Heartbreaking Lyft ride this evening.

[MyNameGoesHere]

Waited forever and finally older gentleman shows up. Was very nice and talkative. I would think he was in his 60's but I didn't ask. Could tell he was totally lost and he kept saying he was sorry. He just came to Chicago from Miami. Then like a bomb falling on me he said he lost everything in the hurricane and was starting over. Motherfucker. How in the world in this great country does this happen? Why does someone who should be retiring and worrying about their next fishing trip have to start over? I'm 55 and shit like this scares the bejeebus out of me. If your not rich when you're older your fucked. Even my retirement plans could collapse because some lunatic wants a war or the economy tanks again.
I don't like America anymore and I don't think it will ever recover and be a country that gives everyone a chance. That helps those in need. A country that even cares a little. I don't like America anymore.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Heard the same from my Neighbor

who used Lyft this past weekend.

[mahina]

2. Then there's this possibility: maybe this entire humiliation will bring us down to earth and stop us

From thinking we are better than everyone else on the planet.

Maybe that will translate into fewer wars. The raw ego and hubris involved in escalating the war in Vietnam. Iraq war 1 and 2. Nicaragua. Yemen. Jejeu. Chile. Just throw a dart, basically.

[pangaia]

10. I hope you are right. but.. for arguments sake,.,

And asked as a genuine question...

WHO is 'us?"

US gets it.
It is THEY who either are too stupid to get it, or are too selfish and don;t care.
And THEY are not going to change.

So the only way for US to save ALL is to beat the living crap out of THEM and take over governments throughout the land.

[happy feet]

37. +1

[PoiBoy]

44. +100,000

[madokie]

3. I love my country

the people making decisions for the rest of us, not so much.

For the most part if they're a republiCON I don't like them. Used to be I could tolerate them but its getting harder and harder with each passing day to do that now.

We're better than this is all I know for sure. Fuck the bunch of the assholes who are dragging us down

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Not a lot of countries you would like, I think. Given the criteria.

[MyNameGoesHere]

8. Plenty of them

You need to get out more. Look at America from the outside. Maybe don't believe the propaganda. I don't know I didn't really give a lot of criteria. Maybe you're just one of those America first right or wrong? I am allowed to speculate also?

[Corvo Bianco]

16. Whenever I say anything to my German friend about USA's

Gender pay gap;
Vacation days;
Healthcare;
Unemployment benefits;
Next-door shooting (monthly);
Education system;
Gender elected officials gap;
Free hate speech;
Censored science;

He is appalled. This country sucks.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Within the scope of the OP, Germany doesn't shine either.

http://www.dw.com/en/poverty-among-the-elderly-in-germany-skyrockets/a-19542060

This is a common issue even in developed nations.
I otherwise agree with your post, and could add some topics to the list in which America pretty much screws itself over as hard as it can. We lead the world in obesity for instance, which is a health epidemic.

Lots of things wrong here, and you won't see me putting my head in the sand about it.

[AtheistCrusader]

17. There are people displaced by natural disasters, and poverty, the world over.

You won't catch me saying 'America first' for any purpose, unless we're talking childhood obesity or something.

[pangaia]

11. I can name a few that would certainly be a hell of a lot better then living here..

Norway, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands, Luxumberg, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, South Korea, ,,,,,,,,,,,,

[AtheistCrusader]

18. Try again.

Grabbed a cited country at random from your post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pension_policy_in_South_Korea

The pension scheme for elderly in South Korea developed relatively recently when compared to other democratic nations. One-half of Korea's population aged 65 and over lives in relative poverty, nearly four times higher than the OECD average of 13%. Elderly poverty is thus an urgent social problem. Furthermore, public social spending provided by general government (that is central, state, and local governments, including social security funds) per GDP in South Korea is the lowest among the OECD countries, a half of OECD average.

OP was about retirement-age person displaced by economic and natural disaster, inference; poverty.
Yep, America sucks at that sort of thing. Half the country is constantly gnawing at the safety nets we try and erect.

America is not alone in this regard.

[pangaia]

20. My reply was more to places I might rather live than here..

not a specific issue...

[AtheistCrusader]

22. My original objection that you replied to was specific to the criteria of elderly/poverty.

"Not a lot of countries you would like, I think. Given the criteria."

