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Amid Affordable Care Act’s problems, a reminder of computer-free times
Of course the Affordable Care Act is all screwed up. Computers are involved. Computers do everything for us. Couldn’t get anything done without them, right? So, how did we ever start Social Security and Medicare without computers, not to mention make them…
Reed lacks concern on Social Security
This is an open letter to Congressman Tom Reed on his letter proposing raising debt limit conditioned on changes to Social Security. Congressman Reed: We are stunned and dismayed that you recently signed a letter to Speaker John Boehner urging him…
Protect Your Retirement: Which Side of History Are You On?
“ It appears history is going to keep happening, despite our hopes for retirement.” – Gregory Maguire, Out of Oz.The question is: Will history keep repeating itself or are we writing a new page? Many in the financial industry believe we have…
Veterans Day Message: “Don’t Cut Veterans’ Benefits”
The Alliance continued holding events with coalition partners around Veterans Day this week, drawing attention to the fact that veterans’ benefits would be cut in multiple ways if the chained CPI cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) formula were to be adopted. The chained…
High Out-of-Pocket Social Costs are a Stealth Tax on the …
This is the third piece in a series looking at the fact that while Americans enjoy a lower overall tax burden than that of the citizens of other wealthy countries, we also pay four times as much as they do,…
Delaying Social Security Is the Best Inflation Hedge
Prospective and early retirees have a decision to make about when to begin Social Security benefits. They are eligible for a full benefit at normal retirement age, a reduced benefit for starting early, and can earn delayed retirement credits for…
It’s Medicare open enrollment time
Before reviewing options for next year’s Medicare coverage, it’s important to understand how Medicare fits with the Affordable Care Act often called Obamcare. With all the media attention focused on shoppers in the individual market and their troubles navigating the…
Social Security as a Civil Right
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. argued that the isolation experienced by people of color living “on a lonely island of poverty” is unjust in a nation blessed with a “vast ocean of material prosperity.” Fifty years later, the…
Public employees pay into Social Security
I respond to the Saturday letter “Public-pension folks escape duty to subsidize the poor” from Sam A. Chickerella Jr. He said he has been a financial planner for 30 years, and that “Only the public employees have pensions, and none…
Federal Compensation Cuts Could Save Billions
The government could save almost $280 billion during the next decade by paring the size of the federal workforce, spending less on federal pay raises and pensions, and adopting a more conservative inflation gauge to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for civilian…