Baby Boomer News - Baby Boomers - Best Boomer Website - Boomers

Beef Short Ribs Braised with Wild Mushrooms and Tomato - Baby Boomer Recipes

2009-10-24T12:10:00Z

Sam visits the Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney

2009-10-24T12:07:00Z

Bizarre World - Goat's Head Soup In Florida

2009-10-24T11:58:00Z

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, The New Gullwing - Baby Boomer Website Auto Video

2009-10-24T11:54:00Z

AMA Deeply Disappointed Senate Has Failed Seniors, Baby Boomers and Military Families by Blocking S. 1776

2009-10-24T11:47:00Z

Permanent repeal of the Medicare physician payment formula is essential to
comprehensive health system reform

DLC, Oct 21, Statement attributable to: J. James Rohack, M.D. President,
American Medical Association:

"The AMA is deeply disappointed that the Senate today blocked consideration of
S. 1776, legislation to preserve access to health care for America's seniors,
baby boomers and military families. Senator Stabenow is a long-time champion
for patients and physicians, and the AMA, AARP and MOAA strongly supported her
bill that would have laid the foundation to permanently fix the Medicare
physician payment formula and keep Medicare strong as millions of baby boomers
enter the program in just two years.

"As we work to improve the health system, permanent repeal of the payment
formula is essential to ensuring the security and stability of Medicare. On
January first, Medicare physician payments are scheduled to be cut by 21
percent, with more cuts in years to come. Nearly 90 percent of people age 50
and older are concerned that the current Medicare physician payment formula
threatens their access to care.

"While short-term fixes have temporarily averted widespread access problems,
they have also grown the size of the problem - and the cost of reform. The AMA
is committed to fixing the Medicare payment problem once and for all for
seniors, baby boomers and the physicians who care for them.

"There is widespread agreement among Republicans and Democrats that the
formula is broken and needs to be repealed. Congress created the Medicare
physician payment system, and Congress needs to fix this problem once and for
all to fulfill its obligation to seniors, baby boomers and military families.
Permanent repeal of the Medicare physician payment formula is essential to
comprehensive health system reform."

SOURCE American Medical Association

Brenda L. Craine, Director of AMA Media Relations, +1-202-789-7447

Article trackback:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS235240+21-Oct-2009+PRN20091021

Giant Seagull - Baby Boomer Website News Blast

2009-10-23T20:37:00Z

Samantha visits Rio de Janeiros iconic Christ the Redeemer statue.

2009-10-23T20:33:00Z

Doggy Rehab - Baby Boomer Website Pets

2009-10-23T19:46:00Z

Ricotta Meatballs Recipe - Meatballs with Ricotta Cheese

2009-10-23T19:43:00Z

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - Goldie explains it all- Baby Boomer Website TV

2009-10-23T19:36:00Z

White House boasts: We 'control' news media - Please leave your comments

2009-10-19T11:11:00Z

By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Anita Dunn

TEL AVIV – President Obama's presidential campaign focused on "making" the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was "controlled," White House Communications Director Anita Dunn disclosed to the Dominican government at a videotaped conference.

"Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control," said Dunn.

"One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually talk to reporters," said Dunn, referring to Plouffe, who was Obama's chief campaign manager.

"We just put that out there and made them write what Plouffe had said as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. So it was very much we controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it," Dunn said.

Continued Dunn: "Whether it was a David Plouffe video or an Obama speech, a huge part of our press strategy was focused on making the media cover what Obama was actually saying as opposed to why the campaign was saying it, what the tactic was. … Making the press cover what we were saying."

Video of Dunn's remarks at the conference can be seen below:

Dunn was speaking at a Jan. 12, 2009, event focusing on Obama's media tactics and hosted by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, which seeks to promote collaboration between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. The event was held in Santo Domingo and was attended by the country's president.

Dunn has been facing some criticism since she led a White House campaign last week against Fox News, slamming the top-rated network as an "arm of the Republican Party" and "opinion journalism masquerading as news."

Fox hit back this past Friday, releasing a video of Dunn speaking to high school students last June in which she lists her two "favorite political philosophers," including Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung, whose draconian policies are blamed for the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Video of Dunn's speech, broadcast during a segment of Glenn Beck's evening show on the Fox News Channel, can be seen below:

With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott

Butterfly Conservatory Gets Steamy

2009-10-11T12:21:00Z

Baby boomers lead Facebook charge

2009-10-11T12:16:00Z

By Teri Greene

Weekday evenings for 53-year-old Lzennie Clemons of Montgomery used to mean it was time to make supper, finish a few household tasks and then get ready for bed.

But in the past month, her after-work routine has changed. She's a little distracted. Well, maybe more than a little. What brought about this change?

Facebook.

The social networking site, initially an online tool for college students, then high-schoolers, now finds itself stampeded by a new and powerful population -- baby boomers, and, increasingly, seniors.

Clemons was a skeptical, and a little clueless, she admits, when teenage girls at church kept telling her she needed a Facebook account. She set up her page with the help of her tech-savvy 21-year-old daughter, a senior at Auburn University.

Then came the friend requests from fellow church members as well as long-lost pals from Marbury High School, people she hadn't seen since the early 1970s, who were now living as far away as Canada and Washington state.

