FILE - In this combination of July 11, 2013, file images from Senate Television Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., top, and Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speak on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats threatened to change Senate rules unilaterally if Republicans block yes-or-no votes on several of President Barack Obama?s top-level nominees. Reid accused Republicans of trying to deny Obama the right to have his team in place, and accused McConnell of failing to live up to his commitments to allow votes on all nominees, except under extraordinary circumstances. Moments later, McConnell said Reid was misquoting him and at the same time failing to honor his word not to change the rules of the Senate unilaterally. (AP Photo/Senate TV, Files)
FILE - In this combination of July 11, 2013, file images from Senate Television Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., top, and Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speak on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats threatened to change Senate rules unilaterally if Republicans block yes-or-no votes on several of President Barack Obama?s top-level nominees. Reid accused Republicans of trying to deny Obama the right to have his team in place, and accused McConnell of failing to live up to his commitments to allow votes on all nominees, except under extraordinary circumstances. Moments later, McConnell said Reid was misquoting him and at the same time failing to honor his word not to change the rules of the Senate unilaterally. (AP Photo/Senate TV, Files)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid is driving his chamber toward rule changes that would help President Barack Obama win confirmation for some of his nominees for posts overseeing workers' and consumers' rights. But the changes might strip future senators of their prized ability to delay action.
Reid, D-Nev., planned to continue his push to let nominees win approval with a simple majority of senators' backing instead of the 60-vote threshold that has stalled many nominations. All 100 senators have been invited to a closed-to-the-public meeting Monday evening to seek a compromise on how to approach those nominated to serve in senior positions in Obama's administration.
"We're not touching judges," Reid said Sunday. "This is not judges. This is not legislation. This is allowing the people of America to have a president who can have his team ... in place."
Reid was expected to address the issue during a morning speech at an advocacy organization linked to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with close ties to the White House.
Critics of Reid's proposal, including the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, called Reid's move one that would "change the core of the Senate."
Reid and McConnell, along with their rank-and-file members, have traded barbs over just what the proposed changes would mean, both for Obama's current slate of nominees awaiting confirmation and for future senators who can delay or derail agendas.
Democrats, who are the majority in the Senate, are pushing to erode the rights of minority Republicans to block confirmation of Obama's picks for posts on a labor rights board and a consumer protection bureau. Republicans previously stalled confirmation votes for Obama's pick for labor secretary and chiefs of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Export-Import Bank, but last week, GOP lawmakers stepped aside and said they would allow those nominations to move forward.
"Is there anyone out there in the world ? the real world ? that believes that what's going on in the Congress of the United States is good?" Reid said. "Our approval rating is lower than North Korea's."
McConnell called Democrats' proposed changes contrary to Senate tradition, which typically requires 60 votes to end debate and move forward on nominations or legislation.
"I hope that we'll come to our senses and not change the core of the Senate. We've never changed the rules of the Senate by breaking the rules of the Senate," McConnell said.
But Democrats control the Senate, and Republicans could be at their mercy.
"We need to start talking to each other instead of at each other," McConnell said.
It's not clear a conversation would produce any agreement. Reid calls the changes minor and narrow. McConnell calls them unprecedented and overbroad.
Reid said the proposal applies only to those tapped to serve in the administration, not for lifetime posts as judges. McConnell said it would fundamentally deny senators their prerogative to query potential officials.
Reid said the nominees would protect consumers, workers and the environment. McConnell and his GOP allies argue the picks are payback to Obama's political base.
"They're driven by the unions," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Countered Reid: "They have nothing against the qualifications. They don't like the jobs these people have."
In particular, Republicans have objected to a pair of union-backed members of the National Labor Relations Board, Richard Griffin and Sharon Block. They were appointed by Obama when he said the Senate was in recess. An appeals court has ruled that Obama exceeded his authority, and the board's actions since they took their seats are in legal limbo.
Republicans also have objected to Obama's pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created as part of Wall Street overhaul legislation that was opposed by the GOP. Obama nominated his pick, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, more than two years ago.
"I think a president should have the right to put their team out there," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
"Why we can't just do 51 votes is beyond me," she added.
Reid and McConnell spoke during separate interviews with NBC's "Meet the Press." Hatch and Klobuchar were on ABC's "This Week."
