Headlines
How Are Federal Dollars Divided Among States?
Benefits for Americans, chiefly Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, dominate the federal spending that gets transferred to states through grants, contracts and other programs. But among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, there are stark differences in how…
How Obama and Big Spending Republicans Made America the World’s #2 Economy
The news that, for the first time since Ulysses Simpson Grant was President, the United States was not the world’s top economy seemed to barely make a ripple in the establishment media, overshadowed by their obsessive coverage of riots in…
Congress nears vote on $1 trillion spending bill
Congress is quickly approaching a Thursday deadline to keep the government funded, but top lawmakers were prepared to approve a stopgap funding measure if necessary to buy lawmakers more time. “The federal government’s going to run out of money in…
Proposed Legislation Could Boost Benefits for Social Security Beneficiaries
Congressman John B. Larson (D-CT) recently put forward the Social Security 2100 Act, a bill which proposes to strengthen the trust fund and increase benefits for current and future beneficiaries. If passed, the bill would provide a roughly two percent…
7 Terrible Excuses Why We Don’t Save Enough for Retirement
It’s no secret that Americans are terrible savers . According to a survey that accompanied Bankrate ‘s November Financial Security Index and questioned people on their top financial priority, saving remains a relatively low priority for a good portion of…
The Possible Stealth Social Security Cut You Can’t Afford to Ignore
The long-term financial challenges that Social Security face have been well-publicized, with annual looks at the program’s financial condition predicting the exhaustion of the Social Security Trust Fund within the next 20 years or so. In response, policymakers have come…
How Washington made itself irrelevant
Now that the midterms are behind us, let’s have an honest assessment of what’s really happening in our nation’s capital: The federal government’s power is diminishing. Washington is becoming less effective at addressing many of our nation’s problems and less…
This Letter Can Be Worth $1 Million
This fall the Social Security Administration began mailing out benefit statements for the first time since 2011. It’s crucial information, especially if you’re poised to move to your beach condo in Boca soon. “For many upper-middle-class couples, those benefits can…
Medicare deadline is Sunday
Only a few days remain for Medicare enrollees to make choices about their benefits for next year. Sunday, Dec. 7, is the last day of Medicare’s annual open enrollment period, when decisions can be made about health and prescription coverage…
Your Social Security number was stolen — Now what?
According to the Federal Trade Commission, more than 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year; and, with advancements in banking and web technology, that number is growing. Identity theft is a pervasive and continuous event, when thieves or…