We continue our focus on elder abuse in Barbados – Blogmaster
Submitted by Cheurfleur

Pensions are paid to old people from the NIS Fund which is financed by contributions from the employed. That group of able persons ages 18 to 60, originally, i.e 42 years by 52 weeks plus  plus 7 years by 52 weeks, i.e 67 years now.  

With a population of 1000 able bodied persons paying $100 for 42 years or 49, using annuities calculation the pot makes X to support Y in 1900s but Z currently.

I shall leave the actual calculations to Mr Annuity.  I am only concerned with elder abuse.

https://www.ssa.gov/history/pre1935.html

At its inception there weren’t that many people living far beyond 60 years of age. What we had was more contributors and less gobblers.  By the turn of the 19th century with better health services, vaccinations and greater production and higher income people began living longer.  No problem.

Then came the 20th century with women’s lib and all the other ‘liberations’ and fewer children were born ) per woman/family) thus fewer worker/contributors 20 years later vis  a vis elders migrating out of the system plus more more men on the ‘block’. (It’s worse in Japan).

There is a dilemma now.  How to balance this imbalance?  Have governments done anything constructive to balance it? 

They have raised contributions and extended the age of retirement by 7 years.  

But contributors are actually living until retirement (originally 60s) and surviving way beyond 80s (not the prayer request) at time of conceptualizing the ‘scheme’.  With the ‘rich man diseases’ prevalent, the plight of the fund managers is grave and great.  This was not how it was supposed to be.  You aren’t supposed to be there to get back 40 years of contributions.  Never mind the presumption of interest gained from your investments.  Ask Rockefeller or Rothschild.

Mr Annuity can tell you that there isn’t enough money to do business for these long-life, now  ‘good-for-nothing’, ‘resource sucking’ retirees.  Albeit some have worked and put aside extras in private pensions and endowments to make a better nest but they still have to give back what they took earlier.  Mathematicians nor Actuaries can fix this.

Every man for himself and God for us all.  Stay clear of hospitals

Forget your children and relatives who will prey pon yuh fuh yuh li’le pension and other valuables.  The real abusers are the vultures who first took the contributions and are taking again.  Notice how many of the aged population died during 2019 to 2020 and are still the most vulnerable.

What goes?

I have to ask questions from here on.

  • What profit it is to anyone faced with this quandary to put policies in place to protect you – old work horses?
  • Why fight to save a life that is costing you on the down side when there is no income from the up side to make it feasible?
  • Why expend resources on a population that is not giving any returns (at point) when the resource can be invested on a population to bring up resources?

If it would save some lives, won’t someone just propose that those who can fend for themselves, economically, do so and relieve the burden so that no one would want to move them out of the way, earlier?

It is not only family and the nearby public that are abusing the elderly.  

174 responses to “The Ageing and Elder Abuse…relationship between social security – Pensions”

  1. African Online Publishing Copyright (c) 2022. All Rights Reserved. Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright (c) 2022. All Rights Reserved.

    “Let us accept that all these pension systems throughout the world are going broke. That money purchase plans, which are now the main, cannot replace defined benefit plans.

    That none of these phenomena are happening accidentally.”

    At least 25 years ago it was said oensions will reach this stage….it was bound to be a trickle effect…..i mentioned it more than once on here over the years…..yet here we are and some act surpeised…


  2. The Canada Pension Plan is NO ponzi scheme:

    Update to Canadians: CPP Investments Net Assets Total $539 Billion at 2022 Fiscal Year-End

    https://www.cppinvestments.com

  3. African Online Publishing Copyright (c) 2022. All Rights Reserved. Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright (c) 2022. All Rights Reserved.

    Pensions/social security will reach this stage.

    Some act surprised.


  4. @CA

    A big correction- the WORKING population must grow. Implication job opportunities must be created by private sector and enabled by government.


