[seorphates]

Having been peripherally involved with a small handful of that aging crop and their experiences with "security" I'm not sure you're being entirely fair by lumping all their ills together because they over-consumed. I'm not sure you noticed life around you but we're all but force-fed raw, unadulterated consumerism. Be that as it may, sure, careless spending seems like it would definitely be a contributing factor - credit where credit is due.

Unless one is a ff rich elder (or at least well above moderately wealthy) the suction of any wealth is aggressive and unrelenting, especially if any services are required. Not until someone is totally insolvent do the "real" safety nets (what's left of them) begin to kick in. If you can't afford your ever escalating healthcare costs then you will likely not get the care you need until your assets total $0.00 and you're living ss check to ss check.

There has been and continues to be a sickly draw on any wealth and an unrelenting hacking away of the security of society as a whole. We are surrounded by vultures that eat the living in what seems like an "I've got mine and now I want yours." agenda that does nothing for society, rich or poor and continues practically unabated.

Bankruptcy seems like a perfectly good, viable and reliable option when considering the stacked deck.

[aphextron]

>We are surrounded by vultures that eat the living in what seems like an "I've got mine and now I want yours." agenda that does nothing for society, rich or poor and continues practically unabated.

In other words, Capitalism working as intended.

[seorphates]

I suppose, yeah. Maybe that's a valid point in that until we can (want to?) cordon off core social services (for the whole of society) from the reach of private capital then we will inherently continue to create and sustain a market that zeroes in on the truly vulnerable. For example services just like healthcare including aging with dignity in assisted living after they've either been taxed out or need help or both.

For that latter part I've witnessed two mind-numbingly ugly siphoning of all assets to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars a month until assets are gone and then they're forced out and into pretty sub-optimal situations and neither of these two examples started off anywhere near the edges of being poor but they certainly did die that way.