#the real reasons Americans are not saving for retirement

[mondoreb]

End Times Prophecy Headlines: March 24-26, 2023

End Times Prophecy Report HEADLINES FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY March 24-26, 2023 And OPINION “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” —Matthew 24:4 “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.” —Fyodor Dostoevsky ===INTERNATIONAL UKRAINE: Russia Launches Attacks Across Ukraine, Killing Seven in School…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Social Security is class war, not intergenerational conflict

Today, Tor.com published my latest short story, "The Canadian Miracle," set in the world of my forthcoming (Nov 14) novel, The Lost Cause. I am serializing this one on my podcast! Here's part one.

The very instant the Social Security Act was passed in 1935, American conservatives (in both parties) began lobbying to destroy it. After all, a reserve army of forelock-tugging plebs and family retainers won't voluntarily assemble themselves – they need to be goaded into it by the threat of slowly starving to death in their dotage.

They're at it again (again). The oligarch-thinktank industrial complex has unleashed a torrent of scare stories about Social Security's imminent insolvency, rehearsing the same shopworn doom predictions that they've been repeating since the Nixonite billionaire cabinet member Peter G Peterson created a "foundation" to peddle his disinformation in 2008:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.O.U.S.A.

Peterson's go-to tactic is convincing young people that all the Social Security money they're paying into the system will be gobbled up by already-wealthy old people, leaving nothing behind for them. Conservatives have been peddling this ditty since the 1930s, and they're still at it – in the pages of the New York Times, no less:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/opinion/social-security-medicare-aging.html

The Times has become a veritable mouthpiece for this nonsense, publishing misleading and nonsensical charts and data to support the idea that millennials are losing a generational war to boomers, who will leave the cupboard bare:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/opinion/aging-medicare-social-security.html

As Robert Kuttner writes for The American Prospect, this latest rhetorical assault on Social Security is timed to coincide with the ascension of the GOP House's new Speaker, Mike Johnson, who makes no secret of his intention to destroy Social Security:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-10-31-debunking-latest-attack-social-security/

The GOP says it wants to destroy Social Security for two reasons: first, to promote "choice" by letting us provide for our own retirement by flushing even more of our savings into the rigged casino that is the stock market; and second, because America doesn't have enough dollars to feed and house the elderly.

But for the New York Times' audience, they've figured out how to launder this far-right nonsense through the language of social justice. Rather than condemning the impecunious olds for their moral failing to lay the correct bets in the stock market, Social Security's opponents paint the elderly as a gerontocratic elite, flush with cash that rightfully belongs to the young.

To support this conclusion, they throw around statistics about how house-rich the Boomers are, and how much consumption they can afford. But as Kuttner points out, the Boomers' real-estate wealth comes not from aggressive house-flipping, but from merely owning a place to live. America's housing bubble means that younger people can't afford this basic human necessity, but the answer to that isn't making old people homeless – it's providing a lot more housing, and banning housing speculation:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/

It's true that older people are doing a lot of consumption spending – but the bulk of that spending isn't on cruises to Alaska to see the melting glaciers, it's on health care. Old people aren't luxuriating in their joint replacements and coronary bypasses. Calling this "consumption" is deliberately misleading.

But as Kuttner points out, there's another, more important point to be made about inequality in America – the most significant wealth gap in America is between workers and owners, not young people and old people. The "average" Boomer's net worth factors in the wealth of Warren Buffett and Donald Trump. Older renters are more rent-burdened and precarious than younger renters, and most older Americans have little to no retirement savings:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2023/10/28/the-new-york-times-greedy-geezer-myth/

Less than one percent of Social Security benefits go to millionaires – that's because the one percent constitute one percent of the population. It's right there in the name. The one percent are politically and economically important, but that's because they are low in numbers. Giving Social Security benefits to everyone over 65 will not result in a significant outlay to the ultra-wealthy, because there aren't many ultra-wealthy people in America. The problem of inequality isn't the expanding pool of rich people, it's the explosion of wealth for a contracting pool of rich people.

If conservatives were serious about limiting the grip of these "undeserving" Social Security recipients on our economy and its politics, they'd advocate for interitance taxes (which effectively don't exist in America), not the abolition of Social Security. The problem of wealth in America is that it is establishing permanent dynasties which are incompatible with social mobility. In other words, we have created a new hereditary aristocracy – and its corollary, a new hereditary peasantry:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/19/dynastic-wealth/#caste

Hereditary aristocracies are poisonous for lots of reasons, but one of the most pressing problems they present is political destabilization. American belief in democracy, the rule of law, and a national identity is q function of Americans' perception of fairness. If you think that your kids can't ever have a better life than you, if you think that the cops will lock you up for a crime for which a rich person would escape justice, then why obey the law? Why vote? Why not cheat and steal? Why not burn it all down?

The wealthy put a lot of energy into distracting us from this question. Just lately, they've cooked up a gigantic panic over a nonexistent wave of retail theft:

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/31/the-retail-theft-surge-that-isnt-report-says-crime-is-being-exaggerated-to-cover-up-other-retail-issues/

Meanwhile, the very real, non-imaginary, accelerating, multi-billion-dollar plague of wage theft is conspicuously missing from the public discourse, despite a total that dwarfs all retail theft in America by an order of magnitude:

https://fair.org/home/wage-theft-is-built-into-the-business-models-of-many-industries/

America does have a property crime crisis, but it's a crisis of wage-theft, not shoplifting. Likewise, America does have a retirement crisis: it's a crisis of inequality, not intergenerational conflict.

Social Security has been under sustained assault since its inception, and that's in large part due to a massive blunder on the part of FDR. Roosevelt believed that people would be more protective of Social Security if they thought it was funded by their taxes: "we bought it, it's ours." But – as FDR well knew – that's not how government spending works.

The US government can't run out of US dollars. The US government doesn't get its dollars for spending from your taxes. The US government spends money into existence and taxes it out of existence:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/14/situation-normal/#mmt

A moment's thought will reveal that it has to be this way. The US government (and its fiscal agents, chartered banks) are the only source of dollars. How can the US tax dollars away from earners unless it has first spent those dollars into the economy?

