08-30-2009, 02:31 AM
Quote:Does this maybe say something about the reasonableness of self-insurance, medical or otherwise? The future is tough to predict on an individual level...
As for over-65s, people are going to have to work longer. It's just the clear and necessary tradeoff for a longer, healthier life.
My grandparents are well into their 80's and still work, but not because they need the income; they own several properties and could have retired long ago collecting rent checks. They found out long ago when they first retired that retirement is not all it's cracked up too be. The first year seemed almost too good to be true, until the second year rolled around, at which point they began to feel old, and things became boring. So they started to travel a lot all over the world and do metal detecting on their spare time. But you can only travel so much before money starts to wane and places all become the same. So they decided to start working again, and are both much happier for it. People in general, but especially the older crowd, needs a reason to live. Without purpose, you grow old mentally and die, and I don't say that lightly, but I'm sure you've all heard to help prevent Alzheimer, to keep your mind active? It's true. We all need a reason to exist.
Quote:The only alternative is to have a gigantic subclass of people who work hard and die young. I don't think we really want that.
Reminds me of that movie Gattica. No, that wasn't it... that movie where they kill people once they reach 30. Oh well, I can't remember the title.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin