stickers

[invalid unparseable]

Nursing home costs here in DE are unreal. Twice national average. Neighbor was paying $14,000/month for his mother.

[gfretwell]

Throw $14 million+ at politicians in an off year election and they take good care of you

doesn't include Amazon money funneled through bundlers and dark money. Most of it went to democrats. Do you really think they will pass any tax reform with teeth in it?

[hubops]

Monthly long-term-care rates $ 1900 - $ 2700 :

John T.

[Marilyn Manson]

A "mattress full of money" works just about everywhere.

It's the assets that show up on bank statements, etc. that gets counted.

[hubops]

Not here. ... just the _income_ that it may earn. ... which may not be very much for many seniors who like my Mom had it sitting in a regular bank savings account. Her $ 220 k home did not enter into the equation at all. It's now worth more than double that in ~ 5 years. John T.

[gfretwell]

Inflation is world wide because the dollar is the reserve currency for the world ... for now. Unfortunately the US is way farther in debt than any other major country in the developed world and we are trying to monetize our way into a better position. Basically we will let inflation soften our debt. It is like the yuppies in the 70s that racked up huge debts planning on paying it back with cheaper money. The Carter era prime rate was up in double digits. That really sucks if you live on a fixed income.

[gfretwell]

That is what they ignore. If you are making minimum wage the government pays you (Snap, Title IX housing and EIC, no income tax)

[gfretwell]

That probably has more to do with the lack of facilities on the route they put in their GPS. I also doubt it is that prevalent but it does make a good story. It is far more likely that they just pull up next to some shrubbery and piss out the door. BTDT.

[gfretwell]

That brings us back to trades. An electrical contractor can make more than that software geek and be able to write off far more on his taxes. You also can't be replaced by a guy in a cube farm in Mumbai. I was in IT and I watched that business implode. Certainly there are far fewer of them. As I said before IBM and Microsoft have more employees in India than in the US. My IBM retiree group is full of people who were RA'ed before they planned on retiring. (the polite term for laid off)

[Marilyn Manson]

I get that. My point was that you said "there is no means test" and that "a person could ... have a mattress full of money."

Means test or not, anyone *anywhere* could have a mattress full of money and still qualify. There is no "Amount in mattress" field to fill in on any jurisdiction's Means Test form.

In your situation it would make more sense to say:

"There is no "means test" as far as property is concerned - i.e. have a bank account full of money and still qualify."

That is what makes your rules different from ours. Mattresses are an equal opportunity hiding place. ;-)

[rbowman]

As I was saying...

[gfretwell]

There is far more to being married than a tax break that seems to swing back and forth. For many of the years I was married, we would have been better off filing single (AKA the marriage tax). It really depends on your incomes and deductions. By stability I am talking about raising kids. That is an expensive proposition and the tax break doesn't come close to covering it.

We had the "show" first and got the license notarized (the legal marriage) months later. They were still two far different things.

Because my ex was just screwing with me, I was a bigamist for a few days. She sat on the papers on her end for months after she said they were filed. The cops never batter rammed my door and that was 36 years ago so I guess I got away with it.

I still think the government should not be in the marriage business to begin with and the new trend toward civil unions where you sign a partnership contract should be the end of government involvement. Marriage is between you, your partner and whatever higher power you might choose to involve if any.

I know. People kid about strange things. For me it is, nobody else seems to ever buy a car.

[hubops]

Are you saying that people are _legally_ allowed to hide assets from the means test ? ... if you say so .. John T.

[rbowman]

It's a teaching moment about aerodynamics, laminar flow, and the like.

I wouldn't even try it with my current car. It wasn't designed to be driven at any speed greater that 45 mph with the window down. There is a buffeting that's worse than anything I've experienced on a bike.

My father talked about an uncle who was well to do and had a sort of urinal built into the car that emptied on the road sort of like the old train method. I had a car that allowed discrete disposal but it was the result of rusted out floorboards on the passenger side rather than anything Chevy designed.

[Marilyn Manson]

Of course not. All that I have been saying from the get-go is that mattress assets aren't counted *anywhere*. If you aren't understanding that not-so-subtle distinction, we should just move on.

Watch...here I go...

[invalid unparseable]

I did not think Howard was that bright but just checked and read that his son is now retired as head of the Cleveland Clinic.

[gfretwell]

I liked like that for 6 years. Lots of strange people.

[gfretwell]

One of my old buddies (Navy airplane mechanic) wanted a pilot relief tube. Too bad if you were following him.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I know someone that had that in his car. Rubber hose and a funnel.

[Marilyn Manson]

We used a rubber hose and funnel to imbibe on the stuff that made us pee.