The point of taxation isn't to fund programs, it's to reduce the private sector's spending power so that there are things for sale to the public sector. If we only spent money into the economy but didn't take any out of the economy, the private sector would have so many dollars to spend that any time the government tried to buy something, there'd be a bidding war that would result in massive price spikes.

When a government runs a "balanced budget," that means that it has taxed as much out of the economy as it put into the economy at the start of the year. When a government runs a "surplus," that means it's left less money in the economy at the end of the year than there was at the beginning of the year. This is fine if the economy has contracted overall, but if the economy stayed constant or grew, that means there are fewer dollars chasing more goods and services, which leads to deflation and all kinds of toxic outcomes, like borrowing more bank-created money, which makes the finance sector richer and the real economy poorer.

Of course, most governments run "deficits" – which is another way of saying that they leave more dollars in the economy at the end of the year than there was at the start of the year, or, put another way, a deficit probably means that your economy got bigger, so it needed more dollars.

None of this means that governments can spend without limit. But it does mean that governments can buy anything that's for sale in their own currency. There are a lot of goods for sale in US dollars, both goods that are produced domestically and goods from abroad (this is why it's such a big deal that most of the world's oil is priced in dollars).

Governments do have to worry about getting into bidding wars with the private sector. To do that, governments come up with ways of reducing the private sector's spending power. One way to do that is taxes – just taking money away from us at the end of the year and annihilating it. Another way is to ration goods – think of WWII, or the direct economic interventions during the covid lockdowns. A third way is to sell bonds, which is just a roundabout way of getting us to promise not to spend some of our dollars for a while, in return for a smaller number of dollars in interest payments:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/08/howard-dino/#payfors

FDR knew all of this, but he still told the American people that their taxes were funding Social Security, thinking that this would protect the program. This backfired terribly. Today, Democrats have embraced the myth that taxes fund spending and join with their Republican counterparts in insisting that all spending must be accompanied by either taxes or cuts (AKA "payfors").

These Democrats voluntarily put their own policymaking powers in chains, refusing to take any action on behalf of the American people unless they can sell a tax increase or a budget cut. They insist that we can't have nice things until we make billionaires poor – which is the same as saying that we can't have nice things, period.

There are damned good reasons to make billionaires poor. The legitimacy of the American system is incompatible with the perception that wealth and power are fixed by birth, and that the rich and powerful don't have to play by the rules.

The capture of America's institutions – legislatures, courts, regulators – by the rich and powerful is a ghastly situation, and to reverse it, we'll need all the help we can get. Every hour that Americans spend worrying about their how they'll pay their rent, their medical bills, or their student loans is an hour lost to the fight against oligarchy and corruption.

In other words, it's not true that we can't have nice things until we get rid of billionaires – rather, we can't get rid of billionaires until we have nice things.

This is the premise of my next novel, The Lost Cause, which comes out on November 14; it's set in a world where care and solidarity have unleashed millions of people on the project of maintaining the habitability of our planet amidst the polycrisis:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

It's a fundamentally hopeful book, and it's already won praise from Naomi Klein, Rebecca Solnit, Bill McKibben and Kim Stanley Robinson. I wrote it while thinking through and researching these issues. Conservatives want us to think that we can't do better than this, that – to quote Margaret Thatcher – "there is no alternative." Replacing that narrative is critical to the kinds of mass mobilizations that our very survival depends on.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/intergenerational-warfare/#five-pound-blocks-of-cheese

This Saturday (Nov 4), I'm keynoting the Hackaday Supercon in Pasadena, CA.

[smiggles]

do you have any advice for starting working as a full time artist?

Save yourself while you still can....

Just kidding. HM. I can only speak from an Americanized view and honestly it would be pretty broad advice. I can try to answer specific questions but because being a full time artist is really truly SO different for each person it can be tough to say. One of the best things I can offer is Find a way to make passive income. Whether that's selling bases, merch, digital art books, digital tutorials, brushes et cetera. Whatever it is that you'd like to do that can take some pressure off of being required to produce art every single month really does help. Being a full time freelance artist is fucking hard. You wont have health insurance, sick days, PTO, retirement, reasons to go outside (unless you sell art in real life). You will need to be your social media manager, your accountant, a web designer (for your website), have people skills, able to write a ToS, you will need to learn how to budget, manage your work schedule, promote yourself, able to handle & resolve conflict. Your way of life will be unstable and unpredictable. There are periods of time where no one will buy commissions and periods where too many people are asking for them. You will fail at times. And you will need to know how to safely handle that. Whether you hit art block. Or you get sick and your queue becomes unable to be managed. You get in an accident of some sort and need extra funds to cover it. I truly do not recommend jumping straight into full time freelancing if you can help it I took commissions for about 10 years before I decided to completely quit my job for art. And Im on my second year doing it and Im burnt tf out. Make sure to start slowly. Learn your rhythm and what keeps you interested and motivated. Gain a consistent audience/clients enough that you can mostly predict how much money youre getting a month and if it can cover not only your immediate expenses but any future ones. If you can save up. If youre able to put approx. 20% of all your earnings aside just for taxes that you will need to pay. There is a lot to being full time and I dont mean to scare anyone but I do want to really push that it is a huge commitment. It is a passion job. Very few artists make more than just enough to get by. And again. This is just my experience.

[homosexuality-and-morphine]

I can't stop thinking about the mangle weed trio so I'm just gonna say shit about them here :

If they play Minecraft Mike has no clue what's going on ever and Jack has to save him from mobs all the time (Mike is completely oblivious to the mobs) and Michael is either lost or making their house pretty. They basically all have roles Jack Hunt's and saves both Michael and Mike from mobs (Michael just sucks at fighting) Mike gets materials and stuff and Michael builds and farms. Michael built their house in a lush cave Mike found while fucking around. Mike has somehow never died once in their Minecraft world dispite being the only one who hasn't played before. They have to have keep inventory on because Michael always forgets fall damage is a thing and also just in case Mike dies at some point.

