More Than a Third of Americans Aren't Saving for Retirement

To contact us Click HERE

SEATTLE, Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Getting older may not be easy, but taking a back seat with your retirement plan could lead to a destiny that is more glum than golden. A new survey from Capital One ShareBuilder reveals that while a majority (54 percent) of Americans plan to retire by age 65, many (36 percent) are not actively contributing to a retirement plan, and more than a quarter (26 percent) are unsure how much they need to save. The survey of American pre-retirees found that while confidence in the ability to save for retirement has improved (with 33 percent claiming to be more confident than they were a year ago), nearly one in four (23 percent) are concerned they may never save enough to retire.(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121112/PH10741LOGO )"Now more than ever, it is important for Americans to take their retirement plans into their own hands to ensure they have an adequate nest egg," said Dan Greenshields, president of Capital One ShareBuilder, Inc. "While planning for a time that many see as a distant future can be a daunting task, people need to assess where they want and expect to be financially when they retire and take advantage of the various tools and resources available to plan for their financial future."Retirement Timing and Lifestyle: When and how do Americans plan to retire?

• More than half (54 percent) of Americans plan to retire by age 65, while 23 percent say they don't plan to ever fully retire.
• One in four (25 percent) Americans plan to work part-time during their retirement, and that percentage increases closer to retirement age, with 40 percent of Americans age 55-64 saying they'll work part-time.
• A third (33 percent) of Americans plan to maintain their current lifestyle, while 17 percent plan to make sacrifices and 11 percent plan to improve their lifestyle; 38 percent said they are unsure of what lifestyle they plan to lead.

Roadblocks to Retirement Savings: What's keeping Americans from saving?

• Paying for college tuition (20 percent), job loss (10 percent) and daily household bills (14 percent) are the top roadblocks for retirement savings, according to respondents.
• Only just over one third (37 percent) of Americans say nothing has impeded their ability to save for retirement.

"At any point in life, events can come up where even the best laid financial plans can be derailed," Greenshields said. "Having an adequate emergency or rainy day fund will help ease the financial burden of unexpected costs – and help keep you on track for retirement."The ING DIRECT Orange Savings Account, which can be directly linked to your ShareBuilder account, boasts features including automatic savings functionality and a My Savings Goals tool designed to help build a financial cushion, so you won't need to dip into or cease contributing to your retirement savings.Facing Retirement with an Arsenal of Tools:http://www.cnbc.com/id/100269511

Working Late, by Choice or Not

REPORT after report has made abundantly clear that job growth is weak, but there’s one wide swath of the population where employment growth is going gangbusters: older Americans.


A record 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older are working — double the number 15 years ago — partly because many older Americans love to work and partly because many feel too financially squeezed to retire.

With the value of many 401(k)’s and homes taking a beating during the recession and with energy and health care prices climbing, many who dreamed that retirementwas just around the corner have reluctantly kicked their retirement plans down the road.

While the overall number of Americans working has fallen by 4.4 million since the Great Recession began four and a half years ago — with many dropping out of the work force in frustration and some retiring early — the number of Americans 65 and older who are working has jumped by 1.4 million, a whopping 25 percent increase. Some work as doctors, some in retail, and some, with an entrepreneurial bent, start businesses in their 60s.

Americans are remaining healthier longer and living longer, making it easier to work past age 65. Moreover, it has grown easier for older Americans to continue working as the economy has shifted from physically taxing manufacturing jobs to less grueling service sector jobs.

In a survey done last year, the Society of Actuaries found that 55 percent of older Americans who continued working said they had done so to stay active and involved, while 51 percent said they had done so for additional income.

“One obvious reason people are working later is money,” said Steven A. Sass, program director at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research. “There’s a concern about what they have in their 401(k) and about Social Security.”

He said baby boomers were getting less than their parents did from Social Security because of the increase in the full retirement age — people cannot obtain full Social Security benefits until age 66, and for those born after 1957, the age will be 67. “Not only are they getting less from Social Security,” Mr. Sass said, “but many don’t have a pension that gives them a steady income after they retire.”

These factors help explain why 18.5 percent of Americans 65 and older remain in the labor force, up from 12.1 percent in 1995. Many have stayed in the work force past 60 because older Americans seem to be paying an ever-larger share of their incomes toward medical expenses and because many corporations have stopped providing health coverage to retirees, forcing many to work until Medicare is available at 65.

