Tag Archives: Social Security

The Road to Diamond, Day 96: The Hounds of the Hoovervilles

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 4,2025- In the late 1920s, it was decided, by the Executive Branch, that the solution to the world’s gathering economic woes was to place trust in its economic elite, particularly the business titans of the United States. Granting exemptions and privileges to the “movers and shakers” was seen by the Hoover Administration as central to the nation’s, and the world’s , recovery following the Stock Market crash of October, 2029.

It proved to be too little, too late. The solution that worked proved to be the counterintuitive one-Massive investment by the government itself, large-scale programs that lifted society up by loaned bootstraps: The New Deal, a sequel to the Square Deal that was initiated by President Theodore Roosevelt, nearly thirty years earlier. That agenda increased government monitoring of business and enacted public health programs. The agenda of TR’s cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, brought government into everything from flood control and rural electrification to the basic well-being of senior citizens and control of traded securities.

That the United States was drawn into World War II added to the economy in some respects and hampered it in others. War and defense industries flourished, while the workforce was limited by the need for so many men and women to go forth in safeguarding the nation’s, and the world’s, freedom.

Nearly a century after the Crash, we face a related reckoning. The notion that the government should be far less involved in social welfare is again gaining traction. It has been said, several times of late, including by the President in his speech to Congress, this evening, that payouts to deceased people have been ongoing. My wife of 29 years died, 14 years ago tomorrow. When she had been laid to rest, and the family members had gone back to their own lives, I took it upon myself to return funds that were no longer hers and to pay back her insurers that which had been overpaid. Further, time passed and I received Survivor Benefits from the Social Security Administration-until I filed for my own Retirement, upon reaching the age of 70. At that point, the Survivor Benefits stopped. I doubt that my handling of our situation is an anomaly.

I do not understand the insistence, by people who are independently wealthy and have no need of Social Security, that the rest of us should be asked to give up our benefits. Before anyone says that is not what Elon Musk and others are advocating-please note that he referred to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. I paid into the fund, from November, 1966-February, 1987 and again from March, 1992- November, 2020. Heck, when I work occasionally as a Substitute Teacher, I am still paying into the Fund. I am getting back what I gave. I do not feel grifted.

Between the day after the Stock Market crash of October, 1929 and the inception of the New Deal, there emerged, across the nation, settlements of displaced workers and their families. These were called Hoovervilles. They gradually closed, as the economy slowly improved and the war effort took more people into the realm of military service. The Hoovervilles, in fairness, make today’s homeless encampments seem small by comparison-even in California.

I wonder, though, what will be the end result of slash and burn? What programs do the DOGE executives have in mind for those currently being displaced? Have they thought that far ahead, or are they acting as the new hounds of latter day Hoovervilles? I can work, if need be, for the foreseeable future. As I look around at my contemporaries, however, I see that not everyone can.

Fortnight of Transition, Day 10: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Striving

September 18, 2020-

A major voice in the cause of women making their own choices, right or wrong, was stilled today. It didn’t make any difference to her WHAT the choice was, necessarily, so long as the outcome was not dictated to the woman by a man.

We needed Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as long as we had her among us. Eventually, even those women who greeted news of her death with mockery and derision will recognize that their own reactions, strangely, are in a way reflective of the late Justice’s life’s work. They came up with their own ultraconservative tirades-rather than just parroting the men in their lives.

Getting back to her achievements- I am greatly in favour of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I am not in favour of widespread promotion of abortion. The procedure should be safe, legal and very, very rare. Alternatives, though, need to be presented, clearly and consistently. I am most in favour of equal pay for equal work, and having worked alongside many women, over the years, I have seen plenty of equal work-and much that is superior.

Because of Justice Ginsburg’s early legal work, I, as a widower, have been able to receive Social Security Disablility Insurance Survivor’s Benefits, since my wife, Penny, passed in 2011. She stood squarely in favour of women being breadwinners. She stood squarely in favour of women being in the military-leading an effort that saw Virginia Military Institute, once a cornerstone of the Confederacy, agree to accept female cadets.