  5. David
    Neither will happen. Its impossible winning the demographic war. No nation has so far.

    We cant even find enough work right now. Don’t you see of technological innovation has transformed work. Politicians are even talking about just giving everybody a minimum wage, whether wukking or not.

    All such schemes are dying everywhere as a byproduct of neoliberalism. Face facts man!

  6. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Critical Analyzer as at 11; 07 Am.

    Almost all Financial systems are Ponzi Schemes. They depend on trust and other participants asserting their responsibilities and abiding by the rules.
    The flaw in your argument is that overtime both employed contributors and pensioners decline bringing the scheme back into equilibrium.
    The surplus funds of previous years smooth out the imbalances. But unplanned COVID payouts and failure of rentals and other investments ,,debt reduction etc are self inflicted threats to the system.
    Generally good points but we need to verify before jumping to conclusions. Most systems are dynamic and adaptive. No need to panic nor spread panic.

  7. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Donna

    I sent Pachamama to you in the Cuntry to restrain and reform him. What is he doing on BU molesting bloggers with his “ignoranciness”.? Wuh Loss.!!!

    @ Pachamama

    Thanks very much for attributing our survival thus far to VC. But are you sure that you are giving me the correct jacket?

    I am sure that as these infelicities arose in the investment management of surplus funds of NIS I commented on them. But thanks for recapping them. Some Bajans have short memories. They ignore the fact that we cannot have a beer in the bottle as well as the glass at the same time. We have had ample opportunity to observe the effect of bad investments decision on pension fund portfolios.


  8. Elder abuse in canada is somebody hides the remote.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    How about else abuse in Canada,…
    “…somebody kidnaps a whole generation of native children and abuse them to their wicked hearts’ content..?
    What did THAT do to those children’s elders yah think?”

  9. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Vincent Codrington

    You are correct that almost all Financial systems can be Ponzi Scheme if it is mismanaged.

    However, Government controlled country level schemes are solely dependent on increasing population to recruit their new blood since they already require 100% participation so they cannot target new members or ride it out when investments have a bad year like a private fund can because the government based fund has already enrolled all possible members.

    That is why all 100% participation government schemes will go into decline.


  10. VC
    This writer is given to poetic license and other literary devices.

    In this case no complement was intended, as you are not to expect that more than once in a decade.

    Instead we see you as the quintessential Bajan and that is nothing good.

    These constant attempts to hide under the dress of a “woe unto man” is not at all manly.

    More poetic licence!


  11. VC
    Lastly, you have no remit to send this writer anywhere, to any rassoul one.. For we are not the 11 plus boy central to national ethos.


  12. Bushy you havent a clue, please inform me if any bodys have been exhumed , can you imagine if one was dug up and it showed the person died of typhus,smallpox,tb, spanish flu like a lot of other children not on a reservation died from in the years prior to antibiotics the gravy train would end. When someone joins the OPP or the RCMP they do a stint on the reservations because it gives them a quick training on the abuse of drugs and alcohol and how cruel some people can be to another.
    Maybe just look at how little bajan boys treat animals, why do you expect them to treat their elders any better when they grow up

  13. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Critical Analyzer at 1:o6 PM

    I hope your observations in paragraph two and three are not correct. There are social and environmental limits to the suggested solution in paragraph 2; and the paragraph 3 proposal would be a dramatic shift from the original philosophical position on economic transformation. But these are early days yet.


  14. All such schemes are dying everywhere as a byproduct of neoliberalism. Face facts man!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Pacha…
    The systemic apoptosis to which you refer is properly attributable to ‘entropy’ as defined in the second Law of Thermodynamics. ALL shiite systems are subject to this overarching dictate… with one important exception (as is needed for every rule) . LOL


  15. Hants that school in kamloops is it not a golf course and spa run by the indian community, and the area where the depressions were located was an old apple orchard so they arent quite sure if they are graves or roots. So why not dig one body up and be sure. I tell my indian artist friend cut your deal know when people coming from Kabul or mariopol etc end up running canada do you think they are going to care about that or their folks back home


  16. @ Lawson
    Tek it easy boss man!!! It wasn’t Bushie who apologized, it was YOUR Bishop… Ask Hants…

    Besides, when did the issue become ‘cause of death’?
    Bushie was talking about Kidnapping … Kidnapping of Kids to be more specific…

    And when people are forced to live like animals, many may be predisposed to behave like animals –
    Just like some pets, when treated like family, tend to behave thusly.