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Jordan Spieth, de 19 a?os, super? el domingo a David Hearn y a Zach Johnson en el quinto hoyo de desempate para proclamarse campe?n del torneo John Deere Classic, con lo que es el golfista m?s joven que gana un torneo de la Gira de la PGA en 82 a?os.
Spieth, quien cumplir? 20 a?os en un par de semanas, emboc? un putt para par a poco m?s de medio metro, lo que le dio adem?s un boleto del Abierto Brit?nico que comienza la semana pr?xima en Muirfield. Es asimismo el primer adolescente en conseguir un t?tulo de la PGA desde que Ralph Guldahl triunf? en el Abierto de Santa M?nica, en 1931.
Al comienzo de la jornada, Spieth estaba seis golpes debajo de Daniel Summerhays, el l?der de la tercera ronda. Sin embargo, el joven fue avanzando hasta colarse a los playoffs. Lo consigui? con un tiro de unos 12 metros, saliendo de la trampa, para meter la pelota en el ?ltimo hoyo.
Luego, Spieth Hearn y Johnson se apuntaron par en los primeros cuatro hoyos del desempate. Otro par de Spieth le dio la victoria en el quinto.
Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson y Rory McIlroy ten?an 20 a?os cuando ganaron su primer torneo.
Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves and EC digital chief Neelie Kroes at a meeting earlier this month. Image: Jelena Rudi/Office of the president of Estonia
Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who chairs the steering board of the new European Cloud Partnership, is convinced that Europe should have its own clouds rather than rely on those from US service providers.
"Recent months have proven it again: it is very important for Europe to create its own data clouds, operating under EU law and completely safe for users. Right now, 95 percent of the cloud services used in Europe are provided by US companies. EU data protection legislation also needs to be modernised and we should understand that big private firms are able to gather more information than any state," Ilves said at a press conference held after a board meeting in Tallinn earlier this month.
According to the president, the international spying scandal shows that Europe has to "do its own thing, its own cloud, its own services, here at a European level, and it is especially important for small countries to do that on a European level, because otherwise the economies of scale will leave us behind".
In his speech, the president criticised US technology companies, saying that they have proven not to be trustworthy.
"As we have found out, if you use Apple, Google Mail, those do not provide privacy and security, or don't guarantee it, whereas with a Europe-based system or with European standards on these issues, we can offer the citizens of Europe something which right now doesn't exist."
Ilves believes that the PRISM scandal has brought an understanding of the need for security to Europe and it should be used to create fresh regulations and new, secure services.
"I think it is an opportunity for us and we must use this opportunity instead of beating our breast, saying 'oh, how terrible that United States is following everything we do'."
In her speech at the same press conference, the European digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes also pointed put the need for Europe to have its own secure clouds.
"If I were an American cloud provider, I would be quite frustrated with my government right now," she said, adding that if the new EU data privacy regulations hurt US companies, then "so be it".
The CEO of Microsoft in the Baltic states, Estonian Rain Laane, doesn't believe that US cloud service providers will be upstaged in European market.
"It just has to do with legal nuances. They have the Patriot Act in the USA, which stipulates a lot and which isn't always compatible with the laws of European countries. I believe that a solution which allows the use of other service providers' [including those from the US] technology platforms will be found. The right legal solution has to be found and I believe that our president along with the leaders of other countries will find it."
In his interview with the Estonian newspaper Postimees last week, Ilves said that although he doesn't find the situation where friends spy on friends normal, Europe should still "tame its indignation a bit" because since the beginning of July it's emerged that many countries in Europe including Germany, the UK and France have carried out similar activities to the US.
And it's not only governments which people should be worried about.
In his speech at the press conference and also in the interview for Postimees, the president pointed out that a lot of the privacy approaches that have been taken in EU are too focused just on governments instead of global internet companies. "They are only looking at Big Brother, but the real problem is Little Sister ? your Little Sister who knows everything about you and blabs about it everywhere," he said.
Ilves warned security fears shouldn't encourage the smaller countries of the EU towards the idea of ring-fencing.
"OK, our data is not secure, we will not allow our data to go out of our country. Now if you're a big country, if you're Germany for example, well, there are plenty of services which are available to you, but if you're a small country like Finland, Estonia, Denmark, then you have problems. For example ? Estonia is not a country which can cut itself off with the Great Wall of Estonia'. But that is the threat I think we face today in Europe - that the countries will feel the need to adopt national legislation that will in fact hinder the development of internet and the cloud services."