“Maybe people have recovered from the stock market plunge,” said Sara E. Rix, a senior policy adviser with the AARP Public Policy Institute. “But many people are still anxious about what may happen to the market, and that has caused many to delay retirement.”

Here are the stories of five Americans working well past age 65.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/business/retirementspecial/for-many-reasons-older-americans-remain-at-work.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

2013 Is Bernanke's Year: Unlimited QE And Total Control Of The Fed

To contact us Click HERE

Bernanke and several of his central bank colleagues around the world have unleashed a new era of monetary policy, marked by zero-bound nominal interest rates coupled with unprecedented and massive balance sheet expansion. In this post-financial crisis world, the Fed has taken a Keynesian edict and turned it on its head: instead of the government stepping in after a crisis to make up for the loss of aggregate demand from the private sector, it has fallen to central banks.

Through that process, the Federal Reserve has become the most important market participant, flooding markets with liquidity and owning more than a third of the Treasury market by the end of next year, according to Barclays’ economics team. The latest iteration of their asset purchases, or QE4, consists of $40 billion a month in RMBS purchases and $45 billion in unsterilized Treasury purchases, meaning the Fed’s balance sheet will grow at a rate of $85 billion until the Fed sees a substantial improvement in labor markets.

The Fed is set to turn even more bullish in 2013, as its natural rotation sees two centrists and Jeffery Lacker, head of the Richmond Fed and a lone dissenter in the FOMC, replaced. In their place will come Esther George of the Kansas City Fed (a moderate hawk, which means she’s mildly opposed to more accommodation) and James Bullard of the St. Louis Fed (who has the potential to be a dissenter, according to Barclays), along with ultra-doves Charles Evans and Eric Rosengren. Furthermore, Minneapolis Fed chief Narayana Kocherlakota, a former dissenter, has quietly moved to a more dovish stance, adding further support for the Chairman.

One can’t blame Bernanke for trying to spark growth in an economy that has struggled to get off the ground since the 2008 financial implosion. A divided government has created artificial threats like the fiscal cliff, while the fear of fiscal unsustainability has increased calls for austerity. After interest rates fell to zero, Bernanke and the FOMC pushed down longer-term rates through asset purchases. Flattening the yield curve, the Fed has sought to ease credit conditions. The intention is to help homeowners re-finance mortgages at lower rates, allow consumers cheaper financing to buy cars, and give firms favorable borrowing rates.

Bernanke’s low rates have effectively “helped housing and the auto industry,” according to Raymond James’ chief economist Scott Brown. Automakers like General Motors and Ford have seen sales recover, while homebuilders like KB Home and Lennar have been on a tear this year. But the Fed’s ultra-accommodative stance has been “a mixed bag for banks.” Major names like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have access to cheap money, but their lending margins end up being squeezed by a narrower spread between long- and short-term rates.

Detractors of the Fed have argued it has distorted market action. And indeed it has, interest rates have been at record lows for years, with yields on 10-year Treasuries hovering near all-time lows. The issue of the Fed’s exit strategy has been raised on several occasions, as observers note a balance sheet approximating $4 trillion (if asset purchases continue through all of 2013) has to be unwound at some point. Goldman Sachs’ research team estimates that economic growth will pick up in the second half of 2013, sparking a “gradual but steady rise in bond yields” that takes real rates on 10-year Treasuries to 2.2% by the end of 2016 and 3.75% by 2016.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/12/20/2013-is-bernankes-year-unlimited
-qe-and-total-control-of-the-fed/

Current TV Is Said Sold for $500 Million to Al Jazeera

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Current TV, the network co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, was sold for about $500 million to Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based cable-news channel, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.The proceeds represent an eightfold increase from the $60 million Gore and his partners paid for its predecessor in 2004, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the terms are private. Gore, chairman, and Joel Hyatt, a co-founder and chief executive officer, announced the sale today in a statement, without providing financial terms.“We are proud and pleased that Al Jazeera, the award- winning international news organization, has bought Current TV,” they said in the statement.Al Jazeera will replace existing shows with its own this year, according to a statement from the buyer. The move expands its U.S. footprint beyond the pay-TV providers that carry the programming. Current TV, a news and opinion channel, reaches almost 60 million U.S. homes. Al Jazeera’s English network was started in 2006 and reached 250 million households in 130 countries, according to its website.“Current Media was built based on a few key goals: To give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling,” Gore and Hyatt said in the statement. “Al Jazeera, like Current, believes that facts and truth lead to a better understanding of the world around us.”