They all express love in different ways Mike likes to give gifts and do stuff for people Michael likes physical touch Jack loves words of affirmation and physical touch (semi due to his dependency on touch to believe things are real)

They actually have three kids! Gregory was adopted by Michael before he even met Mike and Jack then one day they just woke up to see two eggs on the floor in front of Michaels bed and they named one nebula and the other goober (Michael named em)

Their wedding rings have stones made of their own blood (they have weird looking blood so the stones are very pretty)

Michael likes to bake and he always gives at least one treat to Mike and Jack (he usually gives some to his mom too but he has to go to heaven for that)

The original story of how they became good friends was that they smoked some weed and stole mangle from Freddy's and then Michael fixed it up but I ended up forgetting about mangle after a while

Jesus and god have this bit where they show up when they say "oh my god" or "Jesus Christ" and sometimes god will just call Michael baby girl to fuck with him and Michael does tend to call her a whore (she does not care when Michael insults her cause she can't even really do anything if she was bothered by it)

They're only gods because the old gods that were in their place wanted to retire and so picked them as their successors and just kind of left the responsibility of all the universes in the 3 dumbasses hands (they're pretty powerful but rarely use the full extent of their powers because they don't like to seem egotistical like some other gods are)

Jacks "true form" (basically a form a god takes in the afterlife) actually has two heads the other head is named Jackie and she's essentially a gender bent version of Jack and when Jack uses his usual form she's basically just in the back of his mind hanging out

Michael has done Mike and jacks makeup before and Mike didn't like it very much

Only Mike and Jack have pet names and they started out as Michael teasing them for something (Mike's is princess and it's because Abby forced him to go a whole day wearing a princess outfit and Jack's is puppy for obvious reasons)

Michael is an alcoholic Jack smokes weed a lot and Mike only sometimes gets drunk/high so he has to deal with British man and giggly idiot a lot (when Michael is drunk his fake American accent drops and he sounds very British)

[kick-a-long]

subsistance farming

fyi: i have no links or sources for this

but i think the romanticization of farming and communal living as a means to escape capitalism dates back to the roman empire. roman soldiers were promised land to retire to so they could become farmers and part of the landed class. this also meant they could stop making their living from violence and what was essentially never ending camping, crowds, shared cramped temporary spaces, and marching. basically farming was advertised and expected to be a life of plenty, wealth, independence, leisure, and social mobility.

when it turned out farming was none of those things and that most retired soldiers, even with slaves, do not know how to farm or the pitfalls of maximizing crop yield (specifically how fucking hard it is without a life of experience and study) there was a massive food shortage in rome. especially because 1. they bought/stole the land from poor farmers who moved to cities and 2. the military campaigns had gotten better at keeping roman army men alive to retirement by tactics, gear, and employing more of them.

this was one of the reasons for ceasars rise to power, as the head of the senate he decreased the amount of people on "welfare" by capping the level of poverty you needed to be at to get free bread. this fixed the bread shortage somewhat but also it made him insanely popular. this is also one of the reasons he crossed the rubicon, ended democracy in rome, all of which restarted the roman emperor part of the roman empire. this is also what lead to the mainstreaming of christianity with the emperor as champion of christianity.

now we come to america. the american founders loved the roman democracy. they had some fixes which is cool, but the idea that farming was a romantic and leisure activity stuck around. especially because they were fundamentally idealists about the new government and revolution they were fighting. this has always been a part of american ideals. the amount of grizzled farmers that are held up by everyone as "real americans" "real salt of the earth types" "really independent" basically that farmers by their nature are more virtuous and pure than corrupted cities. think of the thanksgiving car commercials that inexplicably include a stern wrinkly man standing by his barn with his pitchfork and overalls, piece of hay dangling from his concerned mouth.

the romanticization of farming from the left springs from the same source. farming is the dream end of all the violence and "work" needed for the revolution. in many ways, evolving a society past farming is the original sin of capitalism. but it's a crock of shit. farming is hard. every communist country starts by trying to get everyone farming and it goes TERRIBLY. when you hear about all the famine then the eventual dictatorial takeovers then the abandoning the principles of marxist labor organization then everyone is back to being a wage slave which basically every communist state has in it's history... that's why.

so i propose: every k through 12 must bring back shop, home economics (learn about budgeting and baking kids. it'll save you a ton of money) and agrarian science as mandatory. even in cities. even if you think it's a waste of fucking time. make agrarian science as real and scary as abstinence only health class. teach americans to fucking respect and fear farmers so they don't want to be them but do want to pay them lest they leave or die out.

there i solved it. everything is cool now.

[dallasareaopinion]

So you want to fix Social Security, how about…… merchandising

Yes that is right let’s sell t-shirts with cute sayings about being old and baseball caps saying I’m old, I have medicare with a new spruced up logo.

Why not? It is certainly the American way.

Okay maybe not, but certain people in Congress are wanting to raise the age for full retirement to 70 to help stave off Social Security running low on funds.

Interesting that the very same people who can receive a pension up to 80% of their last salary, (depends on years served, age) and because of their salary as a   Representative they receive higher social security payments than the average person in general receives want to save social security by hurting the people who need it most. 

And think about this; one of the reasons people don’t earn much through their social security is due to lack of wage growth while they were working. So the last 50 or 60 years of slow wage growth and not just relative to the rate of inflation has hurt the social security fund and hindered the amount of benefits people receive when they start taking their social security payments. Did you need another reason to be hissed off that the federal minimum wage is squat ($7.25) and hasn’t changed in how long? (2009)

Yet our elected officials who are paid by your tax dollars are receiving significantly more than the people they are elected to serve with pension funds, yet most Americans do not have a pension from their employer anymore so need social security as a basis for their retirement income. And we are told we have workplace retirement savings plans for us to save which is true, but it helps if we earn enough to save or as all these good politicians will tell us, make the sacrifices to save more. Sounds like a good idea, except heath care costs are growing faster than inflation, housing costs are exploding, so yep we have all this extra money to save. 

And your elected officials also have a savings plan through the Federal government and you guessed it they also receive a “company match” paid by your tax dollars.

So most Americans have suffered through anemic wage growth, high costs that eat into savings rates, and a social security plan that is the ripe to be cut to balance the federal budget. 

And somehow or another these elected officials keep getting re-elected over and over again to the point everyone wants term limits, but won’t discuss the real issue of holding our elected officials accountable to us and representing us. And some of them earn over $100,000 in pension, receive higher than average social security and have a savings plan where money is deposited for them. And the icing on the cake, better healthcare. 