    It would seem to Bushie then, dear Lawson, that the fault lies in the COLONIZERS with the power to put people onto reservations and plantations… and only secondarily with the oppressed…
    What says thou…?


  17. Adequate private health insurance and financial products should readily fix the loopholes. Long term health and other living benefits solutions should be the order of the day, well tailored to suit the unique needs of all Barbadians. Longevity products are missing from the insurance ecosystem.


  18. “We shouldn’t design a system to respond to exceptions.”

    @ David

    Where in my contribution did I mentioned anything to suggest we should?

    Systems have already been developed to assist senior citizens, which are provided by the relevant state agencies.
    Unfortunately, we’re still struggling with formulating and enacting legislation to adequately addresses issues relating to ‘abuse of the elderly.’

    However, while we brag about technological advancement and its contribution to societal development……..
    …….. people are generally becoming more impatient, angry, uncaring, disrespectful and selfish.

    For example, there are seats on the buses reserved for the elderly, disabled, pregnant women and people with babies.
    Yet, able-bodied young people would sit in those seats and refuse to ‘get up’ when pregnant women or elderly persons board the bus.
    I’ve witnessed passengers telling a girl with a baby she should wait for an ’empty bus.’ I also saw a pregnant lady made to stand in a bus………and, it was only when another lady decided to ‘cuss and do dixie’ that someone got up to give her a seat.

    It is extremely difficult to find employment at 50 years old, unless you know someone, or in Bajan parlance, ‘you have a god-father.’

    Many young people seem to believe BCC and UWI are for their attendance only and not older people.
    They do want to work on group assignments with people who they consider to be old.

    Able-bodied people continue to park in spaces reserved for disabled persons. And, protest against such actions are met with responses such as, ‘you too malicious,’ ‘them should stan’ home,’ or, ‘I disabled too.’

    And, unfortunately, they take those attitudes with them into the workplace.

    I shudder to think these are the types of individuals that will make up the society if I become a senior citizen.


  19. BT thats what catholics do apologize for everything you dont know that , I played softball on an all indian team except me 20 guys that did land claim settlements between innings, they have a claim on our parliament buildings amongst other things. I really dont have a dog in this fight I am prepared for any eventuality …


  20. @CA

    You expect government to fund its budget how?

    That is paying for social and other services to sustain the people.


  21. @curley16

    What about affordability issue for some?


  22. @Artax

    The issue has to do with affordability, lack of education and government’s inability to design and manage fit for purpose schemes.

    Blogmaster’s reference was to this comment:

    http://barbadosunderground.net/2022/05/22/the-aging-and-elder-abuse-relationship-between-social-security-pensions/comment-page-1/#comment-1964356

  23. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Vincent Codrington May 22, 2022 2:16 PM

    Unfortunately the NIS pension fund has already started on the road to insolvency with the falling birth rate, increased contribution rates and higher retirement age. It will probably take decades to get to the end of the road but it will get there.

    The only long-term solution I see is to phase out the NIS pension fund and transition to a fixed pension for everyone funded by a flat tax rate on all the working people. Each year the tax rate can be adjusted with the budget to balance the tax collected against the payout for the year.

    Anyone wanting additional pension would need to invest during their working years or earn money some other way.


  24. @CA

    This government and the one before have been removing tax breaks for taxpayers, an indication the philosophy of both parties aligned as it relates to shifting from providing benefits to citizens. The nanny state your touting will not happen in our lifetime.

  25. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David May 22, 2022 3:40 PM

    We already paying for it one way or the other, just the government have it hidden in the Consolidated Fund.

