Baby Boomers Hit Retirement Age

By Courtney Costello- Talk Radio News Service

Volunteers of America hosted a discussion today on the baby boomer generation’s affect on the future of health care and Social Security.

America is at a turning point, where the oldest baby boomers will be 65 in the next two years. By 2030 there will be an estimated 71 million seniors in comparison to the current 37 million seniors, said Donna Brazile, Democratic political strategist and moderator at the discussion.

Baby Boomers were born between the years 1946 to 1964 and it is estimated that there were 77 million babies born within these years.
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Said Brazile, “We have to re-think the way that we deliver care for our nation’s older Americans in the future.”

Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader, said, “Clearly cost is an issue that we have to address...we also need to bring everyone under the system resulting in coverage for all... many Americans are underinsured [and] 48% of the people who have insurance don’t have the care they need today.”

Today, one of the biggest health concerns for seniors in this country is Alzheimer’s, and with more research, more positive outcomes can be expected.

“If you could imagine a world without Alzheimer's by 2030, you have changed for probably half the baby boomers the trajectory of their life, and you have changed for their children a great deal of the trajectory of their lives,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

On the issue of the future of Social Security, author and anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson said, “trust in the system is urgent to reassure people that social security will be there.”

“The earlier we find a way to migrate towards some kind of compound [social security] interest model, where you know what you have invested, and you get back the compound interest effect for 50-55 years of work...remember people will work longer in the next generation, not shorter.” said Gingrich.

85 % of Americans expect long term care to be a part of health care reform... It requires Presidential leadership, said the panel.

The Clock Is Ticking For U.S. Social Security

By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

The recent release of the Social Security Board of Trustees report illuminated the dire straits that these two bastions of liberal democracy, Medicare and Social Security, are in, as they are to run out of money much sooner than expected.

“This year’s trust Social Security Report projects that the Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2037, four years earlier than the Trustees report last year,” said Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner at a press conference, in which he addressed the future of this program.

But these two entitlement programs will be consuming a disproportionately large amount America’s GDP in the near future, and need to be reformed now to stave off their demise, according to the report.

The main problem with these programs is that they are too expensive and will consume a disproportionately large part of America’s GDP.

“Medicare’s annual costs were 3.2 percent of GDP in 2008, or nearly three-quarters of Social Security’s,” said Geithner, “but are projected to surpass Social Security expenditures in 2028 and to reach 11.4 percent of GDP in 2083, compared with 5.9 percent of Social Security.”

As a result, Geithner stated that “the sooner action is taken the more options for reform will be available and the fairer reforms will be to our children and grandchildren.”

Some of the steps Geithner proposed involved lessening healthcare costs, which President Obama recently did by negotiating a $2 trillion reduction in costs, rehabilitating the economy so that more taxes can be placed into the fund, and to reform Social Security in a "responsible and bipartisan" manner.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius echoed Geithner’s need for reform. “The (Social Security Trustees) report was not a government report, but a wake up call,” said Sebelius.

Sebelius bluntly stated that the Medicare fund is spending more than it takes in, and uses assets accrued in the past to make-up the difference, but all of these excess assets will be exhausted by 2017.

Both Geithner and Sebelius stressed that reform of these two entitlement program need reform, and that the Obama Administration is dedicated to making this important change.

“Reform cannot wait,” said Sebelius.
But this change cannot come soon enough for Social Security and Medicare because the longer it takes for change, the more radically different the form will take, according to Geithner.

Obama Wants You to Go Back to School

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama
Photo by Michael Ruhl

Today President Barack Obama announced a new effort to stimulate tomorrow’s economy by reviving higher education through expanding Pell Grants and removing barriers to success. The public face for his new initiative is to be Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice-President Joe Biden and Community College Professor.

Obama’s plan, detailed at opportunity.gov, would help the unemployed go back to school to build new skill sets, with the goal of helping them gain future employment through specialized technical training.