Cash Flow

Stan Collender, a spokesman for Al Jazeera with Qorvis Communications LLC, said the company declined to comment on the price. He said Al Jazeera in the U.S. is carried by seven companies and reaches 4.7 million households.The new channel will be based in New York and will double Al Jazeera’s U.S. payroll to more than 300, according to the statement.Current TV generated operating cash flow of $16.3 million on revenue of $108 million last year, according to the media research firm SNL Kagan.The $500 million price “sounds high,” said Derek Baine, a cable analyst with SNL Kagan. “It’s a pretty risky deal for them.”The network’s investors included funds controlled by Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle and San Francisco money manager Richard Blum, according to a 2008 Securities and Exchange Commission filing when the company unsuccessfully sought to sell stock to the public. Blum is married to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from San Francisco.The owners introduced Current TV in 2005 after purchasing the network from Vivendi SA.

‘Agreement Terminated’

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/al-jazeera-news-network-acquires-current-tv-to-expand-in-u-s-.html

Here's How the Fed May Finally Lose Its Power

If the fiscal impasse in Washington is as big of a deal as it's made out to be, somebody forgot to tell investors.Sure, stocks and bonds have shown volatility in recent weeks as politicians bandy their various proposal back and forth.But equity gains for the year have largely held up and the CBOE Volatility Index, a popular gauge of market fear, is at a relatively somnabulant 20.Perhaps more importantly, the government's benchmark debt instrument, the 10-year Treasury, is yielding a paltry 1.74 percent - hardly a level reflecting panic in the streets.So what's to account for the general Wall Street apathy regarding the so-called "fiscal cliff"?You might have to thank all the money-printers at the Federal Reserve.That's the theory, at least from Mohamed El-Erian, co-CEO at the Pacific Investment Management Company, or PIMCO, which manages $1.92 trillion for clients.El-Erian, also the chair of the president's Global Development Council, said central banking largess is helping prevent a market meltdown. (Read More: 'New Normal': Low Growth, Few Jobs, El-Erian Says)Play VideoPimco's Bill Gross: Fearless 2013 ForecastsWeak performance for stocks and bonds, higher unemployment and roaring gold prices are in store for investors next year, PIMCO's Bill Gross says."A lot of investors have confidence in the Fed," he said during a morning appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "They respect the Fed. If you have an institution that has a printing press in the basement, you respect it."The Fed has willingly used itsbalance sheet to prop up the U.S. economy in the past, but has taken that to unprecedented levels in the past four years. It has created $2.9 trillion of money, using it to buy various government debt instruments - mostly Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities - in an attempt to push liquidity into the financial system.So that's a good thing, right?Maybe not."The Fed has been willing to do more and more and they don't seem to worry about the cost and unintended consequences of what they're doing," El-Erian said in what amounted to a fairly harsh assessment of the U.S. central bank's policies."They're just going forward," he continued. "At some point, however, the Fed is going to become ineffective in terms of what it can do both for markets and for the ultimate policy objectives."http://www.cnbc.com/id/100346542

More Than a Third of Americans Aren't Saving for Retirement

To contact us Click HERE

SEATTLE, Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Getting older may not be easy, but taking a back seat with your retirement plan could lead to a destiny that is more glum than golden. A new survey from Capital One ShareBuilder reveals that while a majority (54 percent) of Americans plan to retire by age 65, many (36 percent) are not actively contributing to a retirement plan, and more than a quarter (26 percent) are unsure how much they need to save. The survey of American pre-retirees found that while confidence in the ability to save for retirement has improved (with 33 percent claiming to be more confident than they were a year ago), nearly one in four (23 percent) are concerned they may never save enough to retire.(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121112/PH10741LOGO )"Now more than ever, it is important for Americans to take their retirement plans into their own hands to ensure they have an adequate nest egg," said Dan Greenshields, president of Capital One ShareBuilder, Inc. "While planning for a time that many see as a distant future can be a daunting task, people need to assess where they want and expect to be financially when they retire and take advantage of the various tools and resources available to plan for their financial future."Retirement Timing and Lifestyle: When and how do Americans plan to retire?