She stood up for a thirteen-year-old Arizona student, who had been forced to submit to a strip search (albeit only in the presence of female staff). Her male colleagues agreed that this was a miscarriage of justice. That act, alone, earned her my undying admiration.

She was a pioneer in the reference to international law, in some U.S. Court cases. She was also a true believer in the aisle as a mere passageway: Her best friend on the Court was Justice Antonin Scalia, with whom she shared a love of opera and of fine dining.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rest in power.

The Summer of the Rising Tides, Day 58: Transitions

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual

July 28, 2020-

I formally put in for my full Social Security, this morning, so that it will take effect on my seventieth birthday. There’s always a chance that the upper 5 % will move to cut back the amount, but right now, that seems mainly a scare story.

Every day is a transition of some kind. The amount of daylight increases or decreases, depending on where one lives. Some people enter this life and others leave. Some catch the virus, others recover. Most of us have not done either.

I follow the passage of time, even in the relatively unchanging weather of Arizona, fairly easily still-a wall calendar is one of the first things I see in the morning, upon waking; the newspaper is of different sizes and has a different feature section, each day and my Zoom calendar shows different meetings, depending on the day of the week.

Transitions of a wider scope are bound to continue this year, and for several years to come. COVID19 is all that those who are trying to get a handle on it can see, so the WHO and others are shouting that it, alone, will dominate world affairs, for 5-10 years. No pandemic has lasted that long, though some return 50 or 100 years after their first go round.

There are many other sea changes that are sure to come, socially, economically and politically. The ones that take, will be those with a spiritual basis.

The more things change, this time they just may not stay the same.

Those Shadows Seen and Not Seen

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Posted by on in Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 2, 2019, Phoenix-

So the critters back East, in Punxsutawney and Staten Island, have assured us that it’ll be an early Spring.  No shadows were in view, and after that region went through yet another polar vortex, followed by a modicum of thaw, the comfort is probably just a tad cold.

Sitting here, in a lull, during a timely and productive update session regarding the progress of our Faith in central Arizona, I think of the other unseen shadows, with which many of us deal, on a daily, or long-term, basis.

I took care of the biggest shadow, that of my nest-egg, sometime back, and the proceeds from the sale of a house, back in 2014, are in trust, for when I need them, beginning a few years hence.

The shadow of aging has its match, in daily use of essential oils, CBD and hemp products and, at least for  a month or so, Thrive products- a gift from a grateful friend. Those and regular exercise keep me healthy and moving.

Any potential family shadows are best handled with proactivity:  Research, setting time aside and regular, clear communication.  This is true for all points along the family continuum.

The shadow of intellectual cramping is best countered by free dialogue.  Closing one’s mind to opposing points of view does not make one smarter.  I don’t see how not exposing young minds to either liberal or conservative opinions is going to improve their problem-solving ability.  As a youth, I read “Mein Kampf” and “The Communist Manifesto”, being captivated by neither, but at least understanding how the authors arrived at such illogic.  Closing off college campuses to Ben Shapiro, or Markos Moulitsas, will never save even the most infantilized freshman from following the primrose path of choice.

There are greater shadows-some real and some figments of vivid imaginations:  The Social Security/Medicare fizzle, or lack thereof, in the 2030’s;  the coinciding “end-of-the-world”, right about that same time; the potential change of our nation’s form of government (some have spoken of this, since Orwell published “1984”); the generations dropping the ball of civilized behaviour ( I seem to remember how “slovenly” and “unkempt” the Depression Parents and the  GI Generation regarded us Baby Boomers).

Shadows are dispelled by light.  The lights of  faith, understanding, clear communication, discourse and above, all, consistent, firm action, will work wonders at clearing the darkness which seems to pervade so many lives, at so many levels.

Happy Groundhog Day!