"It usually goes something like this:

There is a whole bunch of stuff piled on a chair in the living room. It's been there too long and it is high time I sort it out to make the chair available again.

There are three or four cloth bags that should be in the car for shopping. That book I've been searching for over the previous week too. A bottle of hand sanitizer. A Theraband that belongs in a box across the room. A teeshirt that has no reason to be in the chair. A whole lot of loose pieces of paper with notes on them...

There's more, but you get the idea. I decide to walk the teeshirt to the laundry room (I can't remember if it was clean when I dropped it in the chair – hell, I don't even recall leaving it in the chair)."

"The Ageism Problem in Healthcare," Brittany Denis, This Chair Rocks, March 1, 2020

"The longer I work in healthcare, the more blatant ageism I encounter throughout the system. I’ve had patients who have been told they can’t get stronger because of their age, that they will live in pain forever due to their arthritis, and that they shouldn’t stay active because they might fall. These are all examples of false statements spread by authority figures that cause harm.

And taking it a step further, older adults are discriminated against if they use an assistive device to walk, even by their medical providers. It’s automatically assumed all older adults are hard of hearing, causing people to shout at them. They get called “cute” or are addressed by demeaning names such as “honey” or “sweetie.” Again, all examples of ageist stereotypes being propagated by the very people who should know better."
Go here -> https://thischairrocks.com/2020/03/01/the-ageism-problem-in-healthcare/

"The first depiction of humanity’s obsession with curing death is The Epic of Gilgamesh—which, dating back to at least 1800 B.C., is also one of the first recorded works of literature, period. Centuries later, the ancient Roman playwright Terentius declared, “Old age itself is a sickness,” and Cicero argued, “we must struggle against [old age], as against a disease.” In 450 B.C., Herodotus wrote about the fountain of youth, a restorative spring that reverses aging and inspired explorers such as Ponce de León. But what once was a mythical holy grail is now seemingly within tantalizing reach. As humans’ understanding and knowledge of science and technology have increased, so too have our life spans. Until the 1800s, life expectancy across Europe averaged between 30 and 40 years, and now the average life expectancy in the U.S. is just under 79 years; in Japan and Hong Kong, it’s more than 84 years."

Go here -> https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/aging-disease-classification.html

"Baby boomers have a lot more debt than their parents did.

By all accounts, the parents were in pretty good shape for retirement because they held their debt levels down to a mere 4 percent of their total assets in the years immediately before retiring – ages 56 to 61 – according to a new study.

At those same ages, the typical baby boomers’ debt has ranged from 19 percent to 23 percent of their assets, thanks in large part to the 2008 drop in stock portfolios and in the housing market."

Go here -> https://squaredawayblog.bc.edu/squared-away/pre-retirement-debt-is-rising-over-time/

And here -> https://crr.bc.edu/briefs/why-do-late-boomers-have-so-little-retirement-wealth/

"Many adults give financial support to their parents, despite feeling a strain on their own budgets, new research finds.

About a third of adults in their 40s, 50s and early 60s said they had given a parent money in the past year, according to a new survey from the research arm of AARP, the advocacy organization focused on older Americans.

About half said they had given at least $1,000, and about 20 percent said they had given $5,000 or more. The money was most often paid monthly or weekly for needs like groceries and housing, the survey found."

Go here -> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/your-money/finances-adult-children-parents.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

And here -> https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/economics/info-2020/midlife-adults-providing-financial-support-to-family-members.html

"Trump Isn’t Waging a War on Poverty. He’s Waging a War on Poor People.-And he’s winning," Nathalie Baptiste and Jessica Washington, Mother Jones, February 14, 2020
“There’s been an emphasis on attacking the most vulnerable people in our nation,” says Alexandra Cawthorne Gaines, vice president of the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress. “It’s just continuous attacks and the creation of additional barriers for people seeking assistance.

Here are the programs that have taken the biggest hit as a result of this administration’s war on the poor, the sick, and the elderly."