• More than half (54 percent) of Americans plan to retire by age 65, while 23 percent say they don't plan to ever fully retire.
• One in four (25 percent) Americans plan to work part-time during their retirement, and that percentage increases closer to retirement age, with 40 percent of Americans age 55-64 saying they'll work part-time.
• A third (33 percent) of Americans plan to maintain their current lifestyle, while 17 percent plan to make sacrifices and 11 percent plan to improve their lifestyle; 38 percent said they are unsure of what lifestyle they plan to lead.

Roadblocks to Retirement Savings: What's keeping Americans from saving?

• Paying for college tuition (20 percent), job loss (10 percent) and daily household bills (14 percent) are the top roadblocks for retirement savings, according to respondents.
• Only just over one third (37 percent) of Americans say nothing has impeded their ability to save for retirement.

"At any point in life, events can come up where even the best laid financial plans can be derailed," Greenshields said. "Having an adequate emergency or rainy day fund will help ease the financial burden of unexpected costs – and help keep you on track for retirement."The ING DIRECT Orange Savings Account, which can be directly linked to your ShareBuilder account, boasts features including automatic savings functionality and a My Savings Goals tool designed to help build a financial cushion, so you won't need to dip into or cease contributing to your retirement savings.Facing Retirement with an Arsenal of Tools:http://www.cnbc.com/id/100269511

Working Late, by Choice or Not

REPORT after report has made abundantly clear that job growth is weak, but there’s one wide swath of the population where employment growth is going gangbusters: older Americans.


A record 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older are working — double the number 15 years ago — partly because many older Americans love to work and partly because many feel too financially squeezed to retire.

With the value of many 401(k)’s and homes taking a beating during the recession and with energy and health care prices climbing, many who dreamed that retirementwas just around the corner have reluctantly kicked their retirement plans down the road.

While the overall number of Americans working has fallen by 4.4 million since the Great Recession began four and a half years ago — with many dropping out of the work force in frustration and some retiring early — the number of Americans 65 and older who are working has jumped by 1.4 million, a whopping 25 percent increase. Some work as doctors, some in retail, and some, with an entrepreneurial bent, start businesses in their 60s.

Americans are remaining healthier longer and living longer, making it easier to work past age 65. Moreover, it has grown easier for older Americans to continue working as the economy has shifted from physically taxing manufacturing jobs to less grueling service sector jobs.

In a survey done last year, the Society of Actuaries found that 55 percent of older Americans who continued working said they had done so to stay active and involved, while 51 percent said they had done so for additional income.

“One obvious reason people are working later is money,” said Steven A. Sass, program director at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research. “There’s a concern about what they have in their 401(k) and about Social Security.”

He said baby boomers were getting less than their parents did from Social Security because of the increase in the full retirement age — people cannot obtain full Social Security benefits until age 66, and for those born after 1957, the age will be 67. “Not only are they getting less from Social Security,” Mr. Sass said, “but many don’t have a pension that gives them a steady income after they retire.”

These factors help explain why 18.5 percent of Americans 65 and older remain in the labor force, up from 12.1 percent in 1995. Many have stayed in the work force past 60 because older Americans seem to be paying an ever-larger share of their incomes toward medical expenses and because many corporations have stopped providing health coverage to retirees, forcing many to work until Medicare is available at 65.

“Maybe people have recovered from the stock market plunge,” said Sara E. Rix, a senior policy adviser with the AARP Public Policy Institute. “But many people are still anxious about what may happen to the market, and that has caused many to delay retirement.”

Here are the stories of five Americans working well past age 65.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/business/retirementspecial/for-many-reasons-older-americans-remain-at-work.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

2013 Is Bernanke's Year: Unlimited QE And Total Control Of The Fed

To contact us Click HERE

Bernanke and several of his central bank colleagues around the world have unleashed a new era of monetary policy, marked by zero-bound nominal interest rates coupled with unprecedented and massive balance sheet expansion. In this post-financial crisis world, the Fed has taken a Keynesian edict and turned it on its head: instead of the government stepping in after a crisis to make up for the loss of aggregate demand from the private sector, it has fallen to central banks.