Ilves was asked to chair the steering board of the European Cloud Partnership by the EC last November. The function of the committee is to promote the use of cross-border digital public services in European business and the public sector.
At a meeting in November in Brussels last year, the steering board established two key goals for the project. First, the establishment of a common European cloud data processing framework. Second, promoting the transition of public sector IT into the cloud (and, consequently, promoting the use of the services in the private sector, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises).
The steering board also includes Leo Apotheker (former CEO of HP), Christian Fredrikson (CEO of F-Secure), Hans Vestberg (Ericsson's CEO), Werner Vogels (VP at Amazon), Thierry Breton (CEO of Atos), and Bernard Charles (CEO of Dassault Syst?mes).
Batman, Captain America, Iron Man, Adolf Hitler? A top university in Thailand issued an apology after displaying a banner with Adolf Hitler surrounded by superheroes as part of a tribute to this year's graduating class. ?
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A Thailand University issues an apology after first year students paint a mural displaying Adolf Hitler in a Nazi salute among superheroes. (photo: Reuters)
The Hitler mural said "Congratulations" in bold white letters, featuring Hitler with his arm raised in the Nazi salute. The Hitler billboard was up for two days prior to being removed Saturday after the university received backlash for the ignorant image. ABC News reports that online photos revealed graduate students in their robes imitating Hitler's Nazi salute.
"[We] would like to formally express our sincere apology for our students' 'Superhero' mural," art school dean Suppakorn Disatapundhu said in a statement issued Monday, Yahoo News reports. "I can assure you we are taking this matter very seriously."
Disatapundhu said that freshman art students painted the mural outside the art faculty of Chulalongkorn University as part of a customary farewell from incoming students to the graduating class. The Hitler banner was one of dozens across campus.
"They told me the concept was to paint a picture of superheroes who protect the world," Disatapundhu said in a telephone interview. "Hitler was supposed to serve as a conceptual paradox to the superheroes," he said. "This kind of thoughtless display will not happen again."
Associate Professor Disatapundhu noted that while the superheroes were painted in bright colors, Hitler's image was in grey scale. Still, imitations as well as criticism together point to the offensive effect of the Thailand Hitler banner.
An international Jewish human rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, commented on the offensive Hitler banner before its eradication, AP News reports.
"Hitler as a superhero? Is he an appropriate role model for Thailand's younger generation -- a genocidal hate monger who mass murdered Jews and Gypsies and who considered people of color as racially inferior," Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean at the center, said in a statement Friday. "The Simon Wiesenthal Center is outraged and disgusted by this public display at Thailand's leading school of higher education."
AP News also notes that Thai school systems focus primarily on the history of Thailand and often skim over world history. Studies typically give little or no mention to the Holocaust, which could partly explain the obliviousness to the offensiveness of the Hitler banner.
Associate Professor Supakorn said that he talked with the students connected to the Hitler banner and found they had no malevolent intentions, Phuket News reports. However, whether or not the first year students had malicious intent, the Thailand Hitler banner has gained global attention in its offensive nature.
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Richard Lewis caught up with Eternity Gaming shortly after their defeat in the grand final of Gfinity London.
The French team enjoyed an excellent first day at the event, coming through their group alongside Copenhagen Wolves after TCM Gaming withdrew.
After defeating Ozone Giants in the semi-final earlier this morning they were given a shot at beating hot favourites Copenhagen Wolves. Unfortunately it wasn't to be as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat, but still walked out of the event with $15,000.
Trevor Gretzky arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday for baseball, but it?s his hockey roots that are drawing attention his way.
As an outfielder with the Boise Hawks, Gretzky is in town for a five-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays? Class-A short season affiliate, the Vancouver Canadians. But he is under no false illusions about what?s causing the spotlight around him.
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?I know it happens because of my dad,? said Gretzky, whose father Wayne played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League, bringing four Stanley Cup championships to the city of Edmonton, and winning the Hart Trophy for the league?s most valuable player nine times.
The baseball-playing Gretzky grew up in Los Angeles, ditching hockey at a young age to focus on football and baseball.
?If I had grown up in Canada I would?ve probably played hockey,? he said.
As a teenager at Oaks Christian High School in California, Gretzky was named starting quarterback of the prep school?s football team. Three games into his senior season, however, a shoulder injury halted his young football career.