“The idea here is to fundamentally change our approach to unemployment in this country, so that it’s no longer just a time to look for a new job, but is also a time to prepare yourself for a better job,” Obama said. “Our unemployment system should be not just a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future.”

Among the barriers to success that the President wants to break down are state programs in which a worker might lose temporary financial support if they were to enroll in an education program. Obama said that in some places a worker may be unemployed, but may not qualify for federal assistance to get an education because of the salary they had a year ago but no longer make. The President said that he is committed to working with states to change these laws.

The President said that knowledge is the most valuable skill that one can sell. He encouraged all Americans to aim for getting at least 1 year of higher education, whether it is a community college, a four year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship.

“By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world,” Obama said optimistically.

This announcement came on the same day as the release of April’s unemployment statistics, which saw the loss of more than half a million jobs. The unemployment rate for April was 8.9 percent, up from 8.5 percent in March and 8.1 percent in February. April's numbers have already surpassed both the White House's and the Federal Reserve's projections for all of 2009, which were 8.1 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively.

Acknowledging that unemployment is as its highest rate in 25 years, the President urged patience, reminding us that the economic problems didn’t happen overnight, and couldn’t be fixed immediately.

“We’re still in the midst of a recession that was years in the making and will be months or even years in the unmaking,” Obama said. He continued, “We should expect further job losses in the months to come.”

Obama said that the Economic Stimulus Package is yielding real results, manifest in higher consumer spending and home sales, and an increase in construction spending. He praised the Recovery Act, and said, “Because of this plan, cops are still on the beat and teachers are still in the classroom; shovels are breaking ground and cranes dot the sky; and new life has been breathed into private companies.”

Fixing the economy and reforming education are two goals Obama has set for his administration. He said that in the weeks to come he would start working towards more education initiatives.

Will Social Security suffer under an Obama-Biden administration?

The McCain-Palin campaign says the Obama-Biden campaign’s tax plan will have a downward effect on Social Security solvency by giving Americans credit for their payroll tax liability. The campaign’s Senior Policy Adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin said the Obama campaign plans to relieve Americans of payroll taxes, and by doing would “rob Social Security indirectly,” because payroll taxes finance social security, as well as medicare.

Former U.S. Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) said, “The rhetoric and record of Barack Obama clearly supports higher taxes and more spending...At a time of financial crisis that we’re all going through right now, the idea of raising taxes is counter to what virtually every economist who has ever written, or studied, or analyzed the situation would recommend. You don’t raise taxes in a fiscal downturn”. Holtz-Eakin explained that the impact of raising taxes hurts small businesses first, who generate “80 to 90 percent of new jobs in America.”

Former Senator Coats added that another one of the main differences between the McCain-Palin campaign and the Obama-Biden campaign is that McCain supports the use of coal in the mid-west, where Coats says there are abundant coal resources and new clean coal technologies.

Tattered cake, rainbow leis mark Social Security's 73rd birthday

"You cannot make a program that works for everyone only work for some Americans", said Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). She attended a protest, which was held outside of the Republican National Headquarters in Washington D.C, to celebrate Social Security's 73rd birthday.

Protesters were greeted by Republican National Headquarters employees handing out rainbow leis, referencing Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) decision to vacation in Hawaii in the thick of campaign season. Protesters rallied across from the headquarters until greeted by Norton, who led them across the street where she gave a short speech blasting Sen. John McCain's strategy to privatize Social Security. Afterwards, she joined the crowd in signing "Happy Birthday", and cut a tattered cake that was filled with holes to represent what the protesters feel are holes in Social Security's coverage.

Washington D.C.'s Shadow Senator Paul Strauss attended the protest as well, attempting in vain to deliver a birthday card signed by protesters to the Republican Headquarters. However, he was met with locked doors and security guards. The senator also caused several interns and other employees to run away as they made their way to the locked doors when he tried to pass the card to them. After several attempts, Strauss accepted defeat, saying "well at least there's more cake for us!"