Go here -> https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/trump-isnt-waging-a-war-on-poverty-hes-waging-a-war-on-poor-people/

"The key question is whether we want to increase revenues — that is, bring the revenue line up to the cost line, or cut benefits — that is, bring the cost line down to the revenue line, or some combination of the two. It’s a straightforward issue. I lean toward raising additional revenues and not reducing benefits. But my preferences are not the subject of this blog. Rather, my goal is to squelch the notion of a “third option” — increasing the full retirement age (FRA). There is no third option; increasing the FRA is a benefit cut and a bad one at that."

Go here-> https://www.martwatch.com/story/fixing-social-security-requires-revenue-increases-or-benefit-cuts-2020-03-02

"Social Security Benefits Are Modest-Benefit Cuts Would Cause Hardship for Many," Paul N. Van De Water and Kathleen Romig, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 8, 2020
"Social Security benefits are a perennial target for cuts because the program faces a long-run shortfall. Some lawmakers and opinion leaders mistakenly portray the program’s benefits as lavish. The fact is, benefits are modest and workers have earned them by paying into Social Security — protecting themselves and their families if they retire, become disabled, or die leaving family members to support. Here are five key facts that policymakers need to keep in mind:"

Go here -> https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-security-benefits-are-modest

"Between 1968 and 2017, the share of families with children younger than 18 headed by a single mother increased from 12 to 21 percent. An additional 4 percent of families are headed by a single father.

Meanwhile, according to a 2015 survey by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, approximately 34.2 million Americans, or 14.3 percent, provided unpaid care to an adult age 50 or older.

These are just a few statistics revealing how family caregiving responsibilities are varied but shared by millions of Americans. For those balancing caregiving responsibilities with work, family and medical leave policies play a critical role.

I recently testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Worker Protections on how family and medical leave supports workers in many ways. My testimony highlighted four considerations for policymakers as they chart the future of these protections."

Go here -> https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/four-considerations-future-family-and-medical-leave

And here -> https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/101705/evidence_on_the_benefits_of_expanded_access_to_family_and_medical_leave_15.pdf

"The Problem With Telling Sick Workers to Stay Home-Even with the coronavirus spreading, lax labor laws and little sick leave mean that many people can’t afford to skip work," Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, February 28, 2020
"For all but the independently wealthy in America, the best-case scenario for getting sick is being a person with good health insurance, paid time off, and a reasonable boss who won’t penalize you for taking a few sick days or working from home. For millions of the country’s workers, such a scenario is a nearly inconceivable luxury. “With more than a third of Americans in jobs that offer no sick leave at all, many unfortunately cannot afford to take any days off when they are feeling sick,” Robyn Gershon, an epidemiology professor at the NYU School of Global Public Health, wrote in an email. “People who do not (or cannot) stay home when ill do present a risk to others.” On this count, the United States is a global anomaly, one of only a handful of countries that doesn’t guarantee its workers paid leave of any kind. These jobs are also the kind least likely to supply workers with health insurance, making it difficult for millions of people to get medical proof that they can’t go to work."

Go here -> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/coronavirus-could-hit-american-workers-especially-hard/607213/

"Surely you remember movies from childhood and maybe a bit later showing the patriarch of the story dying in his bed as family members hover around?
I sure do. It was such a common scene back then that images of several different ones are stored in my head still, although I can't name the films.

For eons, dying at home was the norm. And then, beginning in the early 1900s, it wasn't anymore. Now, for the first time since then, more people in the U.S. are dying at home than in hospitals and nursing homes."

Go here -> https://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2020/03/where-do-you-want-to-die.html

“I’m not anti-hospice at all,” said Joy Johnston, who relocated to New Mexico years ago at age 40 to care for her dying mother.

“But I think people aren’t prepared for all the effort that it takes to give someone a good death at home.”

Surveys show dying at home is what most Americans say they want. But it’s “not all it’s cracked up to be,” said Johnston, a caregiver advocate and writer from Atlanta."

Go here -> https://khn.org/news/home-hospice-care-unexpectedly-burdens-family-caregivers/

"Where do Americans die?" Stanford University School of Medicine, 2020

• "Studies have shown that approximately 80% of Americans would prefer to die at home, if possible.
• Despite this, 60% of Americans die in acute care hospitals, 20% in nursing homes and only 20% at home.
• A minority of dying patients use hospice care and even those patients are often referred to hospice only in the last 3-4 weeks of life.
• However, not every patient will want to die at home. Dying at home is not favored in certain cultures (due to cultural taboos) and some patients may wish not to die at home, out of concern that they might be a burden on the family.