It's a problem in a lot of places. A lot of unexpected, and otherwise developed and wealthy places.

[MyNameGoesHere]

28. Don't worry

You've managed to do what you intended to do. When one posts something like this they can always count on posters like you. You were expected.

[AtheistCrusader]

29. Not sure what you mean.

Am I a bad person or something for pointing out that more than just the US treats the elderly/retirement aged populations as, basically, disposable non-humans?

[Demsrule86]

34. Not the US...Republicans. They and their shitty courts have pretty much shredded the safety net.

They got the courts in 2000 thanks to Nader and got some really good pension ruling out of these courts...there was an election and people elected the barbarians...and the Greens as always helped.

[MyNameGoesHere]

47. I don't believe in

"There's no such thing as a stupid question"

[AtheistCrusader]

48. Why play games? Why not just speak your mind?

[BobTheSubgenius]

25. No, it certainly isn't.

What's worse than just what "those people" do to pensions, health care and every other safety net provision in the US, is that each "successful attack" emboldens other countries' assholes to do the same.

Canada, which I still love, btw, is now down to the pitiful total of 25% or less of pensions being of the defined benefit type.

I was an idiot when I was young, and should have lobbied hard for our bargaining unit to opt out of this disgraceful company pension (when I retired in the late 80's, it was $13 a month times years of service!) and into the contributory but far richer "at large" IBEW pension scheme. We were a tiny subsection...a niche of technical specialists who happened to be represented by the IBEW. It did very well by us, but we were short-sighted.

My wife and I will now be living on <$30K. with about $325,000 in savings. but I can't complain. I did this to myself, by and large. Today. corporations would take that off my hands and screw me with no effort needed on my part...worse than they have already.

So, we may have decent health insurance - yes. decent...neither stellar nor abysmal, both of which pictures have been painted - but it's far from a capitalist's dream or a socialist's Utopia.

[DownriverDem]

35. I know one

Oh Canada! I look across the Detroit River from my office at Windsor Ontario with envy. I have French Canadian roots going back to the 1600s, but I can't claim dual citizenship because my Dad was born in Detroit. Oh if only ...

[AtheistCrusader]

38. Somewhat.

Canada also has a crisis around retirement/elderly poverty.
http://www.carp.ca/2014/12/11/600000-seniors-canada-live-poverty/

But, where Canada and the US certainly seem to differ is; the Canadian government seems determined to do something about the problem, and we seem determined to ignore it/allow it to grow worse. (As a whole nation, not as a party)

[brooklynite]

45. Well, you'd certainly never get someone like Donald Trump there...

[shanny]

49. a whack job mayor is totally equivalent

[Honeycombe8]

5. These things have happened since the beginning of time.

It can happen to any of us. It can even happen to rich people. Some rich people have lost everything and had to startover. In the Great Depression, some lost everything and jumped off buildings to kill themselves. There have always been disasters (but not this many, and not this bad).

These disasters will get worse. We are on notice: if we live in an area susceptible to natural disasters, better be prepared, or maybe even leave, if you can (that includes me).

We can't pay for everyone to start over. Why did he go to Chicago? Relatives there? He could've gone to maybe Georgia, which is closer to where he had been. Maybe he lived on the edge before, so he didn't own a home or have flood or home insurance to help. And FEMA wouldn't have been much help, past helping you with food and water after the storm hit. We can't know his circumstances.

But it is sad, esp to be so far away. I wonder how he ended up in Chicago. Did he say?

[MyNameGoesHere]

27. He didn't say and I wasn't about to

dig deeper. After that I just tried to help him get on his route as we had two other riders that had a little less patience. All I could do is tip him really well and wish him luck.

[Honeycombe8]

30. Good for you. I remember a Katrina survivor who ended up near Dallas...

where I lived at the time. He ended up in a small city north of Dallas in an apartment. Alone. Had lost everything. He shot himself. So terribly sad. Dallas came together and had shelters and donated furniture, helped people get started in a new city, if they stayed. But I can't imagine being so far from home, having lost everything. The depression must be unbearable. I wish...... oh, well.

[JayhawkSD]

40. Well said.

Safety is overrated. Our forefathers risked "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

Without sadness, what would happiness feel like?
Without loss, what joy would there be in gain?
Without work, what value is there in rest?
Without strife, how do we value peace?