So Gretzky turned his sights back to baseball and in 2011, he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the seventh round of the MLB amateur draft.
Gretzky played last season in the Arizona Rookie League, batting .304 in 25 games.
?I kind of always knew I was going to come back to baseball,? he said. ?I just didn?t know when.?
Before Boise?s trip to Vancouver, Gretzky was in and out of the lineup, making appearances in just eight of the Hawks? first 25 games. Since Wednesday, he?s earned three straight starts.
Hawks? manager Gary Van Tol is happy with Gretzky?s performance in Vancouver so far.
?He?s done everything I?ve asked him to,? Van Tol said about Gretzky, who has gone 4-for-10 since Wednesday?s game.
Through 11 games this season, Gretzky is batting .256 with 10 hits and one RBI.
?At the beginning of the year it was tough for him to find some at-bats because we do have a very strong outfield,? Van Tol said. ?This was an opportunity for him to really do some things and I think he?s done a great job.?
Van Tol, a native of Pincher Creek Alta., is well aware of the weight behind Trevor?s last name. He has been impressed with the way Gretzky has carried himself.
?He?s just another 20-year-old kid, really,? the Hawks manager said. ?He?s dealt with [the media] great and he handles it very well.?
As Gretzky slogs his way through baseball?s ranks, he?s asked to contrast his own road against the way his father was thrust into the highest levels of hockey.
?He is the Great One,? Gretzky said, shrugging off the question.
Many might assume that this Gretzky made the choice to steer away from hockey to forge his own path, but the 20-year-old balks at that notion.
?Even today I never think, ?Oh I have to do something for myself.? It?s selfish thinking,? Gretzky said. ?Everyone says it?s hard to live in [my dad?s] shadow, but it?s really not. I respect the shadow he made, the things he?s done for hockey. It?s awesome.?
Though Gretzky hasn?t necessarily dominated his sport the way his father dominated hockey, there are similarities between father and son. Cut from the same cloth as his championship-clad father, the young Gretzky has his sights set high.
?Win a championship, that?s my personal goal,? he said. ?You don?t come here trying to get hits for yourself. That?s why you played the game as a kid. You dream of being up there, getting that at-bat at the World Series and winning a championship.?
His work ethic sounds like the elder Gretzky as well.
?If you play the game hard, good things will happen,? he said. ?That?s been preached to me since I was a kid.?
Authored by Catey Hall, via Jim Quinn's Burning Platform blog,
The aging 'me' generation is still putting itself first...
1. ?Paws off, Junior. This cash is mine.?
Children of boomer parents shouldn?t expect a big inheritance, even if their parents are rich. Only about half of high-net-worth baby boomers ? those with more than $3 million in investible assets ? say they consider leaving money to their kids a priority, according to a 2012 U.S. Trust Survey. In contrast, nearly three-quarters of people older than boomers say it?s important to them.
Even boomers ? typically defined by demographers as those born between 1946 and 1964 ? who do plan to leave an inheritance may do so with strings attached. Indeed, nearly seven in 10 high-net-worth boomers surveyed by U.S. Trust said they were not fully confident that their children could handle an inheritance.
?More often than not, clients leave inheritances in trusts,? says John Olivieri, a partner at New York law firm White & Case who works with a lot of boomer clients. With a trust, a third party manages the money and doles it out at intervals that the parent has specified. ?Some parents have concerns about how their kids would invest and spend the money,? Olivieri says.
2. ?Make room, kids. We?ll be living with you when we?re old??
Boomers are expected to live longer than any previous generation. At the same time, many haven?t saved nearly enough for retirement. More than 44% of early boomers (whom the Employee Benefit Research Institute defines as those born between 1948 and 1954) and 43% of late boomers (born between 1955 and 1964) may not be able to afford basic living expenses in retirement, according to a 2012 analysis by EBRI. The result? Kids could be supporting mom and dad well into their 80s and 90s.
One of the biggest drains on boomer retirement savings will be health-care expenses. Medicare pays for only about 60% of the cost of health services the typical retiree will face, estimates EBRI. A couple that is 65 today might need nearly $300,000 to cover health costs. ?People who haven?t saved enough for health-care costs may deplete their assets,? says Michael Markiewicz, a partner at New York-based Fogel Neale Partners. ?A lot of them may have to live with their kids or depend on them for money and care.?
