Is this what America is coming to?

[Howard]

So true.  She thinks its hard now?  Imagine the people coming into Ellis island, with basically all their possesions hoping for a better life here.  Thats tough.  Not some screw up who made bad life decisions and wants to use their pity card.

I agree with the basic idea on this post.
Unless someone has an actual handicap or is a crippled war vet, they are responsible for their own welfare.

[G o a t b o y]

A part-time job making $8.00 per hour isn't shit. That's enough money for gas for the week.

Not in California.  In many other places it is.  And don't forget she's getting social security as well.

[G o a t b o y]

You're right.

However, we are taking about a 67 year old woman. She will have a hard time finding a job.

Maybe not a salaried position in "corporate america", but retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and a dozen other "service industry" type employers would hire her.

[Mark Kerr]

Maybe not a salaried position in "corporate america", but retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and a dozen other "service industry" type employers would hire her.

Those are minimum wage jobs.

[Moosejay]

Learn from shit like this.  Be smart with your money.  In america you can be whatever you want. 

YOU get a gold star for your post.

[troponin]

Actually...

As I spent time in the trailer park, both living then later owning properties -

I've seen people get out of rehab, jail, divorce, whatever, and turn things around.  You can get an efficiency - 1 BR with a bed and tv and bathroom - for $150 a week around here with no problem, and $100 a week if you don't mind bugs.

You go to Labor pool, AbleBody, ManPower, whatever your local day labor place is.  You make $10 an hour, you might be digging ditches, you might be getting walmart shopping carts, who knows.  But you can make $80 per day.  That's $400 per week you can earn, just working 5 days and no nights or weekends.  Spend 100 on rent, and 100 on bus/food, and you put away $200 per wk.  

Go down to your local community college on your first day off.  Sign up.  You'll get grants and loans out the ass.  They'll pay for all your classes and you'll have a few grand left over per semester to get yourself a better place to stay, better car, better everything.

I was 18 and dead broke living in the trailer park, playing basketball every day, no plan for college, no car, no job, etc.  No one in my family on either side has ever finished college, and only a few ever walked the high school stage.  I got a job at the grocery store (walked 2 miles to work in FL heat until I could afford a bike, rode till I could afford a shitty car with no A/C).  I got a car, applied at college, got loans, got books, kept working.  Today I'm an MBA with a teaching degree and multiple computer certifications, I work 5 hours a day from home in my PJs while playing with my son, and I play in a band at night for fun.  I do what I want in life now, because I worked so hard as a youth.  My brother and sister are still poor, wallowing in the same mess I came from.

You CAN get ahead in America, you just have to bust your ass and not be stupid with your $.  

Agreed.

At some point the "American dream" changed from becoming better because of working harder to living in a million dollar home and driving your bimmer to your $40,000 a year job.  People have an amazing ability to hide from things that should be painfully obvious. 

[No Patience]

Well genius, she raised three kids and may have had to live paycheck to paycheck like alot of Americans do.

Well genius, birth control!!

Mark - don't be making excuses for people....she made the decisions to have 3
kids, no husband, living in cali, no retirement etc etc

[freespirit]

true.  there is a small % of Americans that enjoy elderly porn.  She should look into it.

You watched that granny link on the pr0n board from karl kox did you not!   

[Brutal_1]

Here's your "American Dream" 

[Rami]

Those dogs probably cost more that sustain than her self.

[Mark Kerr]

Well genius, birth control!!

Mark - don't be making excuses for people....she made the decisions to have 3
kids, no husband, living in cali, no retirement etc etc

This is going on all over the country. We are witnessing record high unemployment, with the highest inflation since the great depression. We have seen entire industries fold over the last eight years. We are not in good times. I think that is what this article is about.

Props to 240 for busting his ass to get where he's at in life. But, it would be very difficult to do that in today's world.

[bigkid]

This is going on all over the country. We are witnessing record high unemployment, with the highest inflation since the great depression. We have seen entire industries fold over the last eight years. We are not in good times. I think that is what this article is about.

Props to 240 for busting his ass to get where he's at in life. But, it would be very difficult to do that in today's world.

hahahahah i guess your forgetting about the 70's and early 80's Mark.  240 thank God you did all this 5-10 years ago.  Mark is saying you'd wouldn't be able to do it now. HA.

[keanu]

   Our economy is in deep crap, stagflation. Things will get much worse in the next few years. gas is shot up, the financials and housing are getting crushed. Next is the retail sector. We can barely service our deficit anymore and people are now living on credit which will blow up in their faces. Many people just seem to be unable to live within their means. People used to save to buy things. Now it's credit for even small items. This woman should have lived in a cheaper area and saved for retirement. Her part of Cali is very expensive. She's 67. Did she think working forever to just make bills was a long term solution?

  I invest ( quite a bit in precious metals the next few years) and live modestly. In the end who wants so much stress later on in life.

[ATHEIST]

I feel bad for those dogs..cooped up in the car all day. hopefully things changed for her. with three kids im sure the majority of her earnings went to supporting them. yes maybe she made unwise decisions with her finances in that she didnt have some type of nest egg, but with raising three kids may not allow for that.
and for the 19 year old posting on this thread..seriously stfu, you have no idea what youre talking about, pay a mortgage, student loans and financially support yourself before you give advice on life
 poor dogs..

[SAMSON123]

Actually...

As I spent time in the trailer park, both living then later owning properties -

I've seen people get out of rehab, jail, divorce, whatever, and turn things around.  You can get an efficiency - 1 BR with a bed and tv and bathroom - for $150 a week around here with no problem, and $100 a week if you don't mind bugs.

