Chapter 1190: Abyss

After George greeted his coworkers, he squeezed into the crowd. He saw a young man of twenty-four or twenty-five standing there, loudly expressing his point of view.

He took out a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out, and handed it to a friend he knew beside him, "Who is this person?"

His friend took the cigarette, lit it, and shook his head, "Don't know. He was already standing here when I arrived. It seems no one knows him, but I agree with what he said."

"To solve the problems we are facing now, we must let people at a higher level see it."

George glanced at those people in the factory in the distance who hadn't started working yet and were watching them. His expression was a bit unnatural, "But they aren't willing to stand on our side. With only this few of us, we can't stir up any waves at all."

His friend quite agreed, "So now this guy says we have to unite. I heard that other factories are also facing the problems we are facing now."

"Some have been solved, but some haven't."

George looked at the young man speaking loudly in the crowd, listening to what he was saying, and remained silent.

He didn't really want to participate in such a gathering. On one hand, it was because going from here to Redstone City (the capital of Denuo State, where the state government is located) required travel expenses and accommodation in another place; these were all money.

And during the time he left here, he couldn't guarantee what would happen. His wife's health wasn't very good, and she had some chronic diseases; he couldn't leave for too long.

It was actually not easy for two people to walk together for a lifetime. He hadn't considered what would happen in the future; he only thought about letting his wife hold on, at least... before him.

This way, when he grew old and was powerless, he wouldn't worry or have any regrets.

His friend beside him asked him, "Are you going?"

George came back to his senses, "Me?"

"No, I don't really want to go. You know my wife's health isn't very good, and... even if I go, it might not solve the problem."

"You know, the problem stems from the governor."

He glanced again at the workers in the courtyard who were watching the fun, "It also stems from them."

"We have no way to truly twist into a rope, so it's still very difficult to solve."

His friend sighed, "Although I know what you said is all correct, I will go, and do my best to do this thing."

"No matter what the result is, at least I have tried."

George smiled, showing an encouraging attitude toward his decision, but he wasn't very likely to follow.

This matter was actually very difficult to solve. Any legacy historical problems existing in any factory or enterprise were very difficult to solve, because in the process of the development of these factories and enterprises, they might have faced some difficult and important choices.

Like in the places where the federal economy was at its worst before the war broke out, some capitalists, in order to ensure the continued survival of the factory or enterprise, promised employees many things to obtain the support of employees voluntarily lowering their wages for the factory or enterprise.

These things were impossible to acknowledge after the Wade family took over. They couldn't give these workers and employees those super-standard treatments, so the differences between the two sides were also unsolvable.

Capital has always been a cold thing. It won't be more tolerant of you because you are old, you are a patient, or you are a woman. They will only squeeze and exploit you more ruthlessly, and in the end, throw you into the trash heap as waste from the development of the factory or enterprise.

And they simply couldn't form a general strike that could truly pose a threat. The people working in the factory wouldn't go on strike because of them; they would only work more seriously.

When George and the others had their employment relationship terminated, they actually stood in two different places from the workers in the factory, their former colleagues.

They hoped that the people inside could empathize with them, but the people inside just treated them as fun to watch.

Without the support of the people inside, there couldn't be a strike, and it was impossible to really sit down and talk.

The trouble now, to some extent, was just his "effort."

As time passed bit by bit, he saw some workers who had been terminated like them before put on their work uniforms again, quickly entering the factory as if avoiding them.

There was some commotion in the crowd. Some people cursed those people as traitors, cursing them and their families.

Some people's eyes flickered, seemingly considering something.

George's friend also followed the mainstream group and cursed these people. After cursing for a while, he felt it was meaningless and stopped.

"What do you think these people are thinking?"

"Spending their own money to work, just for the pension in the future?"

"I really can't understand their thinking. Can they really live to the moment they take all the pension?"

The federal pension isn't that easy to get either. If a worker fully complies with all retirement regulations and reaches the threshold for getting a pension.

Then they also face two choices.

Either get all the pension at once, but about forty percent of it has to be taxed according to the current federal tax standard.

If George retired, there might be about four or five thousand dollars in his pension account.

That's because the years they contributed weren't many to begin with. From the time the pension-related bill was promoted to today, it had only been twenty-plus years.

This part of the pension comes from three places: the pension the worker deposits themselves—five to ten percent of their wages; the pension the enterprise subsidizes—seven percent of the income; and a portion of the interest or profit generated by the account.

If extracted at once, you could only get about two or three thousand dollars in hand. After the tax reform, the lower limit was very low, the upper limit was very high, and a lot was collected.

So most people would choose to take it in installments, taking twenty dollars a month, for eighteen or twenty years. Although this also requires paying taxes, it is paid according to the lowest tax rate, which can be said to deduct almost not much money.

This is also the choice of most people, the vast majority of people.

To receive all the pension completely, they only need to live for another twenty years after retirement, which is a challenge for the federal poor.

And in the pension plan currently being promoted, if the person receiving the pension dies, the pension account will deduct the enterprise money, and only the money the worker paid themselves and the interest generated will remain, and receiving it also requires paying taxes.

The pension system promoted by the federal government and capitalists, including the social security system, is definitely not really for the sake of taking care of everyone.

Or rather, the emergence of these systems isn't as beautiful as people imagine.

The federal government and capitalists need to use some means to stabilize society, not let people get into chaos, but they will also agree on some relatively harsh conditions, only letting a very small number of people be able to obtain benefits.

When the federal per capita life expectancy doesn't reach sixty, you let them wait until over seventy to truly take advantage of the enterprise—you can only say that the experts are still too conservative.