Through that process, the Federal Reserve has become the most important market participant, flooding markets with liquidity and owning more than a third of the Treasury market by the end of next year, according to Barclays’ economics team. The latest iteration of their asset purchases, or QE4, consists of $40 billion a month in RMBS purchases and $45 billion in unsterilized Treasury purchases, meaning the Fed’s balance sheet will grow at a rate of $85 billion until the Fed sees a substantial improvement in labor markets.

The Fed is set to turn even more bullish in 2013, as its natural rotation sees two centrists and Jeffery Lacker, head of the Richmond Fed and a lone dissenter in the FOMC, replaced. In their place will come Esther George of the Kansas City Fed (a moderate hawk, which means she’s mildly opposed to more accommodation) and James Bullard of the St. Louis Fed (who has the potential to be a dissenter, according to Barclays), along with ultra-doves Charles Evans and Eric Rosengren. Furthermore, Minneapolis Fed chief Narayana Kocherlakota, a former dissenter, has quietly moved to a more dovish stance, adding further support for the Chairman.

One can’t blame Bernanke for trying to spark growth in an economy that has struggled to get off the ground since the 2008 financial implosion. A divided government has created artificial threats like the fiscal cliff, while the fear of fiscal unsustainability has increased calls for austerity. After interest rates fell to zero, Bernanke and the FOMC pushed down longer-term rates through asset purchases. Flattening the yield curve, the Fed has sought to ease credit conditions. The intention is to help homeowners re-finance mortgages at lower rates, allow consumers cheaper financing to buy cars, and give firms favorable borrowing rates.

Bernanke’s low rates have effectively “helped housing and the auto industry,” according to Raymond James’ chief economist Scott Brown. Automakers like General Motors and Ford have seen sales recover, while homebuilders like KB Home and Lennar have been on a tear this year. But the Fed’s ultra-accommodative stance has been “a mixed bag for banks.” Major names like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have access to cheap money, but their lending margins end up being squeezed by a narrower spread between long- and short-term rates.

Detractors of the Fed have argued it has distorted market action. And indeed it has, interest rates have been at record lows for years, with yields on 10-year Treasuries hovering near all-time lows. The issue of the Fed’s exit strategy has been raised on several occasions, as observers note a balance sheet approximating $4 trillion (if asset purchases continue through all of 2013) has to be unwound at some point. Goldman Sachs’ research team estimates that economic growth will pick up in the second half of 2013, sparking a “gradual but steady rise in bond yields” that takes real rates on 10-year Treasuries to 2.2% by the end of 2016 and 3.75% by 2016.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/12/20/2013-is-bernankes-year-unlimited
-qe-and-total-control-of-the-fed/

Bigger Tax Bite for Most Under Senate Plan

To contact us Click HERE


WASHINGTON — Only the most affluent American households would pay higher income taxes this year under the terms of a deal that passed the Senate early Tuesday morning, but most households would face higher payroll taxes because the deal does not extend a two-year-old tax break.

The legislation, which still must overcome resistance exhibited on Tuesday by House Republicans, would grant most Americans an instant reversal of the income tax increases that took effect with the arrival of the new year. Only about 0.7 percent of households would be subject to an income tax increase this year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. The increases would apply almost exclusively to households making at least half a million dollars, the center estimated in an analysis published Tuesday.

But the Senate’s decision not to reverse a scheduled increase in the payroll tax that finances Social Security, while widely expected, still means that about 77 percent of households would pay a larger share of income to the federal government this year, according to the center’s analysis.

The tax this year would increase by two percentage points, to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent, on all earned income up to $113,700.

Indeed, for most lower- and middle-income households, the payroll tax increase would most likely equal or exceed the value of the income tax savings. A household earning $50,000 in 2013, roughly the national median, would avoid paying about $1,000 more in income taxes — but pay about $1,000 more in payroll taxes.

The timing and outcome of a House vote was unclear on Tuesday evening.

Sabrina Garcia, a 35-year-old accounting assistant from Quincy, Mass., who together with her husband made about $102,000 last year, said the payroll tax increase equated to “about $200 a month for my family.”

“That’s a lot of money for us,” Ms. Garcia said. “It means we will have to cut back.” She said in an e-mail exchange that she would most likely postpone buying a new computer. “And forget about being able to save money,” she added.