You go to Labor pool, AbleBody, ManPower, whatever your local day labor place is.  You make $10 an hour, you might be digging ditches, you might be getting walmart shopping carts, who knows.  But you can make $80 per day.  That's $400 per week you can earn, just working 5 days and no nights or weekends.  Spend 100 on rent, and 100 on bus/food, and you put away $200 per wk. 

Go down to your local community college on your first day off.  Sign up.  You'll get grants and loans out the ass.  They'll pay for all your classes and you'll have a few grand left over per semester to get yourself a better place to stay, better car, better everything.

I was 18 and dead broke living in the trailer park, playing basketball every day, no plan for college, no car, no job, etc.  No one in my family on either side has ever finished college, and only a few ever walked the high school stage.  I got a job at the grocery store (walked 2 miles to work in FL heat until I could afford a bike, rode till I could afford a shitty car with no A/C).  I got a car, applied at college, got loans, got books, kept working.  Today I'm an MBA with a teaching degree and multiple computer certifications, I work 5 hours a day from home in my PJs while playing with my son, and I play in a band at night for fun.  I do what I want in life now, because I worked so hard as a youth.  My brother and sister are still poor, wallowing in the same mess I came from.

You CAN get ahead in America, you just have to bust your ass and not be stupid with your $. 

LIES LIES LIES...YOU ARE STILL WITH YOUR MUM....

Here is a little math for you...Work for ten dollars per hour for forty hours per week you get four hundred dollars...RIGHT!!!!...Where do you work where taxes are not taken out??? More like work forty hours per week and get 300 dollars if you are lucky. Take 250 dollars of that and maybe you can find a efficiency... now try and survive on 50 bucks per week. IN the case of this woman who is now homeless and 65 college is out of the question. BTW...I don't know what school you are attending that is so generous with grants, scholarships and federal loans...In case you are a 75 year old man living back in the days of WHEN...grants, scholarships and loans are just about a thing of the past. I had to help my sister pay for her nephew to go to college simply because the government grants and scholarships that he received on top of the bank loans was insufficient.... GREED has taken over college...even local and community colleges are expensive,  and they know there are no jobs available for those who graduate...at least not at a pay scale that is livable, so they are trying to make all of their money off of the enrollees. Soon everyone will be pretending to be a Mexican just to get a job.

BTW you have the same mentality as this woman...thinking that you will always be able to get over and that nothing will happen to you...you are the prime candidate for everything to happen top you and when it does just remember your comments about her

[Mark Kerr]

hahahahah i guess your forgetting about the 70's and early 80's Mark.  240 thank God you did all this 5-10 years ago.  Mark is saying you'd wouldn't be able to do it now. HA.

You can't compare the recessions of the 70's and 80's to what is going on today.

[Zaphod]

hahahahah i guess your forgetting about the 70's and early 80's Mark.  240 thank God you did all this 5-10 years ago.  Mark is saying you'd wouldn't be able to do it now. HA.

Hahahah "Mark Kerr" 
Here we go again...

Even Soros (that bastard) has admitted that the worst is behind us.

Hey, did you get my PM, bro? 

[G o a t b o y]

Those are minimum wage jobs.

Is she too good to work for minimum wage? Millions of people do it every day. 

[G o a t b o y]

You can't compare the recessions of the 70's and 80's to what is going on today.

What's going on today is everyone wants to live beyond their means.  Everyone wants to be their own little millionaire.  Compare the average lifestyles today to those of 20 or 30 years ago.  Did productivity and output really rise that much, or did people stop saving and start borrowing?

[Sharma]

America is a sick society. the West is rotten at its core. it has abandoned the wishes of Allah (Go) in order to let homosexuals run free and women try to take the places of men, something they are not capable of ever doing.

 Western Democracy has failed. The economy has failed in America. Personal happiness has not happened and the gays and women have too much power.
I genuinely do believe that the West could save itself by embracing Islam and stopping the lunacy.

[G o a t b o y]

America is a sick society. the West is rotten at its core. it has abandoned the wishes of Allah (Go) in order to let homosexuals run free and women try to take the places of men, something they are not capable of ever doing.

 Western Democracy has failed. The economy has failed in America. Personal happiness has not happened and the gays and women have too much power.
I genuinely do believe that the West could save itself by embracing Islam and stopping the lunacy.

    Gee, there's a fire...  let's get some gasoline to pour on it, quick!

[bigkid]

You can't compare the recessions of the 70's and 80's to what is going on today.

You said we have record high unemployment and the highest inflation since the great depression.  Two widely incorrect statements.  I told you to check the 70s and early 80's so you can see your errors.

[bigkid]

    Gee, there's a fire...  let's get some gasoline to pour on it, quick!

I don't think Sharma is even a muslim.  Just some lame gimmic.

[CQ]

What's going on today is everyone wants to live beyond their means. 

Agreed.....

[Mark Kerr]

You said we have record high unemployment and the highest inflation since the great depression.  Two widely incorrect statements.  I told you to check the 70s and early 80's so you can see your errors.

Wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living. Minimum wage in the 80's was $3.35 per hour, in the late 80's it was raised to $4.25 per hour. I could be wrong, but believe I'm right. You could rent a decent apartment for $250.00 per month back in late 80's.

Up until last year minimum wage was $5.25 per hour. To get an apartment at $250.00 per month in the 80's would cost you today about $500.00 to $850.00 per month depending on what area of the country you lived in. I'm not even going to go into the cost of everything else.

What's going on today is much different from the 70's and 80's.