Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
Distorting history and underestimating the severity of the problem only increases the chance of insolvency. The Social Security system’s persistent and growing deficits are scheduled to bring trust fund insolvency within nine years, which would force a 23 percent benefit cut. Yet most lawmakers refuse to discuss solvency reforms because voters (and many lawmakers themselves) … Read more
Experts predicted that baby boomers would be broke in their old age. Instead, they’re one of history’s richest generations. By now, many retired baby boomers should be pinching pennies, at best, or battling destitution, at worst. For decades, the media and the experts they quoted warned that boomers weren’t saving enough for a comfortable retirement. … Read more
Aid programs could erase a recent spike in the number of poor people, but complicated rules and the lack of promotion baffle potential applicants #1: $30 Billion in Unclaimed Benefits It almost sounds too far-fetched to be true. But according to research by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) millions of adults aged 65 and … Read more
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor. President Joe Biden tweeted last week that he will be a “nightmare” for Republicans who dream of cutting Social Security and Medicare. With this statement, Biden showed that he’s either shockingly ignorant about these two programs … Read more
Americans struggle to understand how their tax dollars are spent. The U.S. has hit its debt ceiling, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has enacted “extraordinary measures” to keep the government out of default—buying Congress a few months to come up with a solution. Republicans have vowed to vote to raise the debt ceiling only in … Read more
‘Taxing the rich’ and cutting ‘woke’ programs won’t come close to getting the job done. You cannot balance the budget just by cutting programs that you don’t like. You cannot balance the budget by booting layabouts off welfare, by reducing “waste, fraud, and abuse,” by eliminating foreign aid, or by repealing the grievously misnamed Affordable … Read more
When nursing home care uses up a widow’s savings, the federal Medicaid program will kick in and cover her bills for care. But it’s more complicated for couples. If one spouse moves into a nursing home and the bills start piling up, the person who is still living in their home can face serious financial … Read more
As early as 2011, research from Carnegie Mellon University suggested kids could be up to 51 times more likely to experience identity theft than adults. Now identity theft affects 1.25 million kids – or about 1 out of 50 children – every year, according to the research firm Javelin. Most of the time, child identity … Read more
If we were walruses or penguins, environmentalists would launch daily campaigns to prevent our extinction, large corporations would donate 10 percent of their products to our cause, and Al Gore would film documentaries with some scrawny guy awkwardly trying to tie himself to a lonely chunk of ice in the sea. But we are humans, … Read more
In the bottom-up hierarchy of retailers catering to the lowest rungs of US society, there is Dollar Tree and Dollar General, and somewhere in their immediate orbit, is Rent-a-Center, which caters to those Americans who can’t afford to purchase outright, and whose credit is too low to finance, and are thus stuck renting out any … Read more
Companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash avoid paying into Social Security for workers whom they don’t consider employees, as workers struggle to put away savings while making small amounts for delivery and other tasks Dean Rainer finds it hard to believe that anyone would think app-based gig workers can save for retirement. “I needed a … Read more
“WE ALL QUIT,” blared the letter-board sign at a Burger King in Lincoln, Nebraska, last summer. “SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.” Things have only gotten quittier since then. More than 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November, which is the highest month on record in the United States. It’s also a third higher than the … Read more
Medicare announced on November 12 that it would apply big rate hikes on Medicare premiums next year. The monthly Part B premium will rise by $21.60, or nearly 15 percent, to $170.10 from $148.50 this year. This increase is more than double the projected $10 boost included in the annual report from Medicare program trustees … Read more
Social Security’s great achievement for retirees is a guarantee that they’ll get a check every month, without fail. Less appreciated is the stability the program brings to local economies and businesses. Retirees use their Social Security benefits to patronize establishments that sell goods and services locally such as restaurants, car repair shops, banks, and hospitals. … Read more
The 2021 Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ annual reports are 138 days late and counting. The law requires the Board of Trustees of Social Security and Medicare to submit to Congress annual reports on the financial condition of these vital programs by April 1. This requirement has been in place since 1967. The board now … Read more
COVID-19, which seems likely to morph into COVID-21 and so on, is involved in many factors affecting home-based care. It forced everyone to spend time at home. Once there, we liked what we saw, and have been pouring enormous sums into fixing up and expanding our homes. Home-centric life isn’t going to change anytime soon. … Read more
It’s understandable that we’re now paying a lot of attention to Joe Biden’s risky proposals for higher taxes and a bigger welfare state. After all, it’s a very bad idea to copy the economic policies of nations such as Italy, France, and Greece (unless, of course, you want much lower living standards). But let’s not … Read more
‘The ’70s are back!” declares French fashion magazine l’Officiel. No kidding: Prices are up, crime is up, Iranian kidnapping plots targeting Americans are up. . . . Surely the groovy sounds of disco and a heady whiff of Hai Karate cannot be far behind. My first political memory is feeling pity for President Jimmy Carter, … Read more
Pensions are increasingly rare these days. The reason is simple: Offering pensions requires companies to make an expensive, long-term commitment to its retirees. So it’s understandable that even companies that still provide a pension benefit are looking to reduce their costs and risks. One strategy for achieving that goal is to offer pensioners a one-time … Read more
Of the five most expensive wars the United States has waged, only one – World War II – involved an armed enemy. The other five – poverty, drugs, terror, and Covid, were all wars on nouns. Now the federal government appears to have inadvertently stumbled into another war – the War on Retirement. Unlike the … Read more
Stop focusing on the big, scary numbers As retirement risks go, it’s one of the more impossible to manage and mitigate. Or is it? For years now, firms in the financial services industry, as well as researchers, have been scaring preretirees into thinking they need an ungodly amount of money set aside at age 65 … Read more
Shutdowns and bailouts are unsustainable for 18 months to two years. We need a new and better set of strategies, and we can’t put it off any further. In mid-April, 69 percent of 2,394 registered U.S. voters polled said it is “necessary” to develop a coronavirus vaccine “before we reopen the economy.” Politicians are beginning … Read more
On January 31, 1940, Miss Ida Fuller received a check for $22.54. She was the first person to retire under the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) scheme, better known as Social Security. At the time of her retirement in 1939, she had paid just $22 in Social Security taxes. Ms. Fuller lived to be … Read more
Elder Index measures the income needed for older people to stay in their own homes and meet their daily living costs . . . Q: How big a problem is economic insecurity among the elderly? Mutchler: Our research shows that in 2019, half of older Americans living on their own lacked the income needed to … Read more
Retirees could get substantially more in their Social Security check if they would just wait longer – up to age 70 – to sign up. Everyone began the same way: they saw a table showing how much more they would receive from Social Security for each year after 62 that they delayed. One of the … Read more