If parents do move in, their kids should expect to spend an extra $6,000 to $10,000 annually on food, clothing and other basics, says Andy Cohen, CEO of Caring.com, a website that provides resources for caregivers. Add thousands more for big-ticket items like wheelchair ramps or home health-care aids. Expensive as that sounds, it?s still often less than what it would cost to move a parent into an assisted living community, about $42,600 per year, on average, according to 2012 data from the MetLife Mature Market Institute.
3. ??and we blame you for that.?
Nearly one in six people ages 45 to 64 say that paying for their kid?s college tuition got in the way of saving for their own retirement, compared with just one in 20 who say that buying a home did, according to a 2012 study from Capital One ShareBuilder.
That?s not surprising, given that the typical middle-income family will spend more than $230,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18, up 23% (in today?s dollars) since 1960, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When you add paying for college to the mix ? for tuition, fees and room and board as of the 2012-2013 school year, you?d pay an average of $17,860 per year for a four-year in-state public school, $30,911 per year for a four-year public out-of-state school or $39,518 per year for a private four-year school, according to the College Board ? you could easily spend upwards of $100,000 on the basic?s for your child?s education. This means that retirement savings can really take a hit. ?A lot of parents prioritized saving for their kids? college over saving for retirement,? says Dan Greenshields, the president of CapitalOne ShareBuilder.
The reason? ?Parents often equate paying for college with helping their child become successful in life,? says Deborah Fox, the founder of Fox College Funding, a San Diego-based college-funding consulting firm. That?s something they feel they have a duty to do, whether or not they can afford it, she adds.
4. ?We can?t face reality.?
What boomers think retirement will be like and what it actually is like are two very different things. A case in point: The forever-young generation just can?t deal with the idea of growing old. Only 13% of pre-retirees (people over 50 who have not yet retired) think their health will be significantly worse in retirement than it is now, while 39% of retirees report that it actually is worse, according to 2011 research by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Boomers are a little fuzzy on the financial realities as well. While only 22% of pre-retirees think their financial situation will be worse in retirement, roughly one-third of retirees say that it is worse. Along those same lines, only 14% of pre-retirees predict that life overall will be worse when they retire, but a quarter of retirees report that it actually is worse. ?There?s a real disconnect because your life pre-retirement is much different than your life post-retirement,? says Hal Hershfield, a professor at NYU?s Stern School of Business who conducts research on judgment, decision-making and social psychology with an emphasis on how thinking about time can alter decisions and emotions.
5. ? ?Til death do us part? doesn?t apply to us.?
Boomers are untying the knot at a record pace. The divorce rate for people over 50 has doubled in the past 20 years, says the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University, compared with a slight decrease in divorce overall. More than 600,000 individuals over 50 divorced in 2009, and if the rate continues to grow at the current pace, that number will hit more than 800,000 by 2030.
What?s fueling this trend? Empty nesters find they are a lot less compatible when the kids aren?t around is one phenomenon, says Toronto-based psychologist Tami Kulbatski. Another might be that boomers are more likely to have married young (boomers were far more likely to be married when they were between the ages of 18 and 30, than were members of Generation X, according to research from the Pew Research Center for People & the Press). Now, a lot of boomers are in their second, third or even fourth marriage, and these marriages are more likely to end in divorce, says Krista Kay Payne, a researcher at the center.
Divorce will likely take a chunk out of the average boomer?s already inadequate retirement funds. Lawyers? fees alone can range from a couple of thousand to tens of thousands of dollars or more, says attorney Jeff Landers, author of ?Divorce: Think Financially, Not Emotionally: What Women Need to Know About Securing Their Financial Future Before, During and After Divorce.? Add to that things like alimony and having to split up assets, and boomers? financial picture gets even murkier.
6. ?We?re unhappy ??
Boomers are the least happy of all age groups, according to a 2008 study published in the American Sociological Review journal. ?The generation as a group was so large, and their expectations were so great,? Yang Yang, the author of the study, told the American Sociological Association, ?not everyone in the group could get what he or she wanted due to competition for opportunities.?
Another report from the Pew Research Center came to a similar conclusion: On a scale of one to 10, boomers, on average, rate their lives a 6.2, compared with a 6.7 for older adults and 6.5 for younger adults. That may not look like much of a difference, but this pattern has held steady for the past two decades. In other words, the boomers ? even when they were younger ? have been consistently less happy than other generations for the past 20 years.
