America writing off Social Security for the elderly

When neoconservatives, politicians, and high ranking military officers speak of a 30-year war against terrorism, there is no discussion about its affordability or whether the one significant attack (September 11, 2001) that is attributed, perhaps incorrectly, to Muslim terrorists justifies an open-ended war against a dozen countries. There is no discussion of the burden on […]

American statistics heading into 2012

50 million Americans live below the official poverty line, while another 100 million live in “near-poverty,” struggling to support themselves on incomes so low that they are one misfortune away from destitution. According to a study by the McKinsey consulting firm, it took six months for the US economy to return to pre-recession job levels […]

Retirement for most Americans a delusion

With average life expectancy in the U.S. peaking at 78.1, it means that the typical American will have to work for an additional 2 years after death to pay for not having any retirement savings! Excerpts from a Bloomberg article: “Eighty is the new 65,” Joseph Ready, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement […]

Compare Venezuelan President Chavez with US President Obama

Hugo Chavez was busy handing out laptop computers to second graders at a school in Caracas. After that, the Venezuelan president rushed off to a food distribution plant which is providing $110 million in prepared meals for Venezuela’s poor. Finally, he ended his afternoon by making an appearance at one of the many construction sites […]

The retirement age is too high

It’s dangerous conventional wisdom the idea that with an older population, people must work longer and retire with less. This idea is being used to rationalize cuts in old-age benefits in numerous advanced countries. Raising the retirement age cuts benefits for those who can’t wait to retire, and who often won’t live long. “We” are […]

50 Facts about the US Economy you may not want to know

The following are 50 very revealing statistics about the U.S. economy: #50) In 2010 the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined. #49) It is being projected that the U.S. government will have a budget deficit of approximately 1.6 trillion dollars […]

Social Security Myths

As researched and presented by MoveOn.org: Myth 1: Social Security is going broke. Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.3 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a ‘T’). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever. After 2037, it’ll still be […]

If Uncle Sam was a real person, he would declare bankruptcy

The FDIC shut down a record 140 banks across the States last year, and is itself running low on cash. Last year the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation figured its fund was running a $34 billion deficit. Federal pensions are underfunded by $1 trillion. State and local retirement funds are short about $3 trillion. Uncle Sam’s […]

The death of the traditional pension

Nobody wants to admit it, but the next casualty of the Wall Street meltdown will probably be the traditional pension. Nearly $4 trillion worth of retirement savings were wiped out in the first weeks of the 2008 financial freefall. Half of the drop was concentrated in traditional pension plans. At the start of this year, […]

The latest Social Security strain

Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that’s happened since the 1980s. Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have […]