Still, it is clear that fewer patients are dying at home than want to do so."

Go here -> https://palliative.stanford.edu/home-hospice-home-care-of-the-dying-patient/where-do-americans-die/

"Who Faces The Greatest Risk Of Severe Illness From Coronavirus?" Neil Greenfieldboyce, NPR, March 4, 2020
"Anyone can catch COVID-19, the disease caused by the newly identified coronavirus. But certain populations appear to be more vulnerable to its effects.

Consider the 9 deaths so far in the United States — all of them in Washington state.

Most of the people who died were residents of Life Care Center, a nursing facility in Kirkland, Washington. All but three of the victims were over the age of 70."

Go here -> https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/04/811688057/who-faces-the-greatest-risk-of-severe-illness-from-coronavirus

"An outbreak of coronavirus disease in a nursing home near Seattle is prompting urgent calls for precautionary tactics at America’s elder care facilities, where residents are at heightened risk of serious complications from the illness because of the dual-threat of age and close living conditions.

As of Monday afternoon, the emergence of the novel contagious illness at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington, had left four residents dead and others hospitalized, local health officials said. A health care worker also has been hospitalized. In total, Washington state has reported six deaths, officials said."

Go here -> https://khn.org/news/nursing-home-outbreak-spotlights-coronavirus-risk-in-elder-care-facilities/

And here -> https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-us-nursing-home-outbreak/607450/

"Meanwhile, authorities announced that the first virus-related deaths tied to the Washington state nursing center occurred days earlier than previously known, well before residents had been quarantined in their rooms. Officials say the Seattle area is poised for an explosive uptick in cases much like the early days in Wuhan, China."

Go here -> https://khn.org/morning-breakout/they-are-prisoners-in-there-relatives-of-nursing-facility-patients-at-center-of-u-s-outbreak-fear-for-loved-ones/

"As the coronavirus illness known as COVID-19 spreads and fears follow, one segment of the population is especially at risk, according to health experts: the working poor.

With a vaccine likely more than a year away, people who suspect they’ve been infected are being asked to seek medical treatment, but also to stay home if they’re sick. For low-wage workers lacking health insurance and paid sick leave from work, both remedies may be out of reach.

Child care, food service, and retail workers all tend to have lower wages and frequently lack sick pay or health insurance coverage. “And especially, a lot of those jobs also only offer part-time hours,” Parke-Sutherland says. “This might mean people have to choose between coming to work, which puts them at risk and puts everybody else at risk, or staying home, which might mean they lose a job because they miss shifts. Or if they can keep their job, it may mean they will lose wages. And those lost wages might mean not having enough money for groceries, not having enough money to pay a utility bill or pay their rent, which then exacerbates these consequences of getting sick.”

Go here -> https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/03/04/coronavirus-likely-to-hit-working-poor-especially-hard/

"Was a year-end surge in hiring at Foxconn Technology Group in Racine County timed to ensure it could collect a $52.5 million tax credit for 2019?

Go here -> https://wisconsinexaminer.com/brief/columnist-hiring-loophole-could-net-foxconn-investment-tax-credit/

And here -> https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2020/03/03/murphys-law-foxconn-contract-has-huge-loophole/

"When Paul Adams was growing up on the rolling hillsides that comprised his family’s farm just north of the Trempealeau County community of Eleva, similar dairy operations dotted the surrounding countryside like dandelions in springtime.

The young Adams helped milk and feed the cows at his home, putting up hay and mending fences, just like his neighbors. When Adams eventually took over the farm where he had grown up, those neighbors made their living on farms ranging from 120 to several hundred acres, milking herds of 30, 40 or even 50 cows.

“There was a farm family just over the hill there,” Adams, now 68, said from his dairy barn Monday morning, motioning with his hand toward a nearby rise in the snow-covered terrain. “And then down the road there was another, and another across the road. And then there was the Schultz farm just at the edge of town … There were farms all over this area.”

Go here -> https://upnorthnewswi.com/2020/03/03/another-auction-ends-a-family-farm/