Social Security News 7-20-12

The Atlantic (NAT)

Roberts' Real Long Game?

7-20-12

Einer Elhauge

By upholding Obamacare, the Chief Justice has given Republicans a legal framework to support privatizing Social Security and Medicare.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/roberts-real-long-game/260080/

AlterNet (Blog)

The Elites Are Unanimous: Lower Everyone's Wages and Standard of Living -- Except They Don't Say it Out Loud

7-19-12

Staff

Calls for a bipartisan “Grand Bargain” on taxes and spending for the next decade ring out daily, if not hourly, from the politicians and pundits who dominate our political media. But the national discourse is silent on the tacit agreement both parties have already made on the future that lies ahead for the majority of working Americans: a dramatic drop in their living standards.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/156219/the_elites_are_unanimous%3A_lower_everyone%27s_wages_and_standard_of_living_--_except_they_don%27t_say_it_out_loud/

 

NPR (NAT)

Public Pensions Are About To Look Less Healthy

7-20-12

Staff

The health of public pension plans — the retirement plans for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other state and local governments — has gotten plenty of attention lately.

Some plans are hurting, and numbers from state and local governments suggest their public pension plans are underfunded by about $1 trillion.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/20/157060335/public-pensions-are-about-to-look-less-healthy

 

MSNBC (NAT)

First Thoughts: Here comes Medicare

7-19-12

Staff

And on President Obama’s views about business. And today when Obama begins a two-day swing through the crucial state of Florida -- with all of its seniors -- he’ll introduce another attack: hitting Romney on Medicare and the Ryan budget. Per the campaign, the president “will discuss his commitment to strengthening Medicare, and a new report tomorrow that highlights the devastating impact Mitt Romney's Medicare plan could have on the 3.4 million Floridians that rely on Medicare.” Bottom line, per the campaign’s guidance: Obama will argue that Romney -- through his support for the Ryan budget plan -- advocates ending Medicare “as we know it.”

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/19/12832029-first-thoughts-here-comes-medicare

 

The Hill (DC)

Senate Dems growing cool to extending payroll tax holiday

7-19-12

Alexander Bolton

The emerging consensus in the Senate Democratic Conference is that the payroll tax holiday should not be extended for another year, even though the economy is slowing.

While job creation has fallen below 100,000 new jobs a month for the past three months, Democrats are worried about the impact on Social Security.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/239111-senate-democrats-not-in-favor-of-extending-payroll-tax-holiday-because-of-social-security-concerns

 

Deseret News (AZ)

800 Social Security numbers of BYU students potentially leaked

7-20-12

Erin Hong

About 800 Social Security numbers and other personal information were potentially leaked Brigham Young University authorities, according to The Universe, the school's newspaper.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865559300/800-Social-Security-numbers-of-BYU-students-leaked.html?pg=all

 

Las Vegas Sun (NV)

Parties don’t seem to deserve support

7-20-12

Michael K. Casler

The Republican Party refuses to end the Bush tax cuts or raise taxes on anyone. They not only won’t cut military spending, they want to increase it. They say they want to cut other government spending, but the vast majority of spending they want to cut comes from Social Security and Medicare.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jul/20/parties-dont-seem-deserve-support/

 

CNN Money (NAT)

Buy a dead person's identity from Social Security for $10

7-20-12

Blake Ellis

For $10, identity thieves can access the full name, Social Security number and other personal information of a dead person through a list of millions of deceased Americans, known as the Death Master File.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/18/pf/identity-theft-deceased/

 

Federal Times (NAT)

Social Security quarters

7-20-12

Staff

I am married, and I have retired from the Postal Service with 35 years of service under the CSRS. I have 33 credits of Social Security. If I go back to work and earn seven more credits for SS, will I be able to collect SS when I reach my FRA of 66? And does my wife’s SS come into play anyway?

http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-retirement/2012/07/20/social-security-quarters/

 

Daily Finance (Blog)

Will Gap Help You Retire Rich?

