As I left the convenience store with an ice tea and a newspaper, a very large and ostentatious pickup truck with brush bars before the grill pulled up till its wheels hit the curb – stealing about three-quarters of my sidewalk.
I stopped in time but a young man sang out, “Watch out you #$%(&%#$, you almost hit the old guy.”
I appreciated the chivalry but, well, the type of jerk who drives trucks like that probably listen or care. Besides, that trucker voted for Trump. He can do what he wants.
At the grocery store I explained to the new checker (who had a decade on me) that I’d like the peanut butter and boxed items at the front of my order put in a paper bag: they were going to our church’s food pantry. “Times are rough for a lot of people,” I said. “I know,” she replied. “I had to come back to work because I couldn’t make ends meet.”
My mom celebrated her 90th Birthday the week before Valentine’s Day. Alas, she doesn’t remember it. She’s in hospice care in the Memory Iunit at a nice assisted living facility. That cost? $91,000 and change for the year.
My parents worked hard, saved well and even 16 years after my dad’s passing there is more than enough money to pay for my mom’s care. Over a third of that money comes from her monthly Social Security benefit, for now.
This is the age of Trump and all of us old folks have to stay on our toes.
You see, a commandment in the MAGA Bible is that old people gum up the works. We don’t contribute, we just take and take and take. Trump and his billionaire don’t like us. Note how Trump turned Elon Musk loose among the confidential files of tens of millions of seniors receiving Social Security.
For the record, the current average Social Security Benefit is $1,979 a month this year ($23,748) before deductions. Yet, many draw much, much less. Payments under $1,500 per month are not unusual and some who don’t qualify for traditional Social Security get just $967 a month in Supplemental Security Income. [www/ssa.gov and USA Today]
Trump’s Commerce Secretary, billionaire Howard Lutnick, joked that only “fraudsters” would complain if their Social Security payments were late. [ Howard Lutnick raises concern about Social Security ‘fraudsters’ ]
I doubt that my grocery cashier is a “fraudster.” And, I know my mom isn’t.
I remember back in the late 1990’s when food stamps glitched, keeping new money off EBT cards for almost two days. The first day we had 50 families call Circle Of Concern begging for emergency food. They weren’t fraudsters, no, they were just people living on the edge pushed off that edge by an unexpected delay in getting benefits. Plus, seeing the system fail caused panic!
Let’s not think of the national chaos if millions and millions of low-income seniors didn’t get their Social Security on time.
With Trump it could happen. He cares not about governing, only about enriching himself while punishing his enemies.
Glenn