7. ?? and we eat our feelings.?
Nearly 40% of people ages 60 and up and nearly 37% of people 40 to 59 are now considered obese, according to a 2012 report from the Centers for Disease Control, compared with less than one in three for people age 20 to 39. What?s more, baby boomers are fatter than their parents? generation, according to a study released this year by JAMA Internal Medicine, with nearly 40% of boomers reportedly obese, versus 29% of the previous generation.
Obesity can lead to serious health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. A 65-year-old person who has been obese since age 45 personally incurs roughly $50,000 more in Medicare costs over the course of his or her lifetime than a ?normal weight? 65-year-old does, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Medicare and Medicaid end up paying for roughly half of the cost of obesity, which accounts for $190 billion in medical spending annually, according to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Health Economics.
8. ?And we?re addicts.?
Maybe it?s because so many grew up in the ?60s, but whatever the excuse, boomers are drinking and drugging their way into old age at a rate much higher than their parents? generation. The number of people 50 and over who were admitted to substance abuse treatment programs increased 136% between 1992 and 2010, according to the latest data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Alcohol is the most common reason that boomers seek treatment, but the proportion of admissions of people over 50 for heroin abuse nearly doubled and for cocaine use more than tripled over that period. ?Because of the magnitude of these changes and their potential impact, it is increasingly important to understand and plan for the health care needs, including the substance use prevention and treatment needs, of this population,? the administration writes.
Treatment doesn?t come cheap. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the mean cost per admission for outpatient substance abuse treatment is more than $1,400 without methadone (a synthetic opioid used to treat heroin and morphine addictions) or $7,415 with it; prices can run into the tens of thousands for inpatient treatment. What?s more, Medicare will only pay about 65% of an outpatient treatment program, and it will pay for inpatient treatment only if a doctor deems it ?medically necessary? and the care is in a hospital. (Medicare doesn?t fund treatment at those designer ?rehab spas.? Sorry, boomers.)
9. ?We will bury you in debt.?
We?re a nation in record debt ? an estimated $16 trillion ? and the sheer number of boomers is expected to significantly add to that in the coming years, as more begin to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits. (Social Security and Medicare spending represented 38% of federal expenditures in fiscal year 2012, and ?both programs will experience cost growth substantially in excess of GDP growth through the mid-2030s,? according to the Social Security Administration.)
But in many ways, boomers have been less willing than other demographic groups to support policy changes that could trim the debt. Fully 68% of boomers oppose eliminating the tax deduction for interest paid on home mortgages, compared with just 56% of all adults, according to the Pew Research Center. Furthermore, 80% of boomers (vs. 72% of all adults) oppose taxing employer health insurance benefits and 63% of boomers (vs. 58% of all adults) oppose increasing the age one qualifies for full Social Security benefits, the study shows.
Many boomers are more opposed to these plans because ?they would feel the impact more than other groups,? says Kim Parker, the associate director of the Pew Research Center?s Social and Demographic Trends Project. But without some sort of deficit reduction, future generations will be left with the dire economic consequences a massive deficit can cause, she says.
10. ?We?re obsessed with (not) aging.?
Sagging skin, crows? feet, a dull complexion ? these used to be the inevitable signs of aging. But if the boomers have anything to say about it, that?s going to change. Revenue for so-called cosmeceutical companies ? which manufacture cosmetics with pharmaceutical capabilities, some of the most popular being wrinkle-reducing moisturizers and creams that even skin tone ? is expected to hit $5 billion this year and is expected to grow 7.5% each year through 2018, according to data from market research firm IbisWorld; people over 50 account for more of cosmeceutical companies? consumers than any other age group.
And it?s not just lotions and serums that they?re into. People 51 and up had 24% of all surgical cosmetic procedures, like face-lifts and tummy tucks, and 30% of all cosmetic ?minimally invasive? procedures like cellulite treatments, Botox injections and laser hair removals, in 2012.
It also appears that boomer men are one of the fastest-growing segments of the population going under the knife. While overall cosmetic procedures in men increased just 9% in 2012 compared with 2011, face lifts, which are typically performed on the over-50 set, increased 21%, according to data from the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. And this will become more popular, says Jack Fisher, the president of the society, as many boomers want to look and feel young.
