NewsTrust - Seniors - Most Recent Stories

Meet the Senate's Powerful and Progressive Policy Wonk, Ron Wyden

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Joe Conason - May. 21 (Special Report) - Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden has established a reputation as one of the Senate's more serious and diligent members. Over the years on Capitol Hill, he has watched the Republican Party veer constantly further rightward, and yet he continues to believe against all evidence that bipartisan legislative cooperation is possible -- even likely.

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How the US Turned Three Pacifists Into 'Multiple Felony Saboteurs'

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Fran Quigley - May. 19 (News Report) - In just ten months, the United States managed to transform an 82 year-old Catholic nun and two pacifists from non-violent anti-nuclear peace protestors accused of misdemeanor trespassing into federal felons convicted of violent crimes of terrorism. Now in jail awaiting sentencing for their acts at an Oak Ridge, TN nuclear weapons production facility, their story should chill every person concerned about dissent in the US.

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Your Retirement for a Bottle of Champagne: How Wall Street Fraudsters Ripped You Off, Again

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lynn Stuart Parramore - May. 07 (Special Report) - LIBOR was, in the opinion of many, the con of the century. But is it a crime without punishment? About a month ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that a federal court judge had let several banks off the hook, dismissing claims that 16 banks targeted by lawsuits had broken federal antitrust laws by rigging LIBOR. As Matt Taibbi explained in his must-read article on the banking scandal, the federal judge bought the banks’ ridiculous blame-the-victim story that if cities and towns and other investors lost money over LIBOR rigging, it was their own fault.

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Washington's Backward Retirement Policy: So Wrong, and Yet So Easy to Fix

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By - James Kwak - Apr. 30 (Opinion) - money is being wasted on tax subsidies for "private" retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs. In 2012, these subsidies added up to $199 billion, or about 1.3 percent of GDP.

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Cutting Social Security on PBS–From Left to Right

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

FAIR - By Peter Hart - Apr. 20 (Comment) - Even on PBS, the left and right agree that cutting Social Security is brave; I guess that makes the public a bunch of wimps.

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Sanders to Obama: Don't Touch Social Security

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Olivier Knox - Apr. 05 (News Report) - "Millions of working people, seniors, disabled veterans, those who have lost a loved one in combat, and women will be extremely disappointed if President Obama caves into the long standing Republican effort to cut Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans and their survivors through a so-called chained CPI,"

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Where Does It Say the Supreme Court Has the Constitutional Power to Hike Medicine Prices to 5x Their Cost?

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Davi Dayen - Mar. 30 (News Report) - it’s another case heard this week that will affect even more people over the course of their lifetimes. And it could cost Americans millions in prescription drug bills. The case falls within a sadly predictable continuum for the Roberts Court, which virtually always sides with the corporate litigant over the government or individual. This time, the arguments in FTC v. Actavis revolve around an insidious tactic common to the nation’s largest drug companies, and known as “pay for delay.” As a result of the likely ruling in this case , drug companies will be able to charge consumers as much as five times the potential cost of their products. And both government regulators and consumers will watch helplessly as pharmaceutical companies bribe generic drug makers to retain their exclusive holds on the lifesaving medicines we all inevitably require.

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Paying People to Play Video Games

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Robert Farley - Feb. 23 (Fact Check) - House Speaker John Boehner tweets that the Obama administration is spending $1.2 million “paying people to play video games.” That’s misleading. The government did pay $1.2 million for university research that includes the study of how video games can stimulate the cognitive abilities of seniors. A fraction of that cost went to compensate seniors who participated in the study, researchers say.

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Since Alan Simpson has the President on the Defensive, House Dems Must Hold the Line

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

nationofchange.org - By Richard (RJ) Eskow - Feb. 21 (Opinion) - Alan Simpson, along with Erskine Bowles, represents a well-funded cadre of spokespeople who are only willing to present a narrow band of corporate- and billionaire-friendly economic policies. There’s just one approach in their world, one which Simpson and Bowles reiterated just this week: Medicare and Social Security benefit cuts for seniors and the disabled and the gutting of middle-class tax breaks, paired with further tax reductionsfor corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

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Fiscal trouble ahead for most future retirees

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Michael A. Fletcher - Feb. 17 (Special Report) - For the first time since the New Deal, a majority of Americans are headed toward a retirement in which they will be financially worse off than their parents, jeopardizing a long era of improved living standards for the nation’s elderly, according to a growing consensus of new research. Read full article >>

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Americans Make Hard Choices on Social Security, Prefer to Raise Payroll Taxes and Increase Benefits

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Reuters - Jan. 31 (Press Release) - Large majorities of Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, agree on ways to strengthen Social Security - without cutting benefits. Fully 74% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats agree that "it is critical to preserve Social Security even if it means increasing Social Security taxes paid by working Americans."

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Twinkie CEO Admits Company Took Employees Pensions and Put It Toward Executive Pay

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Thom Hartmann - Dec. 12 (News Report) - Hostess’ CEO, Gregory Rayburn, essentially admitted that his company stole employee pension money and put it toward CEO and senior executive pay (aka “operations”). While this isn't technically illegal, it's another sleazy theft by Hostess executives - who've paid themselves handsomely while running their company into the ground. Just last month, a judge agreed to let Hostess executives suck another $1.8 million out of the bankrupt company to pay bonuses to CEOs.