The deal would impose larger tax increases on those who make the most. It would raise taxes in two ways: by restoring limits on the amount of income affluent Americans can shelter from federal taxation, and by returning to a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent. The current rate is 35 percent.

For married couples filing jointly, the deduction limits apply to income above $300,000, while the top tax rate kicks in above $450,000. But both numbers are somewhat misleading, because “income” in this context is a technical term, referring only to the portion of income subject to taxation after exemptions and deductions.

Few households with actual incomes of less than half a million dollars would face a tax increase. The Tax Policy Center calculated that less than 5 percent of families earning $200,000 to $500,000 would actually pay more.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/business/economy/a-bigger-tax-bite-for-most-households-under-senate-plan.html?_r=0

The Emancipation of Abe Lincoln

ONE hundred and fifty years ago, on Jan. 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln presided over the annual White House New Year’s reception. Late that afternoon, he retired to his study to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. When he took up his pen, his hand was shaking from exhaustion. Briefly, he paused — “I do not want it to appear as if I hesitated,” he remarked. Then Lincoln affixed a firm signature to the document.
Like all great historical transformations, emancipation was a process, not a single event. It arose from many causes and was the work of many individuals. It began at the outset of the Civil War, when slaves sought refuge behind Union lines. It did not end until December 1865, with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which irrevocably abolished slavery throughout the nation.
But the Emancipation Proclamation was the crucial turning point in this story. In a sense, it embodied a double emancipation: for the slaves, since it ensured that if the Union emerged victorious, slavery would perish, and for Lincoln himself, for whom it marked the abandonment of his previous assumptions about how to abolish slavery and the role blacks would play in post-emancipation American life.

There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of Lincoln’s statement in 1864 that he had always believed slavery to be wrong. During the first two years of the Civil War, despite insisting that the conflict’s aim was preservation of the Union, he devoted considerable energy to a plan for ending slavery inherited from prewar years. Emancipation would be undertaken by state governments, with national financing. It would be gradual, owners would receive monetary compensation and emancipated slaves would be encouraged to find a homeland outside the United States — this last idea known as “colonization.”

Lincoln’s plan sought to win the cooperation of slave holders in ending slavery. As early as November 1861, he proposed it to political leaders in Delaware, one of the four border states (along with Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri) that remained in the Union. Delaware had only 1,800 slaves; the institution was peripheral to the state’s economy. But Lincoln found that even there, slave holders did not wish to surrender their human property. Nonetheless, for most of 1862, he avidly promoted his plan to the border states and any Confederates who might be interested.

Lincoln also took his proposal to black Americans. In August 1862, he met with a group of black leaders from Washington. He seemed to blame the presence of blacks in America for the conflict: “but for your race among us there could not be war.” He issued a powerful indictment of slavery — “the greatest wrong inflicted on any people” — but added that, because of racism, blacks would never achieve equality in America. “It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated,” he said. But most blacks refused to contemplate emigration from the land of their birth.

In the summer of 1862, a combination of events propelled Lincoln in a new direction. Slavery was disintegrating in parts of the South as thousands of slaves ran away to Union lines. With the war a stalemate, more Northerners found themselves agreeing with the abolitionists, who had insisted from the outset that slavery must become a target. Enthusiasm for enlistment was waning in the North. The Army had long refused to accept black volunteers, but the reservoir of black manpower could no longer be ignored. In response, Congress moved ahead of Lincoln, abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, authorizing the president to enroll blacks in the Army and freeing the slaves of pro-Confederate owners in areas under military control. Lincoln signed all these measures that summer.

The hallmark of Lincoln’s greatness was his combination of bedrock principle with open-mindedness and capacity for growth. That summer, with his preferred approach going nowhere, he moved in the direction of immediate emancipation. He first proposed this to his cabinet on July 22, but Secretary of State William H. Seward persuaded him to wait for a military victory, lest it seem an act of desperation.

