Mom Forced To Live In Car, Cnn Article

[endzone_dave]

My point was save for the grace of God in the times we live in it can happen to anyone. People are losing there homes every day (yes due to the wheeling and dealing with the creative mortgages of the past) Fact remains most of the labor force is living from paycheck to paycheck. It is a very different country then it was 50 yeras ago and not for the better. What kind of country are our kids going to inherit

I think the problem is people don't know how to live within their means. People HAVE to have cell phones, cable tv, cars with automatic windows, houses with at least 4 bedrooms...

I grew in a middle class household in a three bedroom house, one 27" television - no cable, one phone... I'd be considered dirt poor today.

[skinstzar]

Yes, bad America. We should raise taxes on all liberals to help people that don't help themselves:rolleyes:

You didn't even read the article **** blow. It is obvious from your response. I'll take a ban if it means pointing out how much of an ******* you are. This woman worked her whole life and fed the coffers of the government with her taxes yet she isn't provided with the means to live now that she comes calling for what is rightfully hers. For those who think she should move I hope you all work, live and love the communities you live in now and then when you retire I hope the local government shoves a stick up your ass like the government in California is doing. I love where I grew up, I'll probably work my whole life in that area, I'll donate money, I'll server the community and I'll try to be an upstanding citizen. But **** my community if the local government allows the laws and edicts to push me out because regentrification sees fit.

How is this different than what was perpetrated against Native Americans? If you don't look like us, or earn enough money to be amongst us we will push you to poverty so that your only means of survival is to uproot and move where you don't want to? I don't think that is the form of freedom our fore fathers envisioned. But hey, this is the Bush's world, this lady is just living in it.

[Zguy28]

Good stuff! Do you work through some sort of charity or are you doing this on your own?

A friend of mine started it as a way to do evangelism and reach out to the neighboring community. I started helping him by doing the grilling and a lot of listening to folks who are hurting. We do it every Saturday in a public park.

Some of them are beginning to get their lives turned around and getting cleaned up. Average attendance has grown from a dozen to about sixty. Praise God.

[Cskin]

She is her own worst enemy. Get rid of the dogs, sell the SUV, move somewhere cheaper and take a 2nd, and if need be, a 3rd job. She is living in her car because she refuses to adapt the environment.... make tough choices and start on the road back to the lifestyle she deems comfortable.

And her kids.... what's up with that?

[Heidenreich]

And her kids.... what's up with that?

Seriously. All three deserve a punch in the face.

[skinstzar]

She is her own worst enemy. Get rid of the dogs, sell the SUV, move somewhere cheaper and take a 2nd, and if need be, a 3rd job. She is living in her car because she refuses to adapt the environment.... make tough choices and start on the road back to the lifestyle she deems comfortable.

And her kids.... what's up with that?

Man you just don't get it. This isn't some 40 year old couch potato with an average job like yourself. This is a 67 year old woman who did her part, she worked and was a member of a community for her whole life. Now her community has changed and no longer allows her provide for herself even though she works and pays taxes. People always want a fast food restaurant in their community but they don't want to live amongst the employees of said restaurant. America is pushing towards fixed communities where hard working middle and lower class citizens have to live where the upper class subconsciously push them. It is the laws that are being enacted that allows this to happen. It is sad. This lady pays taxes to the community but she should go live somewhere else because there are no housing alternatives for her? Come on people you have all grown cold and harsh. The sad thing is that at current pace this will happen more and more and one day it might happen to you. Oh never mind you can just move and work three jobs when you are 67. Dicks.

[Heidenreich]

Man you just don't get it. This isn't some 40 year old couch potato with an average job like yourself. This is a 67 year old woman who did her part, she worked and was a member of a community for her whole life. Now her community has changed and no longer allows her provide for herself even though she works and pays taxes. People always want a fast food restaurant in their community but they don't want to live amongst the employees of said restaurant. America is pushing towards fixed communities where hard working middle and lower class citizens have to live where the upper class subconsciously push them. It is the laws that are being enacted that allows this to happen. It is sad. This lady pays taxes to the community but she should go live somewhere else because there are no housing alternatives for her? Come on people you have all grown cold and harsh. The sad thing is that at current pace this will happen more and more and one day it might happen to you. Oh never mind you can just move and work three jobs when you are 67. Dicks.

