Canada Pension raises retirement age for those under 54!

What, when I simply said that a doctor's note means jack ****? Yah, it really does. And posts? I made ONE post to you.

You did it to yourself

So are you permanently disabled or were you convinced you are? My docs tried to tell me the same thing, yet here I am.

I am sure there are physical reasons for mental 'disabilities'. But I also believe the human spirit is stronger than any bullcrap some head shrinker comes up with. Nicole, if you WANT to beat whatever it is that ailes you, I think you can.

No anger coming from this guy. It seems to me you have quit trying to get better. Don't let some 'expert' convince you of something YOU are not sure of.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I think this is a good place to mention it again.

My father had polio as a child. Polio so bad the doctors pretty much told my grandmother to plan the funeral. When he pulled through, they informed them he would never walk. Well he learned to walk........it was with a horrid limp, but he walked.

You might think he sat at home and drew a disability check, or mooched off of family, but you'd be wrong. He worked every day until retirement, and not a sit down job either........he worked in the trailer/rv industry here in N. Indiana. Anyone around here can tell you it's a physically challenging job for the best of 'em. He didn't need nor want "hand outs" as he put it, and I thank God everyday for the example he set of personal responsibility and doing what you are able to do regardless of those who say you can't.

I want to also add that Kevin's grandfather (maternal) also had polio as a child, had a good limp, and also worked up to retirement at a metal shop............just saying, you CAN do what you make your mind up to do (that is a general YOU)

Great post Coop!

I just keep thinking, people managed before it was as easy as it is to get Welfare...

Most could do it again.... And would if they had no choice...

I know, I know different times and all.... But the harsh reality is, I am pissed about losing services, losing pensions, increasing taxes, and so on.... And because some truly need it, and we could affect them while dealing with the multitudes who abuse (or simply take advantage legally) we just ignore it.....

Guess whose going to be better prepared if we do crash totally because we have milked our governments for all they are worth?

If it were up to me I'd go back to a more basic exsistance where we pay for most of the services we use as we use them, instead of working until something like July just to pay taxes! Pay a minimal amount of taxes for roads etc and Get the government out of as much as possible... Bet it would be a ton more efficient in the long run

Edit not sure why the thumbs down icon is there, did not click it.. On my phone LOL

Yep. People also managed fine before government pensions.

Personally I find it frustrating when people on the web try to tell those that they have never met that their doctors are full of crap and if they would only try hard enough they could overcome any issue without the aide of doctors, medicine, etc.

Just to be clear, I have been employed one way or another since I was 16 and have never been on any kind of assistance. DH and I are both productive, middle class, law abiding tax payers. However, I do not begrudge people who are on assistance for disability, either physical OR mental, especially after battling mental illness for years.

I have been diagnosed with bi-polar type 2 and OCD, but I did not come to the conclusion that something was wrong because my doctor told me is was so, I KNEW something was wrong long before going to see a doctor. After a failed suicide attempt, recurring and obsessive thoughts of suicide, loads of self destructive behavior, periods of depression where I could barely drag myself out of bed, checking things in the house so often that I had to allow extra time to get places, checking things at work so often that it was effecting my job performance, and having days where I was so anxious and on edge that I could barely breath the entire day and just felt like exploding---THAT was what led me to the conclusion that something was wrong.

Yes, I take meds and am under a doctors care and I'm not ashamed. It does not make me a weak or lesser person. Meds also don't just "fix" it either (I wish they did!). There are "triggers" I have to avoid, relaxation techniques that I practice, and plenty of prayers sent up for a "stable, balanced day."

I think that if you (collective) can just think yourself better that's fantastic. However, just know that this is not going to be possible for everyone and there is NO SHAME in asking for help and no glory in refusing help as far as I'm concerned.

BTW: I have been to multiple "shrinks" and they all knew of my issues at work, and not ONE of them said or even hinted "Well, we'll just give you a doctors note so you can go on disability and don't have to worry about all the anxiety at work." I don't know about our neighbors to the North, but getting disability is NOT that easy in the US.

Nicole, if you know you need help and are under a doctors care, please take the advice of your doctors over that of internet people who don't know you, have never met you, and have no medical expertise.

Just to be clear, I have NO issue with those who truly need it...

In case I have not said that enough...

I don't know Nicole so can't comment there, but I do know people on disability who abuse it badly, I think there needs to be more follow up etc...

The worst example I can think of, is an acquaintance through the Speedway who was deemed unemployable because of her inability to handle "people" due to extreme anxiety... Ok, then tell me how she can handle HUGE crowds at the Races, work with her BF in his family run concession stand!? (for cash under the table)

Again, we cannot afford to support people doing this, off our backs... And I don't WANT to either frankly, even if WE could afford it!!!!

