Pension or Penitentiary?
February 1st, 2009 by 2CDC
Barbara Ehrenreich
Posted October 16, 2006, The Progressive, 12/06 p. 10, at Huffington Post
Talk about a cry for help: Timothy J. Bowers robbed a Columbus OH bank of $80, handed the money over to a security guard, and waited for the police to come and arrest him. In court on October 11, he pleaded guilty and told the judge that he would like a three-year sentence - just enough time to get him to the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits. The judge graciously obliged, demonstrating compassionate conservatism at its warm-hearted best.
Bowers, almost 63 years old, is no wacko. He passed a court-ordered psychological exam and explained that he had not been able to find a new job since his old one ended when his employer’s company closed in 2003. “At my age,” he said, “The jobs available to me are minimum wage jobs,” adding that “There is age discrimination out there.” Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Economy, Labor, Tax, Social Security | Comments Off