But mostly Clemons talks to friends and co-workers.

"It will be time to cook, and I'm trying to get in that last little comment or see what's going on," she said, laughing.

Changing face

It was only in September 2006 that the site, once limited to students from colleges and high schools throughout the country, opened itself to anyone older than 13 who had a valid e-mail account. The growth has been stunning: Facebook has more than 200 million active users, with half of them logging in each day.

According to InsideFacebook.com, 3 million of those users are older than 50. Between September 2008 and March 2009 alone, the 55-65 age group grew more than 500 percent. Boomers -- defined as Americans born between 1946 and 1964 -- are changing the face of Facebook.

Fifty-year-old Bruce Headrick of Montgomery is a bit of an anomaly among boomers. His career is in the military and he has worked with desktop computers since 1983. He "was using the Internet before Al Gore invented it," he joked.

Still, Facebook has intrigued him. He has reconnected with his pals from Tuscaloosa High School's class of '77, visited with cousins and found friends he never meant to lose as he and his family moved from station to station.

But the site's benefits go beyond being purely social, Headrick said.

For instance, he joined U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby's Facebook site, which the Alabama congressman's staff updates regularly. That's just one of many groups Facebook offers its members.

"It also allows you the opportunity to join any number of sites that are dedicated to almost any hobby you can think of and allows for instant world-wide, fast as speed of light, transfer of information," Headrick said. "It's a great tool that I would invite anyone who has DSL or cable Internet access to consider joining and searching."

For people still relying on dial-up Internet access, however, the nonstop activity on social sites "could easily be a bandwidth hog."

'Facebooking'

Meg Lowry of Montgomery uses "Facebook" as a verb.

"I Facebook almost every day, and I love it. I use it to keep up with my grown kids, who are 28 and 24, my siblings, my niece and nephew, my cousins and their kids," she said.

And now, she's among people in their 50s who, like their younger counterparts, are planning events "IRL" -- in real life. Just last week, she was among a group of friends, all recently reconnected on Facebook, who met up at Jim's Restaurant in Prattville.

Local radio personality/talk show host Greg Budell might just be the biggest Facebook proponent in the Montgomery area -- and he's 56 years old.

During his daily stint at "greatest hits of all time" station Q96.1 and his evening talk show on News Talk 107.9 FM, he touts the social site, hoping to reach people his age and older who might otherwise remain in the dark.

"I have led the 50-plus Facebook revolution in Montgomery!" Budell said. "I use it on both radio shows and sell its ease to people who otherwise might have written it off as a 'kid thing.'"

One recent convert is another radio guy, Kevin Elkins, 52, who hosts a call-in show from 7 to 9 a.m. on News Radio 1440.

So far, Elkins has connected with people he's known over the years from Indiana, Washington and Hawaii -- many of them old Army friends. He said he isn't surprised that so many people who are far from being kids are active users of the site.

"Times are changing," he said, "and 'old' is not like years ago."

Senior revolution

If you think 72 is "old," you might want to meet Betty Cook of Montgomery.

"My husband would tell you I'm on Facebook too much!" Cook said with a guilty little laugh, adding that she's been on the site every day, "sometimes more than once a day," since she registered five months ago.

Cook has 109 Facebook friends. She and her husband, Ernest, are connected to nearly all their friends at their former church, as well as members of their current church.

She is Facebook friends with her three children, her five grandchildren and children she taught in Sunday School years ago who now have grandchildren of their own.

What has surprised her most is that she is not the only septuagenarian on the site.

"I don't know why they got on there, but I have found some people my age on Facebook," she said.

Recently, she even set up a virtual farm on Farm Town, one of Facebook's most popular applications.

"It's just fun!" she said.

Meg Lowry said her 73-year-old father "Facebooks" regularly.

"He has an iPhone and I don't," Lowry said of her tech enthusiast dad. "My son says that he is the only one of his friends who has to worry about what he posts because his grandfather will see it!"

Though statistics show that Betty Cook and Lowry's father are way ahead of the pack in their age group when it comes to social networking, researchers at UAB are out to change that.

They have begun studying the effect of social networking on residents at assisted living facilities throughout the state, with students teaching seniors not only how to use networking skills, but in some cases, how to turn on the computer.

Dr. Shelia Cotton, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at UAB, said the study's purpose is to determine whether training older adults to use computers and the Internet can enhance their quality of life.

Cotton said they hope to see whether using Internet social networks will decrease loneliness and ultimately help lower the rate of depression among seniors.

Too much?

By the time all of today's Boomers become bona fide "seniors," chances are Facebook will have become just another part of daily life for them.

Joe Pettis, 53, of Montgomery said reconnecting with old friends has been "interesting and eye-opening."

What surprises him about members of younger generations on Facebook is their willingness to put their entire lives on the wall for everyone to see. He said their Facebook elders could teach teens a thing or two:

"Don't put anything on there that you don't want to the whole world to know. 'It's the Internet, stupid!' -- rhetorically speaking," he said.

For Pettis, Facebook calls to mind an earlier technology -- one that's most likely foreign to Facebook's young pioneers -- that came with its own set of risks.

"This is like the old party line phone system, if you ask me," he said. "Everyone hears everything. Be careful."

