by Jack
My friend Martin had a stroke when he was 78 and could no longer live at home. He suffered some paralysis on his left side. This made it difficult to walk and change his own clothes. Fortunately Martin had worked as a teacher until he retired at age 65 and he a decent pension plan. He also purchase an extended-care insurance policy that would pay for 90% of all expenses, up to 18 months in a licensed elder care facility. Martin checked around and found a pretty place in Chico. The rooms were clean, the staff was friendly and helpful and the meals were better than expected. Martin opted for a semi-private room which gave him an additional 6 months on his extended care policy. All things considered, life was not too bad.
About two weeks into his stay the police brought a transient in to his room escorted by two nurses. Martin was told this was his new roommate.
Terrance M., age 63, looked much older than his years. His mind wandered and he was delusional at times. In the coming weeks and months I got to know quite a bit about Terrance, a little bit here and there until I had a pretty good background on him.
He had been living in a homeless encampment until the police came along with several social workers. The younger members at the camp packed up their bags and moved on, leaving a ton of trash behind. But, Terrance was too drunk to even think, much less pack his bags and leave. So, he was taken to the jail and held for 24 hours until he sobered up. It was at the county jail that he was then evaluated by a county adult-care worker. He was deemed eligible to be placed on welfare and this meant being placed into the same room as my friend Martin.
Now lets recap these two men.
Martin was a college graduate, he lead a respectable life, he paid his share of taxes, he worked hard and did many good things for his community. He was married, widowed and had two nice kids that eventually went into science professions. On the other hand, Terrance was an 8th grade drop out. He went on the road as a kid until he was arrested for armed robbery at age 19. He used a butcher knife to steal from a clerk in a grocery store. For this, he did 4 years in Jolliet prison. He had several more arrests for petty offenses, theft, drunk in public, assault and a few resisting charges. A check passing scam netted him 3 more years in the Tallahatchie State Prison in Arkansas when he was 37.
When he was almost 40, and still on parole, he finally obtained a decent job as a house painter. For the next 4 years he did ok. He got married, had 3 kids and then he fell back on the booze. He left his wife and kids and went on the road. He travelled the rails for three more years, until he was arrested for felony child support and sent back to prison for 24 mos. Once released, he held many temporary jobs, always earning just enough for booze and travel.
To keep this a short story, let me just say Terrance had a lot of trouble with the law. He wasted most of his life bumming around, getting drunk, fighting, stealing and spending a whole lot of time city jails, prison or rescue missions. Now he was at the end of his life, he major organs were severely damaged from the effects of alcoholism and now he sharing a $7000 a month room with my friend Martin! You should know, Terrance has no limit on how long he can stay and he will never pay a dime for his care, which costs taxpayers $7000 a month.
Question: How many Martin’s does it take to support one Terrance and to what degree does society owe this man care equal to a paying patient? And how much of our tax money should diverted to such indigent people, when it could be going to medical and scientific research, space exploration, building infrastructure like bridges, freeways, keep our air and water clean, having a strong military, etc.?
Right now there is cost threshold on cost and to be supporting all the Terrance’s of this world is absolutely unsustainable, even if we gave them most of our tax money. We’ll still go broke – this has to be fixed.
“We’ll still go broke – this has to be fixed.”
No, no more of this weaseliness. You say what you want to do with Terrance.
I say we can afford it. My father is in a semi-private in the Bay Area for $4500, so it’s possible Martin is being ripped off by some rapacious passel of capitalists.
We? Who is we? Rich limousine liberals such as yourself with all your Hollywood tax breaks?
Why don’t YOU help Terrance. Take him in and take care of him or at least chip in for some of his care. I bet you don’t even pay for your father’s care. Always let someone else pay, that’s what you believe.
The feral gooberment is 20 trillion dollars in debt. It has hundreds of trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities. Add state and local government debt and unfunded liabilities and you can add tens of trillions more dollars.
Yet you want to bring in millions of immigrants who cannot support themselves and will cost trillions more at a time when this country is already drowning in debt. You think government is a sugar daddy with an endless supply of money. You even believe more than that. Government is your religion. You worship it.
How do you propose paying for the hundreds of trillions of debt and unfunded liabilities we already have plus all the immigrants you want to bring here?
The fact is the situation is past unsustainable. It is out of control. But liberals like you live in a fantasy world and can’t possibly comprehend any of this. You are completely, f’ing clueless.
“My father is in a semi-private in the Bay Area for $4500”
So you stuck him in an out house?
My grandmother died in Tracy in1993, aged 98.5. She paid her own way up until the last couple of years when her money ran out. She was paying over $7K at that time…in Tracy!