    We need to separate all our taxes into funds based on the purpose they are for so we all know where we taxpayer money go and can account for how it is spend instead of transferring from the Consolidated Fund whenever the money run out.


  26. @CA

    The consolidated funds is not a money tree. Think about the source of the inflows and importantly- we run large deficits.


  27. David , this can be addressed suitably by offering tax incentives and through product design by caring insurers. This is the ideal time as increases in salaries will be eroded by inflation . Instead,employers should be increasing contributions to D.C. plans as well as ploughing funds into EB solutions for staff, such as CII along with LTC. There are some hybrids ,which can be priced at less than a dollar a day.

  28. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David

    That is exactly how the governments treated it the minute they started passing everything through the consolidated fund so they bound to be running deficits.

    How much Road Tax and driver license renewals we collected last year and how much of that went to cover road repair, licensing authority and MTW expenses


  29. @curley16

    Understand your plug for private players, should the government offer certain guarantees to mitigate risk of failing private sector insurers?


  30. Don’t mind Lawson! His intention is always to paint the white man’s systems as problem free. Therefore, the white man, of course, is superior.

    There is elder abuse in Canada – THE REGULAR KIND. And the pandemic exposed their old people’s homes failings just as it did elsewhere. I remember reading about that hot mess.

    Google it on the shiite tablets!

    Lawson cannot bear to face facts.


  31. David, I am not acutely aware of any failing private sector insurer in Barbados at present and why should government offer guarantees to a sector in the business of risk mitigation? In the previous musing mention was made to tax incentives ,whether to PHI policyholders to combat the scourge of NCDs or other product offerings for the aging. Insurers are in the business of managing and pricing risk period.


  32. At its inception there weren’t that many people living far beyond 60 years of age. What we had was more contributors and less gobblers. By the turn of the 19th century with better health services, vaccinations and greater production and higher income people began living longer. No problem.

    Then came the 20th century with women’s lib and all the other ‘liberations’ and fewer children were born ) per woman/family) thus fewer worker/contributors 20 years later vis a vis elders migrating out of the system plus more more men on the ‘block’. (It’s worse in Japan).

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Logic faulty.

    NIS started in the 60’s if memory serves me right.

    Democratic Socialism it was called.

    At that time, those who were at retirement age had made zero contributions but were still given a non-contributory pension if they retired.

    The Government relied on businesses not retiring workers as that would mean the NIS would have to find funds it did not have.

    What happened in some businesses, as the employer share of the NIS increased was that the employees who were past retirement were sent home to cut costs and the Government hollered for murder because clearly the non contributory pensions were a drain on the NIS which had no contributions to fund the non contributory pensions.

    If you looked at the those working in the field in the 70’s and 80’s many were older men and women, many way past retirement. As wages and NIS contributions grew, many were sent home because the plantation could not afford the labour cost.

    I think you will find that the further back you go in history the longer Bajans lived.

    Back in the day, once Bajans got past childhood they were good for 100 … well if not 100, 80’s and 90’s!!

    There was high infant mortality, but adults lived long.

    At the time of slavery the plantation filled the need of the elderly slaves, … cradle to grave … a socialist utopia.

    Those who were not slaves ended up in the various Alms Houses.

    After slavery, individuals had to fend for themselves until NIS arrived in the 60’s.

    Once the generations from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s die out, the life expectancy of the Chefette Generation will fall as is the trend now.

    The problem with the NIS is the teifing Government!!


  33. … which is of course, Elder Abuse!!


  34. “The issue has to do with affordability, lack of education and government’s inability to design and manage fit for purpose schemes.”

    @ David

    I honestly do not see the relevance.

    The National Insurance Department, for example, provides the public with the relevant information and education, on an ongoing basis, relative to the importance of contributing to the NIS, especially ‘self-employed’ persons.
    Yet, under those circumstances, people continually refuse to contribute to the scheme, preferring instead to squander their earnings, perhaps believing tax payers are obligated to take care of them during their old age.