And then there are some that want Wall Street to manage the Social Security Trust fund. Sure, put the people who hoard wealth in charge of the average person’s turnip squeezed life blood. That sounds like it will work…. for them. And they just love supporting decent wages for workers, too. uh…………… Well they should.

Maybe hocking t-shirts and caps is the solution and you can do that until you are 80 if some in Congress have their way.

Yet if you are a regular reader you know that there are other ideas espoused that at least think about you and I.

[arpov-blog-blog]

..."The biggest reason Social Security is running out of money is not what you (and the media) think it is: that boomer retirees are, or will soon be, soaking it all up.

The Social Security trustees anticipated the boom in boomer retirements. This is why Social Security was amended back in 1983, to gradually increase the age for collecting full retirement benefits from age 65 to 67. That change is helping finance the boomers’ retirement.

So what did the trustees fail to anticipate? Answer: the degree of income inequality in 21st century America.

Put simply, a big part of the American working population is earning less than the Social Security trustees (including me) anticipated decades ago — and therefore paying less in Social Security payroll tax.

Had the pay of American workers kept up with what had been the trend decades ago — and kept up with their own increasing productivity — their Social Security payroll tax payments would have been enough to keep the program flush.

At the same time, a much larger chunk of the nation’s total income is going to the top than was expected decades ago.

Here’s the thing: Income subject to the payroll tax is capped. Every dollar of earnings in excess of the cap is not subject to Social Security payroll taxes. This year’s cap is $160,200.

The Social Security cap is adjusted every year for inflation, but the adjustment is tiny compared to what’s happened to incomes at the top.

As the rich have become far richer, more and more of the total income earned by Americans has become concentrated at the top. Therefore, more and more total income escapes the Social Security payroll tax. 

The obvious solution to Social Security’s funding shortfall 11 years from now is to lift the cap so that the super-rich pay more in Social Security taxes.

To make sure it’s the super-rich — and not the upper middle class — who pay, it makes sense to eliminate the cap altogether on earnings in excess of, say, $400,000.

As it happens, Joe Biden campaigned for the White House on a plan to do exactly this.

What happened to that plan? The budget Biden proposed last month made no mention of any tax increase linked to Social Security (although it did include tax increases on high earners and corporations as a way to extend the solvency of Medicare by 25 years). 

I suspect Biden’s plan for Social Security was a casualty of the bare-knuckled politics surrounding both Social Security and the debt ceiling. Biden doesn’t want to give Republicans any opening to debate Social Security in the coming fight over lifting the ceiling."

[nijjhar]

Abraham was a Saint of the order of Christ Jesus and so should be His So... Abraham was a Saint of the order of Christ Jesus and so should be His Sons of the Semitic Race. Lazarus was the True Son of Abraham whilst the Rich Man, son of Satan. https://youtu.be/WQLSLSDF0zU The Gospel Truth - Part 1. by Chaudhry Rajinder Nijjhar, M.Sc. Retired Senior Lecturer in Metallurgy, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, W.Africa. 144 Hamilton Road, Reading, RG1 5RE, England THE GOSPEL WOULD BE PREACHED BEFORE THE END OF THIS DARK AGE. The Gospel Truth is the Bottom-line Truth known as "Logo", the End Product of the "Logical Reasoning". Very few people, one in a thousand and two in ten thousand, are interested in it as it reveals the hypocrite blasphemers against the Holy Spirit. Here is a taste of the Gospel Truth. In Adam, we are born and die whilst in our Eternal Supernatural Father Elohim, Allah, Parbrahm, etc., we are never born or die. Now, under Adam, we have races and tribes and this planet Earth is for the habitation of the sons of Adam called Man. Adam himself was a Saint and in India, He is addressed as "HAR HAR MAHADEV". Har stands for God Maha = the greatest and Dev = a morally sound Person, a Devta or Angel as Angel Stephen was, who reminded the Synedrion the Nobility of their Forefather Abraham. Now, Abraham was planted by our heavenly Father "Yahweh, Brahma, Khudah, etc., the demiurge Potter of male and female" as Adam and Sarah as Eve and they were given the Promised Land as the Garden of Eden. Through Adam and Eve, we learn all the moral laws and how to live in Peace or the Kingdom of Heaven of the heavenly Father Yahweh. The first son of Abraham was Ishmael born of the concubine Hagar and second son "Isaac" was born of his real wife "Sarah". Now, Abraham gave his real son Isaac the "circumcision" as the tribal mark and as the property of the father belongs to his real son and not to the son born of a concubine, Abraham took Hagar and her son Ishmael and settled them outside the boundary of the "Promised Land" in that he, Ishmael, has no right to the Promised Land. Thus, father Abraham, a Saint taught spirituality to Isaac whilst Ishmael being not under the care of the father remained a "Natural Man" worshipping Adam and not Elohim, Allah, Parbrahm, etc. Even today, the sons of Ishmael are faithful to Abraham and Adam demonstrated recently by putting President Morsi in jail and he died there. President Morsi exploited people in the name of religion, spiritual Muslim Brotherhood that has nothing to do with the secular world of Adam and his tribal people and thus, became the greatest Satan Al-Djmar Al-Aksa and had created a Mountain of religious fanatics Muslim Brotherhood, a staunch enemy of Adam and his tribal sons, the rightful owner of the planet earth - 144000 that would be saved after the ensuing ATOMIC WAR are all mentioned by their tribes in Adam, the "Wheat Plants" and not the religious fanatics, the "Tares" that would burn and kill each other - Matt 13v24-30. For spirituality bestowed by Saint Abraham, a Nobleman, that is why both the Temples of Yahweh, Brahma, Khuda, etc. and the only One in the world Holiest of the Holy of our Supernatural Father of our supernatural "souls" were established in Israel that produced open-hearted people like Nathaniel FREE of duplicity and Jesus described him a True Israelite, Salt of Abraham. Allah is NOOR and you cannot apply Shariah Laws that bind you on NOOR that sets you FREE. This Islam is not of Allah called INSHALLAH but of Mullahs called Inshmullah. Our Khokhar Jatt Chaudhry Saddam Hussein Khokhar Jatt was executed by the American Jews. JEWS THEMSELVES ARE ANTISEMITIC. A Jew is spiritual of heart inwardly and not in the flesh outwardly. So a Jew is never born or dies but the tribal people of Judah, Levi, Benjamin, etc. led by their blind guides, the “sinners” died. Such sinners were killed by the tribal English and Germans in the Holocaust. END TIME GOSPEL TRUTH – FREE LECTURES AND SEMINARS www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/GistEndGospel.htm www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JAntisem.htm Other:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Nobility.htm http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/tenlights.htm http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JattIslam.htm Proofs of the Virgin Birth of Jesus: - www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bojes.htm Super Hitler tribal Putin will destroy Blasphemer USA and the West as the German Hitler killed the unfaithful Abraham and Yahweh sinner Jews outwardly. https://youtu.be/FQ9TyEEZcDQ There was no WMD in Iraq and these Blasphemer USA and Western nations, War Criminals destroyed his peaceful country. https://youtu.be/NIB8q3YiQZs The Udege tribal Super Hitler Putin https://youtu.be/WCjpz-_w0y0 For the unlisted videos www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Unlisted.htm Private Bitter Gospel Truth videos:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JAntisem.htm www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Rest.htm ONE GOD ONE FAITH www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bookfin.pdf John's baptism www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/johnsig.pdf Trinity www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/trinity.pdf