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What You Need to Know About Obama and the Social Security Sell-Out

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lynn Parramore - Oct. 05 (News Analysis) - Watching Wednesday night’s presidential debate, you’d have to be a crack political code reader to know what Obama was really saying about Social Security. It was quick. It was subtle. But it was one of the most telling moments of the debate. Obama could

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The math on Romney's tax claim doesn't tell whole story

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

seattletimes.com - Sep. 19 (News Analysis) - "So it's not that they're not paying any taxes," Williams said. "It's just that they're not paying federal income taxes." The reason, he said, is that more than 38 million, or roughly half of the 76 million households that paid no income taxes last year, simply didn't earn enough to have a tax liability under the current tax code. In a July 2011 blog post, Williams cited as an example a married couple with two children who earn less than $26,400. "Their $11,600 standard deduction and four exemptions of $3,700 each reduce their taxable income to zero," he wrote.

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77 Years After FDR Signs Social Security, VP Pick Paul Ryan Pushes Dismantling the Social Safety Net

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, eric Laursen, Heather McGhee - Aug. 15 (News Analysis) - Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney’s newly picked running mate, Paul Ryan, is on the forefront of efforts to dismantle Social Security by putting seniors’ savings into risky Wall Street investments. Over the years, Ryan has not only pushed for privatizing Social Security, but also dismantling Medicare and slashing funding for Medicaid.

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6 Ways Big Banks Screwed Grandma in the Price-Fixing Scandal That's Rocking the World

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Alexander Arapoglou , Jerri-Lynn Scofield - Jul. 26 (Investigative Report) - Who lost out, big time, from fixing these rates? Grandma, that’s who! The multiyear pattern of setting LIBOR too low screwed her in six ways. Her finances will almost certainly never recover from the experience. And, needless to say, she never asked for it.

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Salaried GM retirees hit with 'grueling' pension changes

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700

gazettextra.com - By Jim Leute - Jun. 22 (News Report) - A GM retirement group, however, is even more dramatic in its assessment of the changes, saying the automaker is "throwing its retirees under the bus and renouncing its promises to its most loyal former employees."

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Raise Social Security, Medicare benefits to protect elderly

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Hartford Courant - By Richard E. Ratcliff, Kathryn Strother Ratcliff - Jun. 08 (Opinion) - The current debates over cutting Social Security and Medicare are off the mark. Instead of cutting, we should be expanding these programs. An immediate need is for a substantial increase in Social Security benefits to provide enough income to allow seniors to live in dignity and to fulfill our national commitment of financial security for older Americans.

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Aging makes people more vulnerable to depression, but the problem can be treated - The Washington Post

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - Apr. 11 (News) -

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AARP Plans Secret ‘Salon’ With Social Security Opponents

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Ryan Grim - Mar. 17 (News Report) - An AARP invitation to a secret "Relaxed and Robust Evening of 'Salon Style' Conversation" to be held at a Capitol Hill home on March 27, obtained by The Huffington Post, indicates that the organization is still very much interested in a "grand-bargain" style deal that puts Social Security and Medicare cuts on the table.

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Signs Your Pension Plan Is in Trouble

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

finance.yahoo.com - By Ellen Schultz - Feb. 13 (Special Report) - Your pension plan might be fat and happy, but if another company takes over your employer—and your pension—it can legally use the assets in your plan to top off an underfunded plan of its own. This strategy, though legal, is one of the quickest ways for your pension to go from healthy to distressed.

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Sen. Scott Brown says no to GOP Medicare plan

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

USA Today - By Catalina Camia - May. 23 (News Report) - In what could be a boost to Democrats, GOP Sen. Scott Brown said Monday he will vote against a controversial Republican plan to revamp the popular Medicare program for seniors.

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On way out, Chicago Mayor Daley designates former anti-gay police station as home for low-income LGBT seniors

Fri, 13 May 2011 14:46:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Sofia Resnick - May. 13 - New studies linking hormonal-contraceptive use to changes in women’s chemical reactions to their romantic partners have been repackaged by the news service of anti-abortion rights marketing group Heroic Media — Heroic News — as findings that women who us

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Alan Simpson Attacks AARP, Says Social Security Is 'Not A Retirement Program' (VIDEO)

Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Ryan Grim - May. 09 (News Report) - Alan Simpson’s cold relationship with AARP is no secret, but the former Republican Senator from Wyoming took it to a new level Friday. At an event hosted by the Investment Company Institute, Simpson delighted the finance industry audience members by aiming a rude gesture at the leading lobby for senior citizens.

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Sic Seniors on GOP

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

populist.com - May. 05 (Editorial) - House Republicans voted April 15 to turn Medicare into a voucher program that would deny seniors the guaranteed benefits that have made it a lifeline for older Americans. House Budget Czar Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) plans to use the money saved by Medicare cuts to pay for further tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.

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