    We’re essentially creating a mendicant society, which the island cannot afford to finance.
    Look at the squatters. Locals and illegal immigrants are being rewarded for breaking law, with loans, grants, houses and land.


  35. Donna you dont have worry about money, all you have to is be able to describe elon musk’s dick, and you will be in for a windfall, They were saying it looks like hillary clinton . There is a difference between, negligence , malicious intent, stupidity or ignorance I honestly I thought you were smarter than to follow the BT lemming trail up and over chalky mount.


  36. @curley16

    Your suggestion was for government to incentivize members of the public to take up private pension plans to plan for retirement and ease pressure on public system? The blogmaster is not satisfied the public will be bullish post CLICO etc.


  37. @Artax

    This is why proper education needs to ramp up to address the problem. It is a problem?

    Bear in mind we suffer from a lack of financial intelligence in the country.


  38. Excuses, excuses, Lawson. What is it with you people and facts? Here we have John mentioning Utopia and slavery in the same sentence and you, poor soul, cannot admit the abuse of indigenous people by the invaders. I remember too you said that the indigenous people sold the land for baubles.

    Please! I AM waaaay too smart……FOR THE WHITE MAN’S LIES.

    Anyway, the topic is elder abuse and the truth of the matter was that your people did not care enough for the elderly to up their game. Call it what you will but NEGLIGENCE is akin to abuse.

    Now…..back to the financing of the elderly. This time I agree with John that on its present trajectory, life expectancy will decline, thereby solving the problem of too many old people.

    Lickrishness an’ laziness – the perfect solution to our centenarian crisis!

    Oh dear!


  39. David

    This monkey pox is starting worries, Four cases in Belgium today.

    Covid and now this seem highly irregular with WHO playing games.

    The discoveries by Russian forces of illegal biological warfare labs in Ukraine, 30, seemed not to worry many.

    Thirty of 365 located around America’s perceived enemies should give pause. That these labs were seeking the DNA profiles of specific genotypes should have been the discovery of the century.

    Now we have monkey pox moving like Covid.


  40. “At the time of slavery the plantation filled the need of the elderly slaves, … cradle to grave … a socialist utopia.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

    You never miss an opportunity to continue romamticising slavery.
    And, I’m of the opinion your above comment is blatantly disrespectful to the discussion.

    No, my friend. It was not “a socialist utopia,” simply because slaves were REGARDED as CHATTEL…… PROPERTY…….a horse or donkey. And, NOT HUMAN BEINGS. Hence, ‘chattel slavery.’

    Similarly to what Sarah Patton Boyle wrote in her book that “her mother loved Negroes, with the same the same deep tenderness she lavished on her riding horses, her dogs and other pets.”

    Emancipation created fear among whites, who characterized the newly freed slaves as people with animalistic instincts and incapable of governing and taking care of themselves.
    It also saw the emergence of new stereotypes…… ‘the Negro beast or Black brutes’ and were deemed to be lustful, monstrous people.
    Benjamin Tillman, who was known for his hatred of African Americans, was reported as having viewed Black people as a fiend, ‘wild beast seeking whom he may devour….’

    It’s one of the reasons why Black people who disrespectfully refer to Black people in a forum they recognize as a ‘Black blog’ when it’s convenient for them…….. as ‘wild beast, predators and savages that should be in the jungle’ is “stuck in my craw.”

    It seems as though John is being nostalgic for the ‘good old days’ of slavery when it was believed slaves were grateful to be subservient and happy to be in the care of their white slave masters.


  41. See if you can find out when the Geriatric Hospital was founded.

    My gut is towards end of slavery or shortly thereafter.

    Believe it or not I can find fields in Barbados called Hospital Field on a few larger plantations, one in Christ Church, one in St. John and one in the North in St. Peter.

    … and I don’t have the field lists or maps for all of the larger plantations.