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More Than a Third of Americans Aren't Saving for Retirement

To contact us Click HERE

SEATTLE, Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Getting older may not be easy, but taking a back seat with your retirement plan could lead to a destiny that is more glum than golden. A new survey from Capital One ShareBuilder reveals that while a majority (54 percent) of Americans plan to retire by age 65, many (36 percent) are not actively contributing to a retirement plan, and more than a quarter (26 percent) are unsure how much they need to save. The survey of American pre-retirees found that while confidence in the ability to save for retirement has improved (with 33 percent claiming to be more confident than they were a year ago), nearly one in four (23 percent) are concerned they may never save enough to retire.(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121112/PH10741LOGO )"Now more than ever, it is important for Americans to take their retirement plans into their own hands to ensure they have an adequate nest egg," said Dan Greenshields, president of Capital One ShareBuilder, Inc. "While planning for a time that many see as a distant future can be a daunting task, people need to assess where they want and expect to be financially when they retire and take advantage of the various tools and resources available to plan for their financial future."Retirement Timing and Lifestyle: When and how do Americans plan to retire?

• More than half (54 percent) of Americans plan to retire by age 65, while 23 percent say they don't plan to ever fully retire.
• One in four (25 percent) Americans plan to work part-time during their retirement, and that percentage increases closer to retirement age, with 40 percent of Americans age 55-64 saying they'll work part-time.
• A third (33 percent) of Americans plan to maintain their current lifestyle, while 17 percent plan to make sacrifices and 11 percent plan to improve their lifestyle; 38 percent said they are unsure of what lifestyle they plan to lead.

Roadblocks to Retirement Savings: What's keeping Americans from saving?

• Paying for college tuition (20 percent), job loss (10 percent) and daily household bills (14 percent) are the top roadblocks for retirement savings, according to respondents.
• Only just over one third (37 percent) of Americans say nothing has impeded their ability to save for retirement.

"At any point in life, events can come up where even the best laid financial plans can be derailed," Greenshields said. "Having an adequate emergency or rainy day fund will help ease the financial burden of unexpected costs – and help keep you on track for retirement."The ING DIRECT Orange Savings Account, which can be directly linked to your ShareBuilder account, boasts features including automatic savings functionality and a My Savings Goals tool designed to help build a financial cushion, so you won't need to dip into or cease contributing to your retirement savings.Facing Retirement with an Arsenal of Tools:http://www.cnbc.com/id/100269511

Working Late, by Choice or Not

REPORT after report has made abundantly clear that job growth is weak, but there’s one wide swath of the population where employment growth is going gangbusters: older Americans.


A record 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older are working — double the number 15 years ago — partly because many older Americans love to work and partly because many feel too financially squeezed to retire.

With the value of many 401(k)’s and homes taking a beating during the recession and with energy and health care prices climbing, many who dreamed that retirementwas just around the corner have reluctantly kicked their retirement plans down the road.

While the overall number of Americans working has fallen by 4.4 million since the Great Recession began four and a half years ago — with many dropping out of the work force in frustration and some retiring early — the number of Americans 65 and older who are working has jumped by 1.4 million, a whopping 25 percent increase. Some work as doctors, some in retail, and some, with an entrepreneurial bent, start businesses in their 60s.

Americans are remaining healthier longer and living longer, making it easier to work past age 65. Moreover, it has grown easier for older Americans to continue working as the economy has shifted from physically taxing manufacturing jobs to less grueling service sector jobs.

In a survey done last year, the Society of Actuaries found that 55 percent of older Americans who continued working said they had done so to stay active and involved, while 51 percent said they had done so for additional income.

“One obvious reason people are working later is money,” said Steven A. Sass, program director at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research. “There’s a concern about what they have in their 401(k) and about Social Security.”

He said baby boomers were getting less than their parents did from Social Security because of the increase in the full retirement age — people cannot obtain full Social Security benefits until age 66, and for those born after 1957, the age will be 67. “Not only are they getting less from Social Security,” Mr. Sass said, “but many don’t have a pension that gives them a steady income after they retire.”

These factors help explain why 18.5 percent of Americans 65 and older remain in the labor force, up from 12.1 percent in 1995. Many have stayed in the work force past 60 because older Americans seem to be paying an ever-larger share of their incomes toward medical expenses and because many corporations have stopped providing health coverage to retirees, forcing many to work until Medicare is available at 65.

“Maybe people have recovered from the stock market plunge,” said Sara E. Rix, a senior policy adviser with the AARP Public Policy Institute. “But many people are still anxious about what may happen to the market, and that has caused many to delay retirement.”