7-20-12

Dan Caplinger,

With decades to go before you need to tap your investments, you can take greater risks, weighing the chance of big losses against the potential for mind-blowing returns. But as retirement approaches, you no longer have the luxury of waiting out a downturn.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/07/20/will-gap-help-you-retire-rich/

 

Politics

 

New York Times (NAT)

12 Killed in Shooting at Colorado Theater

7-20-12

Dan Frosch, William K. Rashbaum, Timothy Willions and Michael S. Schmidt

A gunman dressed head-to-toe in body armor and brandishing three weapons, including an assault rifle and a shotgun, opened fire in a theater crowded with families and children at a midnight showing of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in a Denver suburb early Friday morning, killing at least 12 people and wounding at least 59, police and federal officials said. The suspect, James Holmes, 24, told the police after his arrest that he had booby-trapped his Aurora apartment with explosive devices, leading the police to evacuate five buildings in the neighborhood.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/colorado-mall-shooting.html?hp&gwh=1098F8E3E94DDC23E718194B91FB6289

 

Politico (DC)

Campaigns pause after shootings

7-20-12

Reid J. Epstein and Darren Samuelsohn

President Barack Obama on Friday called the Colorado movie theater shooting “senseless” and said his administration “stands ready to do whatever is necessary to bring whoever is responsible for this heinous crime to justice.”

“We may never understand what leads anybody to terrorize their fellow human beings like this,” he said. “Such violence, such evil, is senseless. It’s beyond reason.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78761.html

 

Politico (DC)

Colorado shooting: Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly 'horrified'

7-20-12

Kevin Robillard

Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, said he and his wife were “horrified” by the mass murder shooting early Friday in Aurora, Colo.

“Gabby and I were horrified to hear of the tragedy in Colorado last night,” Kelly tweeted. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78774.html

 

Associated Press (NAT)

Colorado shooting: Pentagon says military members killed or wounded

7-20-12

Staff

The Pentagon says that some members of the military were either killed or wounded in the Colorado shooting at the Batman movie.

Pentagon press secretary George Little says that it's not yet clear how many military casualties there were, or specifically whether they were killed or injured.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78764.html#ixzz21BslVRqC

 

Economic Policy Institute

Treading water

7-20-12

Doug Hall

Today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics release of state-level employment and unemployment data shows that June employment trends continued the troubling trends seen in the May data. The “treading water” metaphor applied to the overall national trends is also appropriate at the state level, though some states show signs of dipping below the water line in recent months. The number of states experiencing job loss in the preceding three-month period (March 2012 to June 2012) has increased to 19 (plus the District of Columbia), up from 16 in May.

http://www.epi.org/publication/treading-water-states-risk/

 

New York Times (NAT)

A Hunt for Split-Ticket Voters in a Tight Virginia Senate Race

7-19-12

Jonathan Weisman

“Obama is scary. He’s a Muslim,” Ms. Trent said matter-of-factly, but incorrectly, outside the small law firm here where she works as a secretary. On the other hand, she said she could never vote for Mitt Romney. “He doesn’t know what poor is — or the struggling middle class, which is what we are around here.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/us/politics/in-tight-virginia-senate-race-seeking-every-edge.html?ref=us&gwh=9C82ADA78E75A3B6F872D69D213399AB

 

Washington Post (NAT)

GSA spent more than $270,000 to entertain employees who got performance awards

7-19-12

Lisa Rein

Four weeks after an $823,000 spending spree at a Las Vegas hotel, the General Services Administration spent more than $270,000 on a one-day, taxpayer-funded ceremony to reward good performers that featured a drum-band exercise and more than $50,000 in gifts and awards.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gsa-spent-more-than-270000-to-entertain-employees-who-got-performance-awards/2012/07/19/gJQAH5vowW_story.html

 

The Washington Post (NAT)

Nevada’s housing crisis leaves Obama vulnerable

7-20-12

Michael A. Fletcher

President Obama has rolled out programs that the administration says have touched thousands of homeowners in Nevada and more than 5 million nationally, but yet have failed to reverse the sharp decline in housing values.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said government should get out of the way and allow prices to collapse so the housing market can move more quickly to recovery.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/nevadas-housing-crisis-leaves-obama-vulnerable/2012/07/19/gJQAhaytxW_story.html