By the time I'm 67, I know I'm going to be smart enough to have more than 12 bucks in the bank for a rainy day......

[skinstzar]

Seriously. All three deserve a punch in the face.

If you actually read the article you would see that one of her kids is 19 and calls her everyday crying because she doesn't know what to do. I'm glad that everyone on this board are such great people that you could have provided for a 67 year old woman when you were 19. I know I sure as hell couldn't have. You see most of us are pretty lucky. Myself included. I am not however so blind to realize that not everyone is so lucky.

As for the other two kids, I can't speak for them, they need to step up.

[Heidenreich]

If you actually read the article you would see that one of her kids is 19 and calls her everyday crying because she doesn't know what to do. I'm glad that everyone on this board are such great people that you could have provided for a 67 year old woman when you were 19. I know I sure as hell couldn't have. You see most of us are pretty lucky. Myself included. I am not however so blind to realize that not everyone is so lucky.

As for the other two kids, I can't speak for them, they need to step up.

I read it. Instead of crying, she should do something about it.

Trust me, if my mom or dad was in trouble when I was 19, I would have done everything in my power to help them out.

[skinstzar]

By the time I'm 67, I know I'm going to be smart enough to have more than 12 bucks in the bank for a rainy day......

You really know nothing. You don't know what circumstances may come along that may prevent that from being so. I work with a guy who is 75 years old, he works because he spent his lifetime serving the Xerox company. He worked hard for them, invested his money with them and made what he was led to believe were the right financial decisions for his future. Months before his retirement the companies CEO made some bad moves and in a flash his money was gone. He has a wife with cancer, a grandson with MS and his sister-in-law is mentally unstable so she lives with him too.

Amongst all this he never complains about that stuff. What he does complain about is that he grew up in Northern Virginia, he worked in Northern Virginia and he lived in a house in Herndon for 25 years. All the while paying taxes and social security. Now that he is 75 he says that even if he had no dependants he couldn't afford to live off of what social security provides. There is the problem. I hope it doesn't happen to you brother.

[Chachie]

I see a mix of both opinons here. This women should not be pushed to living in a lot, but she does work in real estate (helloooo!) and could have been a bit smarter about her situation before it got to this.

[Popeman38]

This woman worked her whole life and fed the coffers of the government with her taxes yet she isn't provided with the means to live now that she comes calling for what is rightfully hers.

Last I checked, we were not a communist society. She has what is "rightfully" hers. Social Security and whatever she had saved.That is all she is "entitled" to. Plus, she could file for unemployment.

For those who think she should move I hope you all work, live and love the communities you live in now and then when you retire I hope the local government shoves a stick up your ass like the government in California is doing.

The govt of the city is allowing her a parking lot to live in. They are not forcing her to do anything. She lived in a condo that ate 75% of her income. There is a saying, "Piss poor planning leads to piss poor results".

I love where I grew up, I'll probably work my whole life in that area, I'll donate money, I'll serve the community and I'll try to be an upstanding citizen. But **** my community if the local government allows the laws and edicts to push me out because regentrification sees fit.

Ummm, how did the govt do this? Are you claiming she was fired because she was old?

How is this different than what was perpetrated against Native Americans? If you don't look like us, or earn enough money to be amongst us we will push you to poverty so that your only means of survival is to uproot and move where you don't want to? I don't think that is the form of freedom our fore fathers envisioned. But hey, this is the Bush's world, this lady is just living in it.

Seriously? Should I be able to live on South Beach even though I can't afford to? Should I be able to buy a Maserati even though I can't afford to? No. It is called financial responsibility. You earn what you can and live within those means. You don't allocate 75% of all monies to a condo in an area you damn well know you can't afford to live.

[Popeman38]

.....couldn't afford to live off of what social security provides. There is the problem. I hope it doesn't happen to you brother.