Clemons admits that what kept her from joining earlier was a mix of skepticism and trepidation.

"There are so many predators on the Internet. ... there are people out there who just misuse what it's intended to be," she said.

Fear may be one key aspect that's keeping some of the 50-and-older crowd from venturing on to Facebook.

But soon enough, said 52-year-old Kim Shelton of Montgomery -- yet another boomer linking up with old friends from all over the country for 20-minute stints -- the reluctant few will be feeling the effects.

"The world is technology-based now," Shelton said. "You can either stay up with changing times or not. If you don't, you're going to be left behind."

25% of nation's self-employed are baby boomers

2009-10-11T12:12:00Z

As America's 77 million baby boomers begin contemplating retirement, many are finding that slowing down is the last thing they want to do.

Indeed, they're seeking outlets for their experience, energy and drive that will be personally and financially rewarding while also providing the flexibility and direction they might not have enjoyed during their previous careers.

Sound a lot like owning a small business? It should.

Statistics show that of the nation's 10.9 million self-employed workers, the largest category, 25 percent, is boomers ages 45 to 54.

In 2006, the number of self-employed individuals age 65 and older totaled 781,000 — a 19 percent increase in six years.

As with entrepreneurship at any other age, a boomer's entrepreneurial direction has many influences such as interests, knowledge, location, financial resources and personality.

Some may relish the challenge of building a new business, even to the point of working as many hours as they did before retiring.

Others may prefer pursuing an enterprise with more limited hours, allowing them to make the most of that long-awaited leisure time.

Fortunately, there's a growing range of resources designed to help boomers pursue second careers as entrepreneurs.

For example, the self-employed section of AARP's Web site, www.aarp.org, helps those approaching retirement weigh second career opportunities as consulting and franchise ownership.

Mature Resources at www.matureresources.org, an online magazine that covers a wide range of issues related to aging, contains a business section with articles related to more than 50 entrepreneurs, as well as a business directory.

Marketing consultant Andrea J. Stenberg has created the baby boomer entrepreneur blog at thebabyboomerentrepreneur.com, which provides small business marketing strategies and motivation aimed at aspiring 40-plus entrepreneurs to build new businesses.

Another multifaceted information resource is All Business at www.allbusiness.com, an online service that helps address real-world business questions and presents practical solutions.

All Business provides articles and directories for aspiring small business owners, as well as a section dedicated to analyzing boomer marketing and demographic trends.

Similarly, the Learning Center page of My New Venture at www.mynewventure.com/learning_center has a section specifically for retirement-bound boomers.

For women eyeing a post-retirement career in small business, the TIP$, or Turning Ideas into Profits, Mid-Life Women's Business Community offers free information, tools, support and networking opportunities. Their Web site is www.tipscommunity.com.

Barbecued Halibut with Roasted Potatoes - Baby Boomer Website Recipes

2009-10-10T12:11:00Z

The Three Stooges - I'm a Monkey's Uncle

2009-10-10T12:09:00Z

'Baby Boomer' credit defaults soar

2009-10-10T12:04:00Z

Baby Boomer lifestyles "are coming home to roost" as defaults on credit payments rise,says credit information provider Veda Advantage.

Boomer credit defaults rose by almost 20 per cent in September from the same month a year ago, while overall defaults were up by less than 7 per cent.

Credit defaults by those aged between 44 and 62 were up 19.4 per cent from September 2008, while defaults by Generation X (aged 28-42) rose 3.6 per cent and Generation Y (under 28) defaults fell 2.3 per cent in September, Veda said.

"The statistics show the lifestyles of the Baby Boomers are coming home to roost - they are defaulting on debts mounted up over the years which they can now no longer service - the recession has seen many Baby Boomers lose their jobs while others have had their wealth eroded," Veda Managing Director John Roberts said.

However, Roberts said Boomers were also back seeking mortgage money during 2009. "Figures for the first nine months of the year to September 2009 show an 18.6 per cent increase in mortgage applications from Baby Boomers compared with the previous year," he said.

"Overall mortgage applications are up 12.99 per cent for the first nine months to September 2009 compared with the previous year. This is the first increase in applications for this nine month period since 2005."

"On top of this September 2009 shows the largest number of mortgage applications for the month of September since 2005."

"The January to September 2009 statistics also show hire purchase applications down by 25.1 per cent and credit card applications down by 10.7 per cent."

"The statistics reflect a recent Veda Advantage survey of demand for credit amongst the general population."

"It found that while almost half of the people surveyed had made a significant purchase in the last 12 months, more than half (56 per cent) had paid with cash, EFTPOS or a cheque. And while a majority of those surveyed were planning significant purchases in the next two years a clear majority (62 per cent) planned to pay with cash, EFTPOS or a cheque."

"It is clear the recession has changed the way people think about spending - they are cutting back on their use of credit and they are starting to save for big purchases so they can pay upfront."

"Veda is seeing the recession start to flatten in terms of the credit demand cycle, and it will be interesting to see if people are more aware of how they fund their spending in the future."

Facing up to, 'Could I outlive my money?'