Then my Mom's best friend, who had worked her whole life until at 46 cancer took her leg to the knee, and while still recovering she was hit again with a brain tumor and had to have surgery... And she had to fight for help, she wanted a leg up, disabilitie while she retrained for a less physical job and had to have a lawyer help her to get it... That was 5 years ago, she is now back in the work force...

Missed this

I pay into my pension here, a fair bit.... I would gladly give it up if they wished, and put what I had been paying towards a private pension...

Sorry not the same comparison.... How much do welfare abusers or even non abusers pay in?

I don't know how it is up there, but in the US everyone pays some kind of tax one way or another. If, God forbid, we were to have to go on welfare right now we would have paid into the system since we have both been 16. That's 15 years of paying taxes. Plus everyone pays sales tax on everything but groceries....

At least you will have a pension. Honestly, we are both 30 and 31 and I don't think that there will be any SS to speak of by the time we retire, yet we are paying into it still.

We still have sales tax on groceries. I think it's still the exception to live in a county where groceries are tax exempt.

I doubt I will have one either at the rate things are going....

And temporary use of welfare is what it's for, I know people my age, healthy able bodied people who have collected all their lives and never paid any tax, ever... Except on purchases from their cheques or with the cash money they made on the side while drawing those cheques...

There are girls here who get pregnant intentionally to go on the system and be provided for ....

Anyways.... I think I'll now bow out.... My opinions are non PC, but they are mine and shared by many a frustrated tax payer... I think everyone knows where I stand now... I know I may seem cold and cruel to some fit having them and that's not my intent, nor is who I am, but I just don't see this as being able to continue...

I suppose my opinions are very much based on the US system, but the way i see it, it's all a government entitlement. For us, SS was never intended to be a retirement plan, it was intended to be a supplement. I'm sure there are many who abuse the system, and I'm all for rooting them out, but there are many, many who are not and really need the help. As a tax payer, I want to root out people who are the abusers, but I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

I also have questions about the cost of rooting out abusers. What will follow up entail? How many more government employees (with full government benefits of course) would need to be hired to follow up and investigate cases?

I'm not saying I'm not for reform, but it's not simple and will require a multi-pronged approach.

I know I said I was bowing out, but I wanted to address a couple of good points you brought up, again I can only go on here... But as to rooti g out abusers and the costs.. Your 100% right it could be very expensive but I feel if done properly, consistently and strictly then the abusers will eventually see that they will be caught and can't get away with it.... Then policing costs should go way down... Maybe wishful thinking LOL

Our pensions here are a bit different, we pay a chunk of every paycheck to CPP for them to manage and invest until we retire, I paid just shy of $95 from my last cheque... That's near $2470 approx a year, employee portion... employers match that... so that's about $5000 a year...

Don't want me to use it? Give it to me and let me invest it on my own then....

But don't take it half my working life then change the rules!

I am not some cruel nasty person, but I have paid 100,000 or so on the LOW end into the pension and that's raw contributions not how much it's grown through investments, and I still have 25 more years to pay.... I don't like the rules changing... LOL

we pay sales tax on groceries here also...

I'm sure they did. However, if I'm forced to pay into it with the promise of get paid out when I turn 65, and then they change that age to 67 without my consent, there's something wrong with the system. Pony up when you said you would for the right amount, or give me back what I've contributed so I can manage it on my own.

Just to be clear, I truly don't think you are a cold person and I do get what you are saying. Our company does something similar, but we add the money in by choice, and it's a 401k. We then have taxes that are taken out for Social Security that we will supposedly see when we retire, but I'm skeptical as to whether we will ever see that money.

I have personally known people will were smoking two packs a day while on food stamps and WIC, people who owned and boarded horses while on food stamps, people who about being single mothers in order to get benefits, and used to clean houses with a woman who was remodeling her home while getting a welfare check. On the flip side of that, I know there are people who do really need the help and are using the service honestly, and I try to remember that.

Unfortunately I think the only solution to policing welfare is going to involve adding more bureaucracy to do so, which carries its own set off problems....

Wow. We only are subject to tax on things like candy. Regular food isn't taxed.

Stop giving them cash or checks. Give non transferrable rent and utilities vouchers or set it up for the payment to come right from the welfare office and not through the hands of the recipient

I know people will still find ways around that but I think its a good start. Then when their houses keep getting bigger or their tv keeps getting bigger etc etc so on and so forth you can wonder where did the cash for these luxury items come from?

Our assisted housing rules must be more strict in the US ( or at least in Indiana) because when we got married we applied for subsidized housing but made to much. Nate was making around $12 an hour and I was working part time at about $7.50 an hour (this was 9 years ago).

For food stamps... Maybe a card with your photo on it and no one else can use it except the person in the photo and they can't be transferred to any other card. Here it seems its just a check type thing and I havent ever seen anyone need to show ID to use them. And I remember even on chaz someone said that they would let other people use their foodstamps if they had some left over. There has to be a way to curb that

Some aort of system where they don't get cash or a check to cash. I don't know