VETERANS: Social media rallies to help old vet

Saturday, December 13, 2025

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/veteran-working-full-time-at-grocery-store-goes-viral-as-social-media-rallies-to-help-him/3858273/?utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4b9c55d78644b3a882a4d

Michigan
Veteran working full-time at grocery store goes viral as social media rallies to help him

  • In a now-viral post, 88-year-old Ed Bambas explained that he retired from General Motors in 1999 but later lost his pension and now works at a Michigan grocery store “to re-establish myself.”

By Alex Dvorak

 • Published December 3, 2025 • Updated on December 4, 2025 at 1:46 pm

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Ed Bambas doesn’t know he’s become an internet sensation, but he’s about to find out just how much his story has resonated on social media.

The 88-year-old veteran working a full-time job at a Michigan grocery store is now at the center of a social media movement aiming to help him retire, with more than $1.2 million raised as of Wednesday.

In a post from Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer, Bambas explained that he retired as a salaried employee from General Motors in 1999, but lost his pension due to the company’s bankruptcy measures in 2012.

That year, the Old General Motors offered lump-sum payments to about 42,000 retirees and their surviving beneficiaries as they aimed to cut 24 percent from their U.S. pension obligation, NBC News reported at the time. NBC Chicago has not been able to confirm if Bambas was a part of those offerings.

Still, Bambas said his retirement quickly changed when his wife fell ill and he became her caregiver, leading to mounting medical bills.

“I sold my house, sold the property I had, and we made it through,” Bambas said through tears in the now-viral video. “My wife died seven years ago. Since then I’ve been trying to re-establish myself.”

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I remember the GM bankruptcy.

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2009/07/06/goverotrageous-no-justice-in-the-governments-courts/

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2009/03/30/rant-a-failure-of-leadership-o-on-gm/

<<can’t find the blog post where the  lost her 5k$ in GM bonds thanks to BHO44>>

Getting old sucks and going broke when you’re old is even worse.

Kudos to the Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer for picking up the story and all the folks who contributed to the GoFundMe.

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JOBSEARCH: Federal government employees are learning that “Nothing is 100% risk free” the hard way

Thursday, February 13, 2025

FROM 1440 https://join1440.com/

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Cruise to slash workforce by nearly 50%, or roughly 1,000 employees, after owner General Motors ended funding to robotaxi unit (More) | Estee Lauder to trim up to 7,000 jobs, or around 11% of workforce; shares drop 16% on the news (More) 

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# – # – # – # – # 

Given the wholesale downsizing of Gooferment employees, every one of the “wage slaves” in the USA should reassessing their unemployment risk profile.

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JOBSEARCH: Your reputation as a master networker has qualified you

Get started. When the axe does fall, as it always does, you’ll have bought yourself time, help, goodwill, and possibly some wisdom. I’ll probably have landed in my final spot before I hear from you. But be advised, I’ll be rooting for you from upstairs or down, where ever I’m sent.

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And …

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JOBSEARCH: The risk inherent in the status quo of employment

I counsel job seekers and potential job seekers that they must rigorously and honestly evaluate just how much is at risk in their current state. One tool is my “how much money do I need to have to get another job”. Age, level of education, hotness of field, hotness of your geography, level of position you’d accept, what’s your burn rate, how do you look, and unfortunately sex all combine in strange complex calculus to determine the risk of the status quo. In more than one instance, 

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As you can see, once I woke up to the  “status quo is not risk free” after my first “promotion outside”, I preached to anyone who would listen that “wage slaves” were at great risk of “downsizing”, “rightsizing”, or just a plain old corporate bankruptcy,

I remember that Gooferment employees would tell me that they’re 100% secure in their Gooferment GS13 position.  Wonder how they would evaluate that now with DOGE chainsawing whole departments and agencies.  I used have heated discussions with those poor confused souls that “Nothing is 100% risk free”.  I pointed to my and my mother’s experiences at AT&T.  We both had “gold watch” syndrome (i.e., the good corporation would care for its valued people from cradle to grave).  I took the buyout and she didn’t.  And she never realized that the “rules” had changed.

One piece of advice that often preached:

“Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a NON-OFFSHORABLE white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.

has held up very well over the decades.

Hope this helps and is not seen as “dancing on graves”.

As always, YMMV.

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