No, Libby, we can’t keep creating greater and greater dependency and at the same time add more freebies like free college and free pre-school and universal healthcare without going completely broke!
Actually, it’s very nice. We need to find out what’s going on here.
The same government that doubled the debt also killed the Golden Goose that provides the wealth and jobs to support it…how stupid is that?“
“Why don’t YOU help Terrance.”
Bob, I’ve already said. I, with my taxes, will pay Terrance’s keep. My only proviso is that he be housed in a not-for-profit facility. No investment portfolios get fattened with my tax dollars via Terrance’s keep.
Well, whatever you are paying is not enough. Didn’t you read a word I wrote about the gooberment debt? You are just not paying your fair share, especially if you want to bring in millions of aliens. The next time you fill out your tax return why don’t you include a nice big check to help reduce your feral gooberment’s debt?
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm#DebtFinance
And ain’t that just like a liberal and all statists. Let the gooberment take care of the poor. Ain’t my responsibility.
Libby, I say sometimes you have to ride bike because you can’t afford to drive a car. Martin can afford the car, Terrance can’t…that does not mean you or I should be forced to buy him one. He made choices, choices have consequences.
No weaseliness. Say … explicitly … what you propose yo do with Terrance.
I find it typical socialistic usury of working people every where when a liberal accuses someone like Martin of being the problem and ignores as well as skates the problem of all the Terrance’s’, who as described in the post are simply losers with a feckless approach of life.
Libby’s vision is clouded once more by liberal smoke and mirror pony show, avoiding the real problem of why we let ourselves be told ” everyone deserves a Government free lunch”, paid for at someone else’s expense
Harold, where did I say that? I said I thought Martin was being ripped off. And he probably is.
And Terrance is Terrance. If you propose he should be turned into the road and die in the gutter, say so.
Otherwise, we, with a semblance of Christian grace, will keep the man.
Otherwise, we, with a semblance of Christian grace, will keep the man.
We? You say Terrance is not your problem. You say let that nice faceless gooberment take care of him.
Bob, you gotta get past this “faceless gov” propaganda. You ARE your government, therefore it has a face, and anybody who tells you different does not have your interests at heart, is trying to make you feel powerless and, unhappily, succeeding.
I, individually, cannot take care of Terrance. Neither can you. But for you, me, and 200 million others, it’s not any problem at all.
I found this today. He was talking about the EU, but it pertains:
“To quote Pope Francis from his speech in Strasbourg in 2014: ‘The great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions.’ ”
Don’t let ‘me do it to you.
You’re absolutely right, Harold, and do you know what really stinks? What really stinks is that no matter how much the people give, it is never enough for socialists like Libby. Libby is the type that will turn a hand up into a hand out and a hand out into a “basic right” and that still won’t be enough, so she will demand an expansion to other “needs.” She denies that this free money scheme alters the behaviors and thinking of people over time and imagines that everyone in her future communal vision will help to pull the cart.
This is how we end up with millions of able bodied people living on the backs of fellow citizens and falling into the abyss of addiction, along with their lost, uninspired children.
The kicker is she believes herself to be compassionate and “practical.” “What else are we going to do?” As if a different policy would not also “alter the behaviors and thinking of people over time.”
Once the big government dependency machine is turned on it is very difficult to turn offbut if we are to survive as a nation we must begin the arduous task.
A nation is as strong as the strength of the least among it’s citizens. Our quest should be to create policies that support and strengthen all of our citizens to independence and self sufficiency. Then as equals we can work together to create whatever shared tasks we might have, defense of the nation being paramount!
Tina, say it: “Terrance should be turned into the road to die in the gutter.”
Say it.
Or say, with me, that the twenty percent who have abrogated their responsibilities, lo, these 40 years … will pay up … retroactive to Reaganomics.
By what measure do you claim the 20% have “abrogated their responsibilities, lo, these 40 years.”
Those people have paid more in taxes, have invested in businesses and schools and hospitals, have hired people, and have given to charity. What the he77 more do you want?
What has Terrance done. And why do you expect nothing of Terrance, lo, these 40 years?”
You keep lowering the social standards and expectations and then wonder why there are so many needy, lost individuals. Then you have the audacity to demand more from people already carrying the bulk of the load. You can’t save the world…and you sure as heck can’t do it with other peoples property through coercion.
At some point we have everyone in the cart and nobody left to pull it. Geez, I know this isn’t that hard. Why shouldn’t Terrance be in a ward with six or eight beds? (And he should be grateful for that given a life led without contribution.)
I do expect from Terrance. What you don’t seem to realize is that we don’t all come out of a Play-Doh mold with the same capacities and capabilities. I expect from Terrance according to his ability, and I’m willing to finance as much education as he is capable of retaining. But let’s be real, at this point ….