2009-10-10T12:00:00Z

October 8, 2009 | 7:00 am

This Reuters story on aging baby boomers, their money and their financial advisors is set in the future, but it's already reality for some of the oldest boomers (who turned 63 this year), and it’s certainly true for many people older than that:

U.S. financial advisors are due for upheaval as baby boomers, controlling $10 trillion in assets, reach retirement age and shift their investment priorities, said a senior executive at asset manager BlackRock Inc.

Baby boomers will move the industry's main client goal from one [of] accumulation -- investing in assets that create the most value over time -- to one of "decumulation," said Frank Porcelli, who heads U.S. retail for BlackRock, speaking at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Boston.

"The questions won't be, 'How did I do against the S&P 500?'" he said. "It's, 'Can I meet these liabilities?' "

Instead of a focus on building wealth and a retirement nest egg, those clients will soon focus on making the money last.

Since the markets’ crash last year millions of people already have become focused on how to preserve whatever they have left. That’s what individual investors’ hunger for bonds this year has been all about.

But Porcelli’s rhetorical question of "Can I meet these liabilities?" is, ultimately, a question of investment performance, measured against the S&P 500 or any other benchmark.

If you risk your money in stocks, and the market crashes again, you may well outlive your remaining savings. But people who play it totally safe with their nest egg, and settle for rock-bottom returns, also run the risk of coming up short.

Unfortunately, many people may be looking for a magic formula that doesn’t involve hard choices. From the story:

Porcelli said research conducted by the firm found that 70% of retirement-age clients are willing to move their accounts to another firm, if the firm offered expertise on constructing portfolios to avoid running out of money during their golden years.

This was a far different, and more complex service than aiding in asset accumulation, he said.

"This is the equivalent of financial brain surgery," said Porcelli, adding advisors would have to manage clients' spending expectations, as well as investment performance.

If you’re retirement age and your advisor hasn’t suggested strategies to avoid running out of savings, of course you ought to be looking for another advisor!

Porcelli's point about managing spending plans is dead-on, though, in the post-crash world: Advisors may increasingly find themselves in the position of having to tell boomer retiree clients that they can’t have the lifestyle they had expected, because the capital just isn’t there.

That’s the most difficult conversation many advisers and clients will ever have.

Boomers seen driving $10 trillion wealth management shift - Baby Boomer Website Investments

2009-10-10T11:56:00Z

By Joe Rauch
Trackback: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5956HO20091007

BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. financial advisors are due for upheaval as baby boomers, controlling $10 trillion in assets, reach retirement age and shift their investment priorities, said a senior executive at asset manager BlackRock Inc.

Baby boomers will move the industry's main client goal from one from accumulation -- investing in assets that create the most value over time -- to one of "decumulation," said Frank Porcelli, who heads U.S. retail for BlackRock, at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Boston.

"The questions won't be, 'How did I do against the S&P 500?'" he said. "It's, 'Can I meet these liabilities?'"

Instead of a focus on building wealth and a retirement nest egg, those clients will soon focus on making the money last.

Baby boomers, he said, are increasingly spooked by the turbulent markets of the past year, and concerned with ensuring their funds last through retirements that could last 20 years or more.

The $10 trillion that will be in the control of the newly-retired will dictate a more conservative investment and spending approach.

BlackRock is one of the world's largest investment managers and advisors, with $1.37 trillion in client assets under management and providing services to clients with $7 trillion in assets.

When it completes its purchase of Barclays BGI unit in December, it will be the world's largest asset manager with roughly $3 trillion in assets.

The New York-based firm, which built its reputation by serving institutional clients, does not cater directly to retail customers, but provides funds and services to financial advisors who work with retail investors.

Porcelli said research conducted by the firm found that 70 percent of retirement-age clients are willing to move their accounts to another firm, if the firm offered expertise on constructing portfolios to avoid running out of money during their golden years. This was a far different, and more complex service than aiding in asset accumulation, he said.

"This is the equivalent of financial brain surgery," said Porcelli, adding advisors would have to manage clients' spending expectations, as well as investment performance.

DONE WITH DEALS

Porcelli also said that that while he is not privy to such discussions, he sees another acquisition for BlackRock as unlikely.

The firm announced in June 2009 an agreement to purchase Barclays Global Investors for $13.5 billion.

"I don't see a lot what we can't do right now," Porcelli said.

Starting a Business Amid Gloom and Doom - Baby Boomer Business

2009-09-27T13:56:00Z

Hot Stocks: P&G, Sara Lee in Focus

2009-09-27T13:54:00Z

Lexus LF-Ch Concept @ 2009 FAS - Baby Boomer Website Cars

2009-09-27T13:46:00Z

Young, unemployed and facing tough future - 52% Unemployment Rate

2009-09-27T13:39:00Z

By RICHARD WILNER

Last Updated: 4:45 AM, September 27, 2009

Posted: 1:34 AM, September 27, 2009

trackback: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/the_dead_end_kids_AnwaWNOGqsXMuIlGONNX1K

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent -- a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. -- meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.

And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults -- aged 16 to 24, excluding students -- getting a job and moving out of their parents' houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession -- in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.

"It's an extremely dire situation in the short run," said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. "This group won't do as well as their parents unless the jobs situation changes."

Al Angrisani, the former assistant Labor Department secretary under President Reagan, doesn't see a turnaround in the jobs picture for entry-level workers and places the blame squarely on the Obama administration and the construction of its stimulus bill.

