given their all over the years can retire in safety, and those whose burdens are too great can find assistance. Not everyone has the boundless energy and unscarred wit of an eighteen-year-old couch potato.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Of course this won't affect McCain
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 05:10 PM

Well, McCain should know all about tax-funded health care--he's been enjoying all his life.