[amandacooperkf]

Why it’s so hard for Americans to retire

"And the reason I'm wincing when I say these numbers is that I know that real Americans just don't have it. The math of what you're supposed to have and what people actually do have is a huge gap." #retirement #saving #financialplanning

Why it’s so hard for Americans to retire

There’s a reason so many of us don’t have enough retirement savings.

Korn Ferry Connect

[nealrockwell]

To get you Caye Caulker, one must first stop on the island of San Pedro for customs. San Pedro, the guidebooks say, is the party island, whereas the branding of Caye Caulker is “go slow”. But also people talk about the building. They have built too many condos on San Pedro. People – tourists and locals – also say things like “it has become so American” which is linked to condos and bars with swings. Checking out real estate prices, one quickly understands why there are so many new condo projects – often built on reclaimed land. Many of them sell for between $300,000 - $600,000 US dollars.      This is untenable for locals, and even simply for a vacation property unless one was quite wealthy (and that doesn’t appear to be the demographic), but it starts to look much more reasonable if one thinks of it as an investment property. If you are, say, American, Canadian or European and you have extra cash, or can get a bank loan, AirBNB will handle the marketing, making sure you reach the right audiences, charging $100, $200 or more per night, and for a small cost one can employ an island resident to manage everything for you (perhaps you trade rent for maintenance duties in a multi-unit suite). It is a form of arbitrage made possible by jet liners, internet banking, absence of international capital controls and online platforms. As a northerner, not only do you have a sunny winter escape, potentially you have a very easy solution to the thorny problem of saving for retirement. If this has a negative impact on locals’ ability to afford a home, that is quite abstract and dislocated in foreigners’ minds, and besides there are always convenient arguments about the benefits of investment and development, or perhaps more trenchantly, the thought that if you don’t do it someone else will. 

During the customs stopover some of the boat passengers went off to drink in bars, five of them didn’t make it back and were left behind.

[strategic-passive-investments]

28% of Americans Think They'll Be Stuck Having to Live Frugally in Retirement. But One Simple Change Could Give You More Spending Power

In recent times, individuals approaching retirement have faced challenges in building their nest eggs. Rampant inflation has made it challenging for many to contribute substantially to their retirement savings, and the pandemic prompted a temporary exit from the labor force for numerous individuals.

It comes as no surprise, then, that 28% of today's workers anticipate adopting a frugal lifestyle in retirement, as revealed by data from Natixis. While some people actively choose to reduce spending and embrace a simpler lifestyle in retirement, the definition of living frugally can vary widely.

Opting to cook dinner regularly instead of dining out, for example, is a reasonable choice for retirees looking to manage expenses. However, the prospect of pinching pennies at the supermarket or cutting back on essentials due to rising costs adds another layer of complexity to retirement planning.

For those uncomfortable with the idea of adhering to a strict budget during retirement, there is an alternative strategy: continue working. Contrary to the traditional view of retirement as a time to cease working, there are numerous benefits to maintaining employment during retirement, especially given the flexibility offered by the gig economy.

While limited savings and reliance on Social Security may initially suggest a frugal retirement, the decision to secure a part-time job at one's leisure could potentially increase monthly income by $500 or $600. This additional income may provide the freedom to indulge in dining out, attend social events, or manage higher medical bills more comfortably.

Moreover, working in retirement serves as a productive way to stay occupied, addressing the challenge of filling hours without spending excessively. The social aspect of employment can also combat the loneliness often experienced by retirees, offering the camaraderie and casual discussions reminiscent of an office environment.

The choice between a flexible gig and a more traditional part-time job in retirement depends on personal preferences. Some may value the flexibility of gig work, while others may seek the consistency and relationship-building opportunities associated with a traditional part-time role.

Contrary to assumptions of severe spending limitations in retirement, the decision to work in some capacity can not only cover expenses but also preserve limited savings for a more extended period. This approach opens the door to potential investment gains, presenting a more optimistic financial outlook for retirees.

In conclusion, working in retirement proves to be a beneficial strategy, particularly for those anticipating financial constraints during their post-career years. By considering alternative sources of income and maintaining a connection to the workforce, individuals can enhance their financial well-being and overall retirement experience.

What about Real Estate Investing?

In addition to considering part-time employment during retirement, Charlie Sells, the CEO of Strategic Passive Investments, advocates for an alternative approach for those who prefer not to work actively during their retirement years. Sells emphasizes the importance of redirecting retirement funds towards strategic investments, particularly in the realm of real estate.

Recent statistics reveal a growing trend of individuals utilizing their retirement funds for investments. A significant number of retirees are recognizing the potential benefits of proactively managing their retirement dollars to generate additional income and financial security. This shift in mindset reflects a proactive stance toward wealth-building during retirement.

Sells suggests that investing in real estate can be a powerful tool for those seeking a passive income stream in retirement. By strategically deploying retirement funds into real estate assets, individuals can potentially enjoy consistent returns over time. Real estate investments often provide a reliable source of passive income, offering financial stability without the need for active employment.