"There is no assistance provided for the development of job growth through small businesses, which create 70 percent of the jobs in the country," Angrisani said in an interview last week. "All those [unemployed young people] should be getting hired by small businesses."

There are six million small businesses in the country, those that employ less than 100 people, and a jobs stimulus bill should include tax credits to give incentives to those businesses to hire people, the former Labor official said.

"If each of the businesses hired just one person, we would go a long way in growing ourselves back to where we were before the recession," Angrisani noted.

During previous recessions, in the early '80s, early '90s and after Sept. 11, 2001, unemployment among 16-to-24 year olds never went above 50 percent. Except after 9/11, jobs growth followed within two years.

A much slower recovery is forecast today. Shierholz believes it could take four or five years to ramp up jobs again.

A study from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a government database, said the damage to a new career by a recession can last 15 years. And if young Americans are not working and becoming productive members of society, they are less likely to make major purchases -- from cars to homes -- thus putting the US economy further behind the eight ball.

Angrisani said he believes that Obama's economic team, led by Larry Summers, has a blind spot for small business because no senior member of the team -- dominated by academics and veterans of big business -- has ever started and grown a business.

"The Reagan administration had people who knew of small business," he said.

"They should carve out $100 billion right now and create something like $5,000 to $6,000 job credits that would drive the hiring of young, idled workers by small business."

Angrisani said the stimulus money going to extending unemployment benefits is like a narcotic that is keeping the unemployed content -- but doing little to get them jobs.

Labor Dept. statistics also show that the number of chronically unemployed -- those without a job for 27 weeks or more -- has also hit a post-WWII high.

Social Security strained by early retirements - Baby Boomer Website News

2009-09-27T13:34:00Z

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.

The deficits - $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011 - won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated surpluses from previous years totaling $2.5 trillion. But they will add to the overall federal deficit.

Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent. Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement, but they didn't expect the increase to be so large.

What happened? The recession hit and many older workers suddenly found themselves laid off with no place to turn but Social Security.

"A lot of people who in better times would have continued working are opting to retire," said Alan J. Auerbach, an economics and law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "If they were younger, we would call them unemployed."

Job losses are forcing more retirements even though an increasing number of older people want to keep working. Many can't afford to retire, especially after the financial collapse demolished their nest eggs.

Some have no choice.

Marylyn Kish turns 62 in December, making her eligible for early benefits. She wants to put off applying for Social Security until she is at least 67 because the longer you wait, the larger your monthly check.

But she first needs to find a job.

Kish lives in tiny Concord Township in Lake County, Ohio, northeast of Cleveland. The region, like many others, has been hit hard by the recession.

She was laid off about a year ago from her job as an office manager at an employment agency and now spends hours each morning scouring job sites on the Internet. Neither she nor her husband, Raymond, has health insurance.

"I want to work," she said. "I have a brain and I want to use it."

Kish is far from alone. The share of U.S. residents in their 60s either working or looking for work has climbed steadily since the mid-1990s, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This year, more than 55 percent of people age 60 to 64 are still in the labor force, compared with about 46 percent a decade ago.

Kish said her husband already gets early benefits. She will have to apply, too, if she doesn't soon find a job.

"We won't starve," she said. "But I want more than that. I want to be able to do more than just pay my bills."

Nearly 2.2 million people applied for Social Security retirement benefits from start of the budget year in October through July, compared with just under 1.8 million in the same period last year.

The increase in early retirements is hurting Social Security's short-term finances, already strained from the loss of 6.9 million U.S. jobs. Social Security is funded through payroll taxes, which are down because of so many lost jobs.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes next year and in 2011, a first since the early 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security.

Social Security is projected to start generating surpluses again in 2012 before permanently returning to deficits in 2016 unless Congress acts again to shore up the program. Without a new fix, the $2.5 trillion in Social Security's trust funds will be exhausted in 2037. Those funds have actually been spent over the years on other government programs. They are now represented by government bonds, or IOUs, that will have to be repaid as Social Security draws down its trust fund.

President Barack Obama has said he would like to tackle Social Security next year.

"The thing to keep in mind is that it's unlikely we are going to pull out (of the recession) with a strong recovery," said Kent Smetters, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "These deficits may last longer than a year or two."

About 43 million retirees and their dependents receive Social Security benefits. An additional 9.5 million receive disability benefits. The average monthly benefit for retirees is $1,100 while the average disability benefit is about $920.

The recession is also fueling applications for disability benefits, said Stephen C. Goss, the Social Security Administration's chief actuary. In a typical year, about 2.5 million people apply for disability benefits, including Supplemental Security Income. Applications are on pace to reach 3 million in the budget year that ends this month and even more are expected next year, Goss said.

A lot of people who had been working despite their disabilities are applying for benefits after losing their jobs. "When there's a bad recession and we lose 6 million jobs, people of all types are going to be part of that," Goss said.

Nancy Rhoades said she dreads applying for disability benefits because of her multiple sclerosis. Rhoades, who lives in Orange, Va., about 75 miles northwest of Richmond, said her illness is physically draining, but she takes pride in working and caring for herself.