Social Security was NEVER designed to be your old age fun fund. It was supposed to fund the basics for destitute farmers and elderly with no family to support them. You make it sound like Social Security should cover all expenses. If so, YOU will be destitute in 10 years as you work to support the boomers.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Man you just don't get it. This isn't some 40 year old couch potato with an average job like yourself. This is a 67 year old woman who did her part, she worked and was a member of a community for her whole life. Now her community has changed and no longer allows her provide for herself even though she works and pays taxes. People always want a fast food restaurant in their community but they don't want to live amongst the employees of said restaurant. America is pushing towards fixed communities where hard working middle and lower class citizens have to live where the upper class subconsciously push them. It is the laws that are being enacted that allows this to happen. It is sad. This lady pays taxes to the community but she should go live somewhere else because there are no housing alternatives for her? Come on people you have all grown cold and harsh. The sad thing is that at current pace this will happen more and more and one day it might happen to you. Oh never mind you can just move and work three jobs when you are 67. Dicks.

Thank God!! At least someone has an ounce of compassion.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Popeman38]

Man you just don't get it. This isn't some 40 year old couch potato with an average job like yourself. This is a 67 year old woman who did her part, she worked and was a member of a community for her whole life. Now her community has changed and no longer allows her provide for herself even though she works and pays taxes.

Umm, she was living in a condo she couldn't afford. How is that the communities fault? Unless, of course, you are advocating govt controlled housing. Where the govt controls the value of housing.

People always want a fast food restaurant in their community but they don't want to live amongst the employees of said restaurant. America is pushing towards fixed communities where hard working middle and lower class citizens have to live where the upper class subconsciously push them. It is the laws that are being enacted that allows this to happen. It is sad. This lady pays taxes to the community but she should go live somewhere else because there are no housing alternatives for her? Come on people you have all grown cold and harsh. The sad thing is that at current pace this will happen more and more and one day it might happen to you. Oh never mind you can just move and work three jobs when you are 67. Dicks.

No, I will retire with the money I am saving now while living in a house I can afford.

[Drop]

I'm no liberal, but this is pretty sad. The woman probably could have had a better financial plan for down the line, but this really shows how bad of shape we're in in this country.

As for her kids.....how do you all know that the two who aren't in the states, aren't in college overseas?? I'm all for helping out my parents and grandparents if they ever need it....but what do you expect them to do? Just drop everything to go take care of their mom? I'm sure there's a reason that they're wherever they are in the first place. And what are they gonna do for her? Go live in the car with her? You're assuming they're self sufficient and have plenty of money. They might be going to college on full scholarships or something for all we know. So they're supposed to blow their future and come back to mom, the car, and the dogs??? Now if they're both brain surgeons or something making plenty of chedda....then yes, shame on them. But we don't know anything about them other than, they're overseas.

I think everyone pointing the fingers and saying shame on her kids are a little out of line. You have no clue what those two kids situations are. And as for her 19 year old...what's she supposed to do? I bet she's not a 19 year old who has a job that can even support herself, let alone her mother and the two dogs.

It's a sad situation and i honestly don't have an answer, so i won't even pretend to sit here like i do.

[skinstzar]

Social Security was NEVER designed to be your old age fun fund. It was supposed to fund the basics for destitute farmers and elderly with no family to support them. You make it sound like Social Security should cover all expenses. If so, YOU will be destitute in 10 years as you work to support the boomers.

Social Security is a mandated supplemental retirement system in the US that was established in 1935 as part of Roosevelt's New Deal. It was motivated largely by the events of the Great Depression, which saw many Americans out of work and the nation's retired elderly often left in the direst of poverty. The intent of the Social Security program is to ensure a threshold subsistence level below which any worker who had paid into the program cannot fall.

I'd say that homelessness is below the subsistence level intended. The rising cost of everything has the hidden effect of rendering a system like Social Security a failure. It is the government's responsibility to isolate this problem and solve it. We pay them enough and have departments like the Department of Labor to see the writing on the wall.

The ones living outside their means is our government. The gross abuse of tax payer funds is killing the people who pay those taxes. We are next in line. We don't have the money to fight a war right now. The American Government is crack whore who puts their selfish desires above the necessities of it's children. This is a case in point.

[skinstzar]

Umm, she was living in a condo she couldn't afford. How is that the communities fault? Unless, of course, you are advocating govt controlled housing. Where the govt controls the value of housing.No, I will retire with the money I am saving now while living in a house I can afford.