The CEO highlights the long-term advantages of real estate investments, emphasizing that they have the potential to appreciate in value while generating ongoing rental income. This dual benefit can contribute significantly to an individual's financial well-being throughout their retirement years.

By putting retirement dollars to work through real estate investments, retirees may find themselves less reliant on traditional sources of income, such as Social Security or part-time employment. This approach aligns with a broader shift in retirement planning philosophy, encouraging individuals to view their retirement savings not just as a nest egg but as a tool for actively generating wealth.

In conclusion, Charlie Sells underscores the potential of real estate investments as a means for retirees to fortify their financial position without engaging in active employment. As individuals explore various avenues for securing their retirement, the option of strategically investing retirement funds in real estate emerges as a compelling alternative, offering both financial security and the freedom to enjoy retirement without the need for continuous work.

[familyfire2025]

Why financial independence is the new American dream | Family FIRE 2025

Why financial independence is the new American dream | Family FIRE 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfkjTlCQLOc Unlock the secrets to a new American dream in our latest video, "Why Financial Independence is the New American Dream." 🌟 Join us as we explore the evolving landscape of aspirations and dive into the reasons why an increasing number of individuals are embracing the pursuit of financial independence. Discover key insights, inspiring stories, and practical tips that can reshape your perspective on success and fulfillment. Don't miss out on this thought-provoking exploration of the shifting paradigms in the pursuit of the American dream! 💸🚀 🔔Ready to achieve Financial Independence by 2025? Click 'Subscribe' and embark on a transformative journey with us: https://www.youtube.com/@family.fire.by.2025 ✅ For Business Inquiries: ikarishingi@gmail.com ============================= ✅ Recommended Playlists 👉 Financial Independence Facts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsqUU0UnJ8&list=PLFbNQzXkUGyw0P-rfVrdiC4-ph8ky3uL_&pp=iAQB 👉 Financial Independence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG-32QwZ1T0&list=PLFbNQzXkUGyytYLW5TZHFg_Kxdd-bEOfU&pp=iAQB ✅ Other Videos You Might Be Interested In Watching: 👉 Overcoming Money Setbacks Road to Financial Freedom!💰 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5avpEXdIbE8 👉 Supercharge Your F.I.R.E Journey: Unleashing the Power of Dividend Reinvestment! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jq-nmMxplU 👉 Stop Losing Money! How Lifestyle Inflation Erodes Your Financial Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uRVmjuZyWU 👉 A Surprising Way to Retire Early & Keep Your Luxury Life! Financial Independence Retire Early https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0GfswvQmrI 👉 Location is the Key to Financial Freedom--But How? Financial Independence Retire Early https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbGOvfoTptE ============================= ✅ About Family FIRE 2025. Welcome to "Family Fire 2025"! Join our Singaporean family's quest for Financial Independence Retire Early (F.I.R.E) by 2025. Our channel is your ultimate guide to understanding the F.I.R.E movement, achieving financial freedom, and exploring effective investment strategies, personal finance, budgeting, stock market investing, real estate, saving techniques, and essential financial tools. We're on a mission to educate and inspire you by sharing our family's journey toward financial independence and demonstrating how smart money habits can lead to a life free from financial stress. We believe everyone can achieve F.I.R.E. with dedication and the right knowledge. Subscribe to our channel, and let's ignite the F.I.R.E within you together! Let us embark on this transformative journey, empowering you to take control of your financial destiny and attain the freedom you've always desired. For Collaboration and Business inquiries, please use the contact information below: 📩 Email: ikarishingi@gmail.com 🔔From real estate to stock markets, discover the roadmap to financial freedom with us. Hit that subscribe button: https://www.youtube.com/@family.fire.by.2025 ================================= #FinancialIndependence #NewAmericanDream #WealthBuilding #FinancialFreedom #SuccessMindset #PersonalFinance #InvestingWisdom #MoneyMatters #DreamBig #LifeGoals #SmartMoney #FinancialWellness #FuturePlanning #MindfulSpending #EconomicEmpowerment Disclaimer: We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of watching any of our publications. You acknowledge that you use the information we provide at your own risk. Do your research. Copyright Notice: This video and our YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and images that are the property of Family FIRE 2025. You are authorized to share the video link and channel and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to our YouTube channel is provided. © Family FIRE 2025 via Family FIRE 2025 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUbT9IupjUO551P-H-NAH1g December 12, 2023 at 01:00AM

[recentlyheardcom]

'It’s outrageous': Dave Ramsey revealed the real reason Americans are going broke — and it's not inflation. 3 simple steps to fix your finances nowRecord-breaking inflation rates may have throttled Americans’ budgets over the last year, but Dave Ramsey says you can’t blame high costs for all your financial woes.On a popular episode of The Ramsey Show, host Ramsey stated that household debt is at an all-time high — not because inflation is increasing the price of essential goods like groceries, but because of how consumers have responded to these price changes.Don’t miss“Let’s be clear here. The debt is not because of inflation,” Ramsey said during the episode. “The debt is because you wussed out and refused to cut your freaking lifestyle to offset inflation.”What Ramsey says is holding people backYou can save enough for retirement by putting $100 per month in a conservative growth fund from age 25 to 65, Ramsey said, but for that to work, “You can’t have a $750 F-150 payment. You can’t have a student loan that’s been around so long you think it’s a pet.”He added: “All you do is work for these stinking banks that have better furniture and bigger buildings than you do.”Ramsey went on to state that debt has become normalized in America if not throughout the world. It’s now a huge obstacle for those seeking to save money and put that cash toward retirement.Yet, instead of paying back debt, consumers seem to be using credit cards and other loan methods to continue funding their daily spending, Ramsey said. Rather than cut back during inflation, consumers chose to make up for the shortfall by borrowing money to maintain their lifestyles.Story continuesRamsey stated that people’s continual reliance on consumer debt has kept him in the financial advice-giving business for the last several decades and will give him job security for several more.That’s why it’s a great time to remind Americans about Ramsey’s baby steps to secure your finances and kick debt to the curb.Create a $1,000 emergency fundRamsey's guidance here is to start an emergency fun with $1,000. He's since come out to say that was never meant to be enough for Americans. However, even as you work to pay down your debt, this is the bare minimum amount you should have put aside, because life happens.Down the line, you can start contributing far more to this fund. But, if you're suddenly hit with a big medical bill, a broken-down vehicle or some other emergency, you’ll want that $1,000 available to avoid losing all the steam you’ve gained on your debt payments.Read more: Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now use $100 to cash in on prime real estate — without the headache of being a landlord. Here's howPay off all debt (except the house)Granted, almost no one has hundreds of thousands of dollars available to pay off their mortgage in one go, but by using the snowball method Americans can pay down the rest of their debt in a reasonably quick period of time, Ramsey claims.To do this, list your debts, from student loans and car payments to credit cards. Order them from the smallest balance to the largest, regardless of interest rate, Ramsey says. Start making the minimum payments on everything except that little loan, putting everything you can toward it. The smallest loan is often a credit card balance, which is helpful, as it’s usually also the account with the highest interest rate. Repeat with the next smallest balance, then the next, until you’re debt-free.Achieving this is going to require you to cut back spending, Ramsey says — so it may be time to re-evaluate what’s actually necessary in your life.“When you actually consider the way we all live, it’s outrageous,” Ramsey said. “Our lifestyles are outrageous.”Create a fully funded emergency fundNow, stop for a minute and celebrate. You’ve paid off your debt! This is a huge step that deserves congratulations. But there's still so much more to do. You can start investing and saving toward long-term goals. Before any of that, however, you'll want to circle back and top up your emergency fund.