In June, however, her hours were cut in half - to just 10 a week - at a community services organization. She lost her health benefits, though she is able to buy insurance through work, for about $530 a month.

"I've had to go into my retirement annuity for medical costs," she said.

Her husband, Wayne, turned 62 on Sunday, and has applied for early Social Security benefits. He still works part time.

Nancy Rhoades is just 56, so she won't be eligible for retirement benefits for six more years. She's pretty confident she would qualify for disability benefits, but would rather work.

"You don't think of things like this happening to you," she said. "You want to be in a position to work until retirement, and even after retirement."

Treasury Weighs Extension of TARP

2009-09-26T11:22:00Z

Ensign receives handwritten confirmation - No Money For Insurance? GO TO Jail!

2009-09-26T11:03:00Z

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.

Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold."

The note was a follow-up to Ensign's questioning at the markup.

Article trackback: http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0909/Ensign_receives_handwritten_confirmation_.html?showall

Tiny Turtles Getting Big Help - Baby Boomer Website Nature

2009-09-26T11:00:00Z

US large-loan bank losses triple to $53 billion - Why Is This Not A Crisis?

2009-09-26T10:54:00Z

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Regulators say US lenders expected to lose $53 billion in 2009 on loans larger than $20M

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) -- U.S. regulators said total losses from large loans at banks and other financial institutions nearly tripled to $53 billion in 2009, due to a deteriorating economic environment and continued weak underwriting standards.

According to an annual report released by the four federal bank-regulatory agencies on Thursday, credit quality deteriorated to record levels this year.

The report said total identified losses of $53.3 billion in 2009 surpassed last year's total of $2.6 billion, and nearly tripled the previous peak in 2002, when losses totaled $19.1 billion.

"While we expected a year-over-year increase in problem assets, given the weak economic environment, declining (commercial real estate) values, and previously weak underwriting, we were surprised by the magnitude of the increase," wrote FBR Capital Markets analyst Scott Valentin in a research note to clients Friday.

Since 2007, banks have been crushed by mounting losses tied to real estate. Rising mortgage defaults since have helped push the U.S. into a recession. While the economic downturn was first pegged to residential mortgage loans, banks and lenders are now having problems with commercial real estate.

The report, called the Shared National Credits Review program, is prepared and jointly released by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. The report defines a "shared national credit" as any loan or formal loan commitment of at least $20 million that was financed by three or more banks.

Total loans across the institutions reviewed in 2009 was $2.9 trillion. The study looked at 8,955 loans given to about 5,900 different borrowers.

The report said foreign banks held about 38 percent of the $2.9 trillion in loans, while about 21 percent of the loans are held by hedge funds, insurance companies, pension funds and other entities.

Barack Obama snubs Gordon Brown over private talks

2009-09-24T09:50:00Z

Gordon Brown lurched from being hailed as a global statesman to intense embarrassment tonight, after it emerged US President Barack Obama had turned down no fewer than five requests from Downing Street to hold a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York or at the G20 summit starting in Pittsburgh today.

The prime minister, eager to portray himself as a leading player on the international stage in America this week, was also forced to play down suggestions from inside his own party that he might step down early, either due to ill health or deteriorating eyesight.

There have been tensions between the White House and No 10 for weeks over Brown's handling of the Scottish government's decision to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Brown's efforts to secure a prestigious primetime slot for his keynote speech at the general assembly in New York were also thwarted when the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, delivered a 100-minute speech to the UN, massively running over Brown's 15 minute slot.

Brown had not only been seeking a bilateral meeting with Obama, but feelers were also sent out to hold a joint press conference, an event that would have boosted Brown's efforts to offer himself as a linchpin of international diplomacy. Government sources said that Britain even changed its policy on swine flu immunisation in Africa to match that of the Obama administration last week, in an attempt to rebuild relations.

No 10 denied there had been any hint of a snub, saying Obama and Brown had plenty of chances to talk as they sat next to one another at the summits. They insisted they were working closely on issues such as future economic regulation, bankers' bonuses, nuclear non-proliferation and climate change. Brown himself insisted: "I do say that the special relationship is strong, it continues to strengthen."

But Obama has held bilateral meetings in New York with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, and the new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama.

News of the five spurned approaches compounded a miserable day for Brown at home which saw a parliamentary aide resign over the prime minister's refusal to sack Lady Scotland, the attorney general, after she was fined £5,000 for employing an illegal immigrant, as well as a withering attack by the former home secretary Charles Clarke.

Stephen Hesford, Labour MP for Wirral West, told Brown in a resignation letter: "In my view, the facts of the case do not matter. It is the principle which counts, particularly at a time when the public's trust of Whitehall is uncertain to say the least. We have to be seen to be accountable."

Brown was also savaged by Charles Clarke, who told the Evening Standard that in his view Brown's leadership risked letting "the whole Labour ship crash on to the rocks of May 2010 [the expected date of the general election] and sink for a very long time". He said he hoped rumours that Brown would quit would come true. "I think his own dignity ought to look to that kind of solution."

In two interviews , Brown was forced for the first time to field questions about his health. "My sight is not at all deteriorating," he told NBC.

Asked on BBC Radio 5 Live whether he might quit for health reasons, the prime minister replied: "I am healthy and I am very fit. I run a lot to keep fit and I will continue to keep fit.