You mean that money that you are saving now that is losing it's value like a bleeding gunshot victim? Or do you mean the money you are putting into corporate funded investments? Either way you are gambling. Chances are you are doing the right thing but don't count your chickens before they hatch. There have to be checks and balances and failsafes. Right now the contigency plan is every man for himself and if your ducks don't line up in a perferct row you may be F'ed.

[Popeman38]

Social Security is a mandated supplemental retirement system in the US that was established in 1935 as part of Roosevelt's New Deal. It was motivated largely by the events of the Great Depression, which saw many Americans out of work and the nation's retired elderly often left in the direst of poverty. The intent of the Social Security program is to ensure a threshold subsistence level below which any worker who had paid into the program cannot fall.

The bolded is the relevant portion of your statement. It is supposed to supplement the retirement you have saved. She didn't. Instead she had to live in a condo that cost 75% of her income. AND she worked in real estate and should have known better.

I'd say that homelessness is below the subsistence level intended. The rising cost of everything has the hidden effect of rendering a system like Social Security a failure. It is the government's responsibility to isolate this problem and solve it. We pay them enough and have departments like the Department of Labor to see the writing on the wall.

What you want is a communist system. In a free market system, land is valued what the market says it is valued at. And I bet you have zero problem with the older people like her who bouht property back in the day for cheap in Santa Wherever, CA and sold it for millions in profits. If she had done her part, the Social Security she should be receiving would be supplementing her income.

The ones living outside their means is our government. The gross abuse of tax payer funds is killing the people who pay those taxes. We are next in line. We don't have the money to fight a war right now. The American Government is crack whore who puts their selfish desires above the necessities of it's children. This is a case in point.

Move then.

[Popeman38]

You mean that money that you are saving now that is losing it's value like a bleeding gunshot victim? Or do you mean the money you are putting into corporate funded investments? Either way you are gambling. Chances are you are doing the right thing but don't count your chickens before they hatch. There have to be checks and balances and failsafes. Right now the contigency plan is every man for himself and if your ducks don't line up in a perferct row you may be F'ed.

I am not bleeding at all. I am gaining. A little research and smart investing goes a long way. Even in this "down" market (more like a correcting market) it is easy to make money. Just don't have too much tied up in oil. I took all my money out of oil. I don't hold any of my company issued stock any longer than I am required to. Works out well. And you can always put a large chunk into a conservation fund that earns $1/day. Will never lose value.

[paige3girl]

Man you just don't get it. This isn't some 40 year old couch potato with an average job like yourself. This is a 67 year old woman who did her part, she worked and was a member of a community for her whole life.

she lived beyond her means....

[Popeman38]

she lived beyond her means....

But only because the damned dirty government made her. :laugh:

[skinstzar]

The bolded is the relevant portion of your statement. It is supposed to supplement the retirement you have saved. She didn't. Instead she had to live in a condo that cost 75% of her income. AND she worked in real estate and should have known better.What you want is a communist system. In a free market system, land is valued what the market says it is valued at. And I bet you have zero problem with the older people like her who bouht property back in the day for cheap in Santa Wherever, CA and sold it for millions in profits. If she had done her part, the Social Security she should be receiving would be supplementing her income.Move then.

Don't quite want communism. I do however expect money that I pay for services to be appropriated correctly and efficiently. If I pay my broker to invest in low risk funds I want to invest in low risk funds. When I pay taxes I want American problems to be solved before global problems are tackled. When I put to Social Security, I anticpate that society and all the eligible members benefit from said funds.

The latent reason I feel this way is because I work for the goverment and I realize that you, me and this lady are getting poled everytime we get paid. Now you can invest wisely if you like and I hope you do well. It still doesn't change the fact that it is the responsibility of the extraordinary to raise up the ordinary. The extraordinary are throwing money into a bottomless pit and being told that pit ends in the greater good.

[Destino]

I'm all for helping out my parents and grandparents if they ever need it....but what do you expect them to do? Just drop everything to go take care of their mom?

YES

So they're supposed to blow their future and come back to mom, the car, and the dogs???

YES

[jpillian]

Skinstzar,

I understand that you feel badly for this lady (as do I). It sounds like she is in a tough situation; whether she could have done anything differently, she is where she is, and it doesn't sound great.

But do you really want to live in a country where failure is not possible?

Personally, I don't think it's possible for folks to really succeed if failure is not option.