So, to pay out of pocket to go to work for this money... George sighed. He didn't know whether doing this was worth it or not, but in the eyes of these people, it might be worth it.

They at least have to live to sixty-five, and only then can they get back the part of the cost they paid, and only then are they taking advantage of the enterprise.

Now they have to pay out of pocket to work, pay out of pocket to pay the pension, which means they have to live to seventy before they can start taking advantage.

Thinking of this, he didn't know for a moment whether he should continue. He was a bit bewildered.

Making trouble in the morning didn't have any good effect. Instead, the factory side arranged for some lawyers to assist everyone in collecting evidence, saying it was to be discussed at the board of directors, which made the momentum of the troublemakers a bit smaller.

When it was time for lunch, he bid farewell to the others and returned home. On the way, he was thinking about this matter, whether to continue making trouble.

He hadn't figured it out when he arrived outside his home. He knocked on the door, and no one answered.

His expression had some changes, becoming slightly solemn. Then he took out the key, opened the door, and walked in quickly.

His wife didn't work, and because of her poor health, she rarely went out.

For so many years, no matter when it was, as long as he returned, as long as he knocked on the door, his wife would open this door for him, but today an accident happened.

He didn't even change his shoes, rushed into the living room with snow water and some mud, and immediately saw his wife lying in the dining room with a painful look on her face.

He rushed over, turned off the fire on the stove, then picked up his wife and rushed outside.

Twenty minutes later, in the hospital, he stroked his wife's forehead, looked at her already calm face, and let out a long sigh of relief.

After a while, a light knocking sound came from outside the door. He turned his head and glanced; the doctor was standing outside the door, signaling to him to let him go out.

★★￠o

He glanced at his wife again, then came outside the room, "Thank you for your rescue, she looks much better now."

The doctor nodded noncommittally, "Her situation isn't very good, because she hasn't received treatment in the true sense over these years, so her condition has actually always been worsening, it's just that the speed of worsening is very slow."

"But after so many years, even if this speed is slow, it has started to exert its destructive power."

"Next, you have three choices. I hope you listen carefully, and discuss it with her; after all, this relates to her life problem."

The doctor no longer used the word "health"; this word simply couldn't exist in her current state.

"First, active treatment. We can try to repair her body to a certain extent through surgery. This technology itself has already completed the process from theory to practice, and there are successful individual cases in many hospitals."

"Second, use a conservative treatment plan. We will change some new drugs. The price might be a bit higher, and I cannot guarantee whether her situation will continue to accelerate and worsen."

"Third...", the doctor was silent for a while, "Give up treatment. I'm not sure how long she can live. If she's lucky, there might be two or three years, three or five years; if she's unlucky, it might only be half a year or a year."

"Everything is left to God to decide!"

Hearing these words, George felt his throat itching, "May I ask, how much money do surgery and conservative treatment need?"

The doctor simply sized George up, "Surgery needs about ten thousand dollars. This is the discounted price I gave you, because this surgery has a certain practical and teaching significance."

"Of course, you can also go to a better hospital to find those doctors with higher success rates, but the price might be twenty thousand dollars or higher."

"If the surgery is successful and she recovers well, she only needs to take a little medicine later to extend her life by at least ten-plus years."

"If conservative treatment is used, using drugs, at least twenty dollars of medicine is needed every month. At least within five years, her situation won't be too bad."

"You know, some diseases are always like this, accompanying human aging. Some problems will start to accelerate. If you can't step on the brakes at the top of the downhill and let it start to accelerate, then wanting to stop it again is almost an impossible thing."

George's brain was very messy at this time. He turned his head and glanced at his wife lying on the hospital bed, "I'll consider it."

The doctor didn't urge him either, just comforted him with two sentences and then left.

George sat on the chair in the corridor, holding his head, his brain blank.

Someone he had been with for so many years was suddenly going to leave him, which reminded him of a dog he raised when he was a child.

When he was about four or five years old, his father brought him a dog. He thought that dog would accompany him through his life.

As a result, when he was sixteen, that dog died—died of old age, without the interference of external forces. He cried until he could barely breathe, feeling like the sky had collapsed.

Later, his father left, his mother left, and he had no other relatives.

He grabbed the clothes on his chest tightly, his breathing became a bit rapid, he couldn't help but stand up, his body trembling slightly, walking back and forth. He wouldn't let his wife leave him like this!

He returned to the ward and observed his situation again, then went to a nearby bank. He wanted to give his wife the best treatment plan—surgery.

While he still had the ability to do something, give her the best treatment. If he waited until five years later, seven years later, to consider surgery, not to mention whether his wife's body could bear it.

By that time, he would have basically completely lost his ability to work. He couldn't earn money, and couldn't do surgery!

He first checked his savings; there were only a thousand-plus dollars. This was already very rare for a federal person of his age. He was ahead of eighty percent of people, maybe more!

Then he asked a real estate agent. Their apartment wasn't worth much, only able to sell for about a thousand-plus dollars. This was still the price after several years of economic upturn. If it were placed before the war broke out, this apartment would be worth at most five or six hundred dollars.

But this was still indefinitely distant from the cost of surgery. Then he went to a bank to ask if he could get a loan, but the manager gave him a negative answer.

"Unless you have a stable job now that can last until the day you retire, I noticed you said you have a three-in-one pension."

"If your pension can take full effect, relying on the pension, I can give you... a loan of four thousand five hundred dollars."

"But now...", he pushed the form back and shook his head, "I'm very sorry, Mr. George." ===== CHAPTER 1191 =====