Here are the stories of five Americans working well past age 65.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/business/retirementspecial/for-many-reasons-older-americans-remain-at-work.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

2013 Is Bernanke's Year: Unlimited QE And Total Control Of The Fed

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Bernanke and several of his central bank colleagues around the world have unleashed a new era of monetary policy, marked by zero-bound nominal interest rates coupled with unprecedented and massive balance sheet expansion. In this post-financial crisis world, the Fed has taken a Keynesian edict and turned it on its head: instead of the government stepping in after a crisis to make up for the loss of aggregate demand from the private sector, it has fallen to central banks.

Through that process, the Federal Reserve has become the most important market participant, flooding markets with liquidity and owning more than a third of the Treasury market by the end of next year, according to Barclays’ economics team. The latest iteration of their asset purchases, or QE4, consists of $40 billion a month in RMBS purchases and $45 billion in unsterilized Treasury purchases, meaning the Fed’s balance sheet will grow at a rate of $85 billion until the Fed sees a substantial improvement in labor markets.

The Fed is set to turn even more bullish in 2013, as its natural rotation sees two centrists and Jeffery Lacker, head of the Richmond Fed and a lone dissenter in the FOMC, replaced. In their place will come Esther George of the Kansas City Fed (a moderate hawk, which means she’s mildly opposed to more accommodation) and James Bullard of the St. Louis Fed (who has the potential to be a dissenter, according to Barclays), along with ultra-doves Charles Evans and Eric Rosengren. Furthermore, Minneapolis Fed chief Narayana Kocherlakota, a former dissenter, has quietly moved to a more dovish stance, adding further support for the Chairman.

One can’t blame Bernanke for trying to spark growth in an economy that has struggled to get off the ground since the 2008 financial implosion. A divided government has created artificial threats like the fiscal cliff, while the fear of fiscal unsustainability has increased calls for austerity. After interest rates fell to zero, Bernanke and the FOMC pushed down longer-term rates through asset purchases. Flattening the yield curve, the Fed has sought to ease credit conditions. The intention is to help homeowners re-finance mortgages at lower rates, allow consumers cheaper financing to buy cars, and give firms favorable borrowing rates.

Bernanke’s low rates have effectively “helped housing and the auto industry,” according to Raymond James’ chief economist Scott Brown. Automakers like General Motors and Ford have seen sales recover, while homebuilders like KB Home and Lennar have been on a tear this year. But the Fed’s ultra-accommodative stance has been “a mixed bag for banks.” Major names like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have access to cheap money, but their lending margins end up being squeezed by a narrower spread between long- and short-term rates.

Detractors of the Fed have argued it has distorted market action. And indeed it has, interest rates have been at record lows for years, with yields on 10-year Treasuries hovering near all-time lows. The issue of the Fed’s exit strategy has been raised on several occasions, as observers note a balance sheet approximating $4 trillion (if asset purchases continue through all of 2013) has to be unwound at some point. Goldman Sachs’ research team estimates that economic growth will pick up in the second half of 2013, sparking a “gradual but steady rise in bond yields” that takes real rates on 10-year Treasuries to 2.2% by the end of 2016 and 3.75% by 2016.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/12/20/2013-is-bernankes-year-unlimited
-qe-and-total-control-of-the-fed/

Norquist Says Fiscal Cliff Fight Just the Beginning

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The man is a menace to Democracy. How can anything get done in Washington if he ties their hands?

Geithner Tells Congress U.S. Reaches Debt Limit

Of course we all believe what Turbo Timmy says. QB
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told Congress that the U.S. hit its statutory debt limit, necessitating emergency steps announced last week as a way to keep funding the government and avoid default.Geithner said he had issued a “debt issuance suspension period” for the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, effective today and to last until Feb. 28, 2013. The letter said the Treasury was taking similar action for the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.“Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions,” according to Geithner’s letter. It said the funds “will be made whole” after Congress increases the debt limit.Geithner said on Dec. 26 the department expected to hit the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling today, while various “extraordinary measures” he can take would create about $200 billion of “headroom” to avoid possible default.Asked whether the U.S. debt limit was reached, a Treasury official responded by e-mail: “As Secretary Geithner laid out last week, we will reach the statutory debt limit today.”

Debt Limit

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-31/geithner-tells-congress-u-s-reaches-debt-limit.html