Ideally, you should have between three and six months of expenses put aside for your household. This means you’re going to have to go back and look at what you’ve spent over the last three to six months. On the bright side, by now you may have already cut back on expenses dramatically. Even better, you’ve created a habit of paying down debt on a consistent basis. So, now you simply put the money you were using on debt toward savings.Once this emergency stash is funded, you’ll be protected should one of life’s enormous surprises — like a layoff or long hospital stay — comes your way. If you’re lucky, this won’t happen and you can use your emergency fund as income down the road. But having it available will give you peace of mind.“You just have to look in the mirror and tell yourself, ‘Boy, we buy some really stupid stuff,’” Ramsey said. “Don’t be a victim. You’re not a victim. You’re a victim of the person in your mirror.”What to read nextThis article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

[limetameta]

For the new fanfic writers ask game:

3, 4 & 29?

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

ooh, this ao no exorcist one i wrote way back in the day while i was still on ffnet that i'm most likely going to repurpose bits of into an og story. (has been deleted since, i think on ao3 itself you can find the first chapter just which i decided to keep for posterity sake lmao) definitely one of my favourite fics of all time - technically - absolute garbage - worldbuilding wise? so good it deserves to be its own thing. ao no exorcist was a formative influence on me lmao. fuck fmab the only reason why i haven't written 10k fics of ao no exorcist is because im writing so much og shit in that genre.

though i will say! i never actually finished ao no exorcist. i got to the point where the grigori's identities were revealed and then i just kind of quit because my at the time pretty canon compliant fic went in COMPLETELY different direction due to the manga's revelations so i quit the fic and the manga lmaooo.

4. How many WIPs do you have right now?

bitch a looootttttt

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

Here's a discarded scene from Retired Prometheus, in the Battle of Grimmauld Place arc:

There was a thing about bullies that many people wished was 100% real and accurate: that they all met their justice at some point.

This wasn’t at all true and people who thought bullies actually got their just desserts really were optimistic. Though, as this was fiction-land, the author could be very optimistic.  All of this meant one thing: Sirius Black was not long for this world.

Death stretched her legs and her wings as she glanced at a watch she’d materialized out of thin air. It had a small hourglass on it with Sirius’ name. She tapped it a few times. The date did not at all correspond with the time left in the glass. ’’Did I account for daylight saving’s time?’’ These things had to be accounted for, but even if Death had accounted for that, it still wouldn’t explain why Sirius had managed to live past his mark. The only thing that could possibly explain why these people, whom she was going to finally get around to taking to the other side of the veil, were still kicking was the fact that Death was enthralled by the sight of a faux-American kicking it in Montenegro. Doing her job had slipped her mind.

Well, this Battle was the perfect time to catch up on her duties. She looked at Sirius and then the man he was duelling. Severus the infamous turncloak. His clock, too, was irregular.

Death hoped they would kill each other to save her the trouble.

[jim-fetter-illustrations]

When Chemical weapons are banned, only criminals will have them......

The U.S. Department of Defense announced that the United States has finally destroyed all of it's chemical weapons in accordance with an international arms control treaty passed way back in 1997.

More than 30,000 tons of chemical warfare agents up in smoke, and the pollution factor is off the charts adding to our overall global warming factor, but at least we are rid of the horrific weapons of war.

At a cost of over 80 Billion tax dollars we destroyed our monstrous behaviour towards our fellow man, who by the way wanted to kill us too.

That would be enough to give every American taxpayer 239,000 thousand dollars, all 332 million Americans, every man, woman, child, and baby $230 thousand dollars,...... I mean because the taxpayer paid to make all those chemical weapons, that's one of the reasons taxes went up, to pay for weapons' of war.

Everyone in America could literally Retire on 239 Thousand dollars, because if you put $239,000 in a savings account, you'd get 6% interest, and if you withdrew $1712 every month it would last for 15 years. So many Americans could retire on $1700 a month.

And I know this is fantasy thinking, just saying how outragious it is to think about all that money just WAISTED on warring with people we want to control.

One might ask "why did we make chemical weapons in the first place?", and your answer is Because other nations made them, and the United States wanted a backup plan in case chemical weapons were used on Americans so we could retaliate back with our own chemical weapons as a kind of deterrent measure.

And that worked on the most part, but that chemical weapons treaty passed in accordance with an international arms control way back in 1997 I talked about,...... wasn't signed by the nations that caused America to built up its chemical weapons!

Sooooooo chemical weapons are still out there by the thousands of tons, just not in America anymore........ So it was really all for nothing, and the nations we feared might use chemical weapons against America still have them and now we don't.

That's the real reality of the situation......