"In his 60s" is not all that old. This man may rebuild a whole new life that is better than what he had before. We cannot know. He may meet some new people that add great value to his life.

He is not sitting around feeling sorry for himself and waiting for a handout. He found a way to make some money and he is, in fact, starting over. Applaud him for that. Applaud a country which provided the opportunity for a guy in his sixties to start fresh in a city where he knows no one, does not know how to get around, and has no network for jobsearching.

He's not sitting on a corner with a sign, he's out there working and taking care of himself because he lives in a country that has opportunities for him to do that.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. What concerns me the most is that it sounds like

he wasn't using a GPS, which I thought was required for Lyft or Uber drivers.

[MyNameGoesHere]

7. GPS is shit near Wacker drive

It's a Chicago thing

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. Okay. I didn't know. Thanks for clarifying.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

12. Tell me about it! nt

[smirkymonkey]

13. Poor guy, my heart goes out to him.

I hope things get better for him.

[Corvo Bianco]

14. This country sucks.

Thank you for feeling his pain. So many Americans are living the American nightmare.

[LittleGirl]

15. I feel ya

I moved back to AZ in March after living in Europe. Homesick and too far from my elderly mother. She is in the Midwest. I’m trying to find a job and nothing. I will be 58 next week. I’m worried about retirement, as in will I ever be able to retire?

[Jopin Klobe]

19. It's not the Ship of State that's gone bad ...

... it's the God damned fools piloting her ...

[roamer65]

23. As sea levels rise, this displacement will become the norm.

[progressoid]

39. Yep. And we are making no up plans to deal with it. n/t

[grantcart]

24. In a few years it will be a driverless car

[Initech]

26. We went from "Hope And Change" to "Go Fuck Yourself". It's very sad.

[Stargazer99]

31. After being an experimental animal under this nation exposed me to radiation

let my adult daughter from lack of medical care
and found out one of my friends died and not found for 4 days after the rats had chewed her face rats because the capitalist that owned the trailer park she was living in was too damn cheap to remove the rats in the first place. I am developing a livid hatred for this country

[raven mad]

32. Easy. You don't vote or you vote for a sTrumpet.

I hate this too, and have room and shelter, but nowadays? Getting here from there uses everything.

It didn't start with sTrumpet. It started with Nixon.

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. I don't like this country anymore either. Certainly NOT proud to be an American.

Wish I could somehow, live in Canada full time.

[JDC]

36. It pains me to admit, but I have seriously considered leaving

If I could get a work permit i. The UK or Australia I think I would. Wife on board

[Sunlei]

41. If you're in the medical field, sciences, a teacher,it's fairly easy to get a job in other countries

on the positive side, Lyft, UBER, many delivery service companies are providing a lot of local jobs as long as a person has a car (and background) that meets the requirements.

[PatSeg]

42. Perhaps our downfall goes back to when

we started self-describing ourselves as the "Greatest country on earth", instead of caring, compassionate, and generous. I have no desire to be "great" or "powerful". I would rather be part of a country that is wise, educated, and giving. AND I'd rather identify with humanity as a whole, not a country. Rampant nationalism is the beginning of the end.

[Lokilooney]

50. It wasn't nationalism

But I can say with a decent about of certainty the backsliding began in ohhhhhh lets say 1980...

[PatSeg]

51. Yeah, around 1980

That was a time that I recall as being very superficial and materialistic, with a B-rate actor in the White House. There wasn't a strong "nationalism" drumbeat yet, but it was starting. It became full blown after 9/11 when no one could question anything without being accused of being unpatriotic.

But it is all in the eye of the beholder. My parents' generation would have called the 1960s and 1970s "backsliding", whereas my generation considered it progress.

[lunatica]

43. We have to start thinking of living in ways to pool our resources now

Especially as we get older. I'm retiring in a couple of months and I have plans on how to live comfortably on what's going to be a limited income. I'm single so I can throw my lot in with a couple of other women who are single and among us we can afford a decent place to live and everything else within reason. At my ages simple sounds good. I plan to get back into doing art which I haven't been able to do for decades. Full time art. I can't wait. It doesn't take much money either. I've already got a lifetime of art materials in my closet, just sitting there.

[KT2000]

46. the hook in America is fear

that is what politicians hold over us.

[MichMan]

52. I hope you tipped him many times above the cost of the fare nm