As to the six or eight beds … well, Tina, we stopped building that sort of facility quite some time ago. There was a fella named Dickens, you may have heard of him ….
Instead of all this seething resentment over people who need assistance, why can’t you manifest some nice smug complacency in the superior state you support.
I have had some experience with people who suffer from self inflected health issues through behavioral heath, all as a volunteer.
I found that giving people purpose (personial gains in respect for themselves, verse dependence on others)was the correct step that helped them reduce their medication intake and learn some self responsibility, as well as function better in society. And those that didn’t, yes I did separate the chaff from the wheat, before they lessened the growth of those wanting to better themselves.
I had a very successful program, until the government hired(payroll) staff workers realized my efforts were paying better dividends then theirs, and found ways to undermine those efforts. They restricted my efforts and once more took control of these individuals life’s with Med’s, and reduced them once more into the drug induced world they so wanted out of, which resulted in a complete reversal of all they had achieved.
I don’t talk about this often, but when I here you, Libby spew your ignorance toward how people need to be treated, I put you in the same shameful abyss of knowing it all , but doing nothing with in arms length to help, only to just negatively critic others results as most liberal tend to do.
Not sure what you really do know, but when you post it is obvious to most it isn’t much more than bluster. And further I don’t believe for one instant you directly contribute to helping the Terrance’s of this world turn it around,
other than wring you smug, entitlement orientated hands , while displaying crocodile tears for the world to see , to cover up the lack of giving anything personally of yourself.
And the world would be better served if the Terrance’s floundered in a rehab ward and left to tend to his own self made demons, for as long as he can and we offer that same hand up (verse a hand out) to someone willing to work to better them self.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience, Harold. I’m sure your efforts paid off for some in the long run even if you didn’t get to see it. You planted good seed, it won’t be forgotten.
That’s the thing, Harold. That’s what we’re talking about. There is no such thing as “chaff” to a mental health professional. Terrance is not to be discarded because he does not measure up to your standards.
And, yes, when they discovered you held another world view, they sacked you. I’m sure it was disappointing but, actually, most people are not suited to that kind of work.
“What you don’t seem to realize is that we don’t all come out of a Play-Doh mold…”
That’s a bunch of crap and our archives would prove it.
“…I expect from Terrance according to his ability”
Maybe you do personally but your party’s policies don’t. They do just the opposite and anyone who suggests reform is dismissed and said to be heartless and cruel.
We in America used to respect even the least among us to be capable of some contribution…that was the standard. We didn’t coddle people nor did we let the truly broken die in the street. Now we tolerate and excuse people like Terrance all through their lives…and we do them no great service.
“Tina, we stopped building that sort of facility quite some time ago. There was a fella named Dickens, you may have heard of him …”
Typical narrow thinking. Because there was a Dickens character it’s impossible to create and run such a facility under humane conditions? As if the number of beds is what made the difference.
“Instead of all this seething resentment over people who need assistance…”
The seething resentment is for the lefties who built this condition over decades with bad policies and programs, lousy social attitudes, and lowered standards.
“…why can’t you manifest some nice smug complacency in the superior state you support.”
You’re pathetic. Excellence or perfection are not things many achieve but it would be stupid to live life without that standard to shoot for. We humans are capable of so much more than we think. I go back to the idea that stronger, more capable individuals make for a stronger whole. Higher standards and expectations of each other would produce a stronger whole and a lot fewer Terrances.
“Higher standards and expectations ….”
More code. The translation of this bit: “I’m not spending dime one on these worthless people. If they can’t manage on their own, they can starve and die.”
” … to create and run such a facility under humane conditions? As if the number of beds is what made the difference.”
Actually, it does. Ward living saps the spirit, and/or provokes misbehavior. Like it or not, all yer facilities are now of this type, two to a room, with a semblance of privacy, the substantive differences being in the quality of the staff and extracurriculars. And, this arrangement is physically easier for the staff to work in.
Now, let’s get to what’s really bothering you, what’s holding up the single payer. You don’t want to share your room with Terrance. You don’t want to sit in the waiting room with the brown people.
I actually sympathize with Martin. I long ago lost track of the procession of Dad’s roomies, some of them less than desirable. I mean, the very worst is to have to go into one of theses facilities while you still have all your marbles. Just to shield their psyches, a lot of people, and in self defense, promptly lose theirs. Jack, visit him often.
And if it’s any consolation, if it’s a good place, they have already taken note and will likely move Terrance soon. Unhappily, there will eventually, always, be another Terrance.
So, on the people level, we manage the disparities as best we can. On the policy level, Terrance gets a room.