Ya see the whole reason we made chemical weapons in the first place was because they worked so well in getting the enemy to stop fighting, because of the horrific tragedy fallen on them in the form of all sorts of biological anomalies on the human body, and not just at the time of their use, but for generations to come.

A truly mind bending tragedy upon the human body for generations to come, and people react positively to that kind of barbarism that destroys culture and civilization.

So what have we accomplished?

Not much, but to have risen taxes to pay for it all, and America is still threatened by chemical weapons from foreign nations that didn't sign the treaty, but they say they don't have chemical weapons, so not to worry.......... Hmmmmm.......

This whole eventuality brought to you by your Republican and Democratic leaders.

Now you know why nothing really changes, it just takes a different dirt road to the same damn place that got you where you are today.

Ya see to do different, you hafta vote different then republican or democratic ideology, and most people don't!

[violetsystems]

#personal

I think there's been enough space between real life and my emotions to talk about it. I don't see the failure as any other way when it comes. And it has been a lesson in constants. That's the trick of isolation unfortunately without much validation. You try to convince yourself that your situation is different. And people are wall to wall around you trying to manipulate you into thinking worse. There's a point when you call bullshit. And for me and the rest of American society it just doesn't happen once. You have to be constantly vigilant of the world around you. When I sat in training for a shitty job at a culturally appropriated sushi shop I was told the reason sexual harassment laws exist is because of "snowflakes." I've heard that term more than I have wanted to since I've set back into mainstream society. It always comes from people who sound like they do too much cocaine. Which is a lot of people out here. I wish it weren't the easiest way to describe the "wall" but it is. I've never done the shit. I drink a lot of coffee black. But even that is limited to three cups a day. I set a lot of rules and routines for myself that I try to follow. When I walk into an environment that just lets caution and shit hit the fan, it is jarring. Have I been exactly cradled by society from a social justice perspective? No. I unfortunately know the true depth of the Alan Moore paradigm. You can try to reach out for help but nobody is in control. There's enough people to sound nice and make you feel wanted for a second. But ultimately they don't want to face or confront the root of these problems. Which is seriously not helping by not confronting or calling people out on their bullshit. I know how it is. You can and will be blacklisted. You'll be on Tumblr for years writing about it even through the writer's strike. You see I literally took a nine dollar and hour job with tips not for the YouTubes but because that was all that would pay attention to me for the last two and a half years. I've had resumes at major fashion houses, the ACLU, even the office of police accountability. And I'm just some invisible schmuck who should have learned my place in society and not invested in a rival EV company as to not piss off the mob or billionaires with my forcible retirement and pension. How do you even explain shit anymore without it sounding like a treatment for a shitty Tarantino movie. Which is why I probably took a few weeks off to digest it all.

I got punked at the sushi place like I get punked in the neigborhood. People want to excuse it away as my own fault and not listed up in a gang database. They want to use me as a soapbox to show everything that is wrong with a subgroup of people I don't actually belong to. They try with group interventions that skirt the boundary of legality because they know no one like me can afford 20k for a lawyer to retaliate. But there's some meat to it that drips off the bone like a real car wreck when it is allowed to acquiesce. It follows me around like a sick dog and I get it to do tricks. The performative cyclone that is just waiting for my big moment to break it up and cuck me back into my apartment thinks it gets away with murder. These shit heads are in broad daylight with the intimidation and retaliation. And I watch people helplessly wondering if I'll reach out and explain it to them so they can open their big fat mouth and make it worse. I've done that enough for years. The truth is I should have known how fucked up things were and I do. I spent most of my time saving money and looking for ways to pare down my own expenses. But never did I think I'd be sitting here making excuses for it for other people at this level. I honestly should be the one to break it to people that America is more than fucked right now. You have a Supreme Court that just casually rules against fair use and women's bodies. You have a performative layer of news that is just for profit propaganda. You have no way to be or feel represented other than writing on a dead social media platform to friends around the world. And you have every cokehead in this city riled up and soaking up the attention because they're desperate for annihilation. And I see no way for these people to be able to pay the bills at this rate. And this worries me in a lot of ways. I'm not just looking for a job for my future. I'm an only child with divorced parents. My mom could lose her house. My dad won't help her. People around this fucking neighborhood project their sitcom lifestyle of socially oppressed millienial and I'm living a fucking horror show. My life out here is nothing different from Cuba outside of the thin layer of constitutional rights and fuck you attitude that keeps people from getting in my face.

I don't see a future for me here. I don't see anything. I wake up. I go to sleep. I had my identity, my dreams, my friends and my narrative robbed and toyed with around the world by vile, petulant mother fuckers who deserve to eat curb repeatedly. And they will metaphorically speaking. I'm the one who has to clean it all up. Trash dripping from someone's balcony onto mine. Rabid animals roaming my garden. People looking the other way or making fun of my physical appearance or political beliefs with litter and trash. Alleys full of fentanyl and heroin needles. You people love that cheap low rent lifestyle that steals people's life savings and gives it back to the bank. The same bank running PPP loan scams so brazen you could leave it all in a James Joyce book out near the dumpster like the rockford files for a tenet style dead drop and nobody... I mean nobody will touch that shit with a ten foot pole. They'll never go on record. They'll make memes about you on their fake social media when you ask for help. These people are more than petty. These people are consistently vile. And people make excuses for what they did to me. Buried my narrative. Called me crazy. Turned me into the legend of curly's gold on the Internet. A living, breathing world heritage post locked behind a paywall that doesn't pay me at all. What part of my rights evaporated and shit the bed in the Stardew Valley sense. I don't even really believe I communicate to the outside world anymore. My mental health is of no concern to the people who actively as a group on this block with the help of nbc universal partake in Ed Burke style bullying on a daily basis. And the feds just watch. You might think they set this shit up. America is one step ahead of you. My country is nothing but an insurance company with an army. And I'm sure they'll write you a check if you survive. Most of us weren't meant to past forty. And that's why I'm already dead to people in a sense. My emotions towards apologies from people died a long time ago. I was always trying to move on. And in some ways, the writing is still on the wall that I don't belong here as a victim for a bunch of closet terrorists. But if the shoe were on the other foot. I'd rather terrorize you with my success. So I'm passing you the fail ball slugger. Make it count. <3 Tim