"I keep going. I have got a job to do. I have got work to do. We have got to meet this challenge."

In his own speech to the UN, Obama promised an end to the unilateralism marked by the previous Bush administration, an approach that saw US and Britain working in tandem. In remarks that suggest Obama will focus on broadening American alliances across the globe, he said: "The time has come for the world to move in a new direction … a new era of engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect."

Last week, the White House had unusually briefed that Obama had told Brown in a phone conversation that he disapproved of the release of the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds, something No 10 had not highlighted. Megrahi was released on the basis that he had three months to live, and then received a hero's welcome as he returned to Tripoli.

Brown had said he respected the release, but insisted undertakings by the Libyans that the return would be low-key had been broken.

In an attempt to distance himself from the Libyans, Brown moved to toughen his position against Colonel Gaddafi after Libya's leader theatrically tore up the UN charter in his address. Gaddafi said the security council should be renamed "the terror council".

Brown countered in his speech in New York later: "I am here to reaffirm the UN charter, not to tear it up. I call on everyone to support its universal principles."

He urged world leaders to recognise that the next six months presented tests on climate change and terrorism that were as huge as the banking crisis. On climate change he said: "If we miss this opportunity to protect our planet, we cannot hope for a second chance some time in the future. There will be no retrospective global agreement to undo the damage we have caused. This is the moment now to limit and reverse climate change we are inflicting on future generations."

He added: "If the poorest and most vulnerable are going to be able to adapt, if the emerging economies are going to embark on low-carbon development paths, if the forest nations are going to slow and stop deforestation, then the richer countries must contribute financially."

No 10 again denied that the prime minister had been snubbed last night. A spokesman said the stories were "without foundation. As we have said throughout the week, the prime minister and President Obama are having a number of meetings throughout the week. These included a wide-ranging discussion following last night's climate change dinner. They will also be co-chairing an important meeting on Thursday on Pakistan and the fight against terrorism. As the prime minister has already said, there will be further meetings at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh."

Secretary slams political 'trash talk'

2009-09-24T09:41:00Z

LaHood blames drop in civility on hosts of radio, cable shows

A Republican member of President Barack Obama's cabinet blistered conservative talk-radio hosts and cable-television news yesterday, saying they have eroded civility and impeded the nation's ability to solve big problems.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Dispatch that the level of "harsh discourse in Washington has probably reached an all-time high," and he partly blamed it on "all of this trash talk about the process and about politicians 24/7" on cable television and talk radio.

LaHood referred to criticism Obama received for appearing Sunday on five television news shows to promote his health-care overhaul. The secretary also indicated that even the president's bully pulpit is no match for the cacophony over the airwaves from the political right.

"He can't even compete with all this stuff that people are saying about him, so the idea that he did five interviews on Sunday, that's just minuscule compared to the kind of trash talk that goes on all week prior to that," LaHood said.

"All of this background, all of this trash talk in the background, it does not contribute to civil discourse, and it does not contribute to the government or the country's ability to solve big issues."

LaHood made his comments while in town to tout the benefits for Ohio of the federal economic-stimulus bill. LaHood, a former 14-year member of the U.S. House from Peoria, Ill., is one of two Republicans serving in Obama's cabinet. (Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the other.)

A moderate known for his ability to get along with both parties in Congress, LaHood was chosen to preside over the 1998 House impeachment vote of then-President Bill Clinton, and he voted to impeach.

LaHood is the second high-ranking Republican in the past dozen days to decry the influence of conservative talk-show hosts on civil political discourse.

On Sept. 11, retired longtime Ohio GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett told the state party's governing board that the party should stand up against "some of our talking heads" who led the opposition to Obama's televised speech to schoolchildren or risk "losing the battle with middle America."

Bennett singled out Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Yesterday, LaHood named them and Fox News commentator Sean Hannity for diminishing civility. In the rural central-Illinois congressional district LaHood used to represent, he said, Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity dominate the daytime airwaves.

"Now, when you get farmers picking their corn and beans, driving around in their (tractor) cabs listening to, from 9 to 3, these guys all revved up against Obama, against everything that he's trying to accomplish, that gets people stirred up. They're making an enormous amount of money by trashing politicians and trashing the process."

Referring to cable TV news shows, LaHood said, "Look, you know as well as I do that there's not enough news for 24 hours, so what happens is that these channels keep repeating politicians yelling at one another or people that are all exercised, and that gets people all revved up.

"And it also gives the idea that maybe these politicians don't know what they're doing."

Asked whether he envisions any changes in the media that might reverse the trend of incivility, LaHood replied, "In a word, no. Unless the people decide that the way, you know, (is) to shut it off, turn it off."

US Issues $7 Trillion Debt

2009-09-24T09:36:00Z

By Burton Frierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government will have issued $7 trillion in bonds by the time the current fiscal year ends next week, but it expects the debt deluge to stabilize by mid 2010, a Treasury official said on Wednesday.

Though markets and the economy are improving, efforts to provide a firm foundation for recovery will require increases to the U.S. Treasury's conventional bonds going forward, as well as debt securities that are indexed to inflation.