  42. Where is the link Pacha.


  43. 🐇/🐇
    “At the time of slavery the plantation filled the need of the elderly slaves, … cradle to grave … a socialist utopia.”

    Your dog whistle has been noted. It puzzles me how the second or is it the smartest man in Barbados can be so insensitive and make such horrendous and erroneous statements.

    Soon, you will be adding Quakers to your romantic twistory. Was your blackness (if any) weeded out of you with fantastic fables of slavery? Here is a paragraph describing your Utopian society ….’The whip that was used to do such damage to the slaves was called a “cat-of-nine tails”. It was a whip that was woven and flowed into nine separate pieces. Each piece had a knot in the middle, and broken glass, and nails at the very end.’


  44. Artax,

    Fret not thyself! We know the drill. They no longer anger me. People who peddle crap like that are pathetic.

    Moving on!


  45. David

    We may only know after the events. But if all of these things relating to viruses and biological weapons and false flag operations are happening, and given everything else surrounding including actual biological labs, this writer is suspicious that an evil hand is at work of the Dr Mengele variety.


  46. It appears that we also have two sets of history. There is the history of 🐇/🐰 and there is a history which includes the slave code mentioned by Adrian Green.

    Slave code (Utopia)
    “The law required masters to provide each slave with one set of clothing per year, but it set no standards for slaves’ diet, housing, or working conditions. It denied slaves, as chattels, even basic human rights guaranteed under common law, such as the right to life. It allowed the slaves’ owners to do entirely as they wished to their slaves for anything considered a misdeed, including mutilating them and burning them alive, without fear of reprisal.

    For example, if a Black person was found guilty of inflicting violence against a white person, the code stipulated that they should be “severely whipped”, have “his or her nose slit and shall be burnt in the face”, while the next offence shall be “punished by death”. However, “if any Man shall of wantonness, or only of Bloody Mindedness, or Cruel Intention, willfully kill a Negro or other Slave of his own, he shall pay into the Publick Treasury … if he shall so kill another Man’s, He shall pay to the Owner of the Negro, double the Value, and into the Publick Treasury … And he shall further by the next Justice of the Peace, be bound to the good Behaviour””


  47. The Nis is in no position to guarantee anyone anything.

    Roughly 2 billion dollars in non performing paper earning roughly 1%.

    Probably another billion in overpriced non performing real-estate that probably can’t even break even based on its rental income, but let’s be generous and say they also earning 1%.

    So 3 billion of the 4 billion in assets earning 1% how much does the billion left have to earn to get anywhere near an average return of 6% on the $4B?

    Let’s just say not even the best ponzi scheme return could bring them home from there.

    Personally I have no love for pension plans. Anytime I contribute a percentage of my life time savings to a ” pension plan” let me own the capital. Don’t tell me I could retire at 67 and dead at 68 with all I contributed left unclaimed being held by the state.


  48. @ OGazzert
    xxxShe asked a number of questions, but I do not like where she was going. Looks as if she wishes to use a guillotine once you have reached a certain age.xxxx

    Not me TheOGazzwet.
    It looks like what the plan is.
    I feel ‘sucidal’ when I hear what is happenin g to these old folks, knowing that I am heading there.

    XXXX all dem ponsi schemes gone broke.

  49. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/canada-record-covid-19-deaths-wealthy-countries-cihi-1.5968749
    Canada’s nursing homes have worst record for COVID-19 deaths among wealthy nations: report

    “Canada has the WORST record for COVID-19 deaths in long-term care homes compared with other wealthy countries, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). The study found that the proportion of deaths in nursing homes represented 69 per cent of Canada’s overall COVID-19 deaths, which is significantly higher than the international average of 41 per cent. In Canada, between March 2020 and February 2021, more than 80,000 residents and staff members of long-term care homes were infected with the coronavirus. Outbreaks occurred in 2,500 care homes, resulting in the deaths of 14,000 residents, according to the report.”
    Source: cbc.ca

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