Bankruptcy Law and Proposed Social Security Changes Mean Harder Times for Women

Despite the prevailing stereotypes of wild spending sprees on credit cards, most people who file bankruptcy are in debt due to medical and other unexpected bills. I know. There was a time when I had unpaid medical bills through the roof. I was blind, nearly deaf, unable to breathe without numerous medications, and unable to walk more than about 10 feet unassisted. This was not a condition that went on for days or weeks. It persisted for months and years.

By the time the physicians got finished with me, they had little pieces of meat from many and various parts of my body to examine in laboratories from Minnesota to Ohio and several here at home. All of this care was astronomically expensive.

This is the kind of situation that can be financially disastrous, and despite the best intentions and attempts to be responsible, many folks would just have to file bankruptcy when faced with mounting bills and no income in sight.

The proposed changes will hit us hard

That, of course, is not what the Bush Administration would have you believe.

They are simply lying. Who would have thought that this administration would tell such lies?

Divorce also hits women and their families especially hard financially. While her husband usually experiences a rise in his income after the split, most women find themselves overwhelmed with bills more suited to a two-income household.

Other changes may include means testing. That shouldn't be a problem for most of the women I know. None of them have an income high enough for that to be a problem.

The other little jewel coming from the boys on high that will ransack our purses is the devastating changes to Social Security hawked by Bushie and the Lords of the Beltway. A great slogan for their proposals would be something like "gunning for grandma" as their Machiavellian goals would impact most strongly elderly women who depend most heavily on their Social Security retirement checks. Because we are...ahem...genetically superior, we live longer. We not only outlive our husbands (in the case of heterosexual women), we also outlive our savings quite frequently.

I realize that this is not much of a problem for W and his crowd. Not only are they ultimately disinterested in the outcome their wicked changes may wreak on the lives of elderly women, they probably don't know anyone other than perhaps some of the people who serve them daily who might ever have to worry about having enough money to live. That is undoubtedly a foreign concept in their circles.

Besides, I'm sure they give to the foreign missions board of the Southern Baptist Convention. That should take care of all the widows and orphans, right?