However, this expansion may take place in an environment where investors consider leaving the safe-haven Treasury market for riskier assets, and debt issuance is likely to level off mid next year, said Treasury Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets Karthik Ramanathan.

"In fiscal year 2009, which ends next week, Treasury will have issued $7 trillion in gross issuance -- that's in a 12-month period," Ramanathan told a financial markets conference in New York.

"This issuance was necessary to meet nearly $1.7 trillion in net marketable borrowing needs, nearly $1 trillion more than what we raised last year," he added.

DEMAND TO WANE

The heavily-indebted U.S. government has seen tremendous demand for Treasury debt securities this year due to a flight-to-quality into the safe haven assets.

However, Ramanathan said some of this demand would begin to taper off and investors were likely to favor other sectors as the financial markets recovery continues.

"Rather than being discouraged by this move to more risky assets we should actually be encouraged," he said. "It is the natural progression from the state we were in last year."

The collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank in September 2008 sparked the massive migration toward safe-haven assets, though the stock market has been in a remarkable rally since the spring.

Investors have also returned in numbers to the corporate debt market, which suffered during last year's turmoil.

There is still a long way to go toward market and economic stabilization but good progress is taking place, Ramanathan said, adding that officials were no longer focused "on LIBOR/OIS spreads on a daily or hourly basis."

"We still have a long way to go and...there are going to be bumps along the way, but at least we're seeing the signs of traction," he added.

The LIBOR/OIS spread is a market measure that reflects the difference between the cost of so-called risk-free borrowing, such as that done by the U.S. Treasury, and lending to the private sector, which is normally considered less safe.

LONGER MATURITIES?

When asked whether the Treasury would consider offering a longer maturity bond in the future, Ramanathan said, "We are content with our current suite of securities."

The Treasury's longest maturity is the 30-year bond.

However, issuance will increase in the near term, as has been the case all year.

"Going forward we expect to increase both nominal and inflation indexed coupon issuance incrementally and gradually over the next nine months to extend the average maturity of the debt," he said.

Due to structural changes in the budget deficit, Ramanathan said he expected the average maturity of the debt to stabilize at six to seven years, exceeding historic averages of five years.

However, he said he expected coupon debt securities, or the bonds Treasury issues, to stabilize next summer and potentially go down toward the end of next year.

School kids taught to praise Obama

2009-09-24T09:32:00Z

Good Morning Boomers! - On This Day September 22

2009-09-22T10:23:00Z

On This Day: September 22

Today is Tuesday, September 22, 2009. This is the 265th day of the year, with 100 days remaining in 2009.

Fact of the Day: submarine

The Submarine Force Museum in Groton is home of the historic ship Nautilus (SSN 571), the first nuclear-powered submarine, built there in 1954. It is the official submarine museum of the United States Navy.

Holidays

Laos: Ho Khao Slak.

Puerto Rico: Grito de Lares Day.

Events

1656 - First all-woman jury was empaneled in the American colonies, at Patuxent, Maryland.

1789 - U.S. Congress authorized the office of Postmaster-General.

1862 - President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation calling for all slaves within the rebel states to be freed on January 1, 1863.

1914 - German submarine, the U-9, sank three British cruisers, the Aboukir, the Hogue, and the Cressy, in just over one hour.

1921 - The Band-Aid was invented.

1945 - President Harry Truman accepted the U.S. Secretary of War's recommendation to call the war, World War II.

1947 - First automatic-pilot flight over the Atlantic Ocean was made.

1949 - Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

1950 - Omar N. Bradley was promoted to the rank of five-star general, in the U.S. Army.

1958 - Sherman Adams, assistant to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, resigned amid charges of improperly using his influence to help a businessman.

1959 - First telephone cable linking Europe and the United States was opened.

1961 - The Peace Corps was established by President John F. Kennedy when he signed the Congressional act.

1964 - "Fiddler on the Roof" opened on Broadway.

1969 - Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants became the first baseball player since Babe Ruth to hit 600 home runs.

1970 - President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill giving the District of Columbia representation in the U.S. Congress.

1975 - Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, the second assassination attempt on him in less than three weeks.

1976 - "Charlie's Angels" premiered on TV.

1980 - Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war.

1981 - The world's fastest train, the France TGV, took its inaugural run from Paris to Lyons.

1994 - "Friends" premiered on television.

Births

1515 - Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII.

1791 - Michael Faraday, British chemist/physicist and inventor of the dynamo, transformer, and electric motor.

1902 - John Houseman (Haussmann), American actor.

1929 - Tommy Lasorda, American professional baseball manager, coach, pitcher.

1987 - Tom Felton, actor, ("Harry Potter" movies) in Kensington, London, England.

Deaths

1776 - Captain Nathan Hale, American Revolutionary patriot, hanged by the British for spying.

1828 - Shaka, African ruler and founder of the Zulu Kingdom, murdered by his half-brother Dingane.

1989 - American songwriter and composer Irving Berlin.

2001 - Russian-born American violinist Isaac Stern.

2005 - Corky McMillin (born Macey L. McMillin Jr.) was a well-known off-road desert racer and land developer.

2007 - Marcel Marceau (born Marcel Mangel), renowned French mime.

U.S. Troops in Afghanistan

2009-09-22T10:18:00Z

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