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Daily Archives: January 28, 2015

Debt of the Elderly and Near Elderly, 1992–2013

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Employee Benefit Research Institute. Debt of the Elderly and Near Elderly, 1992–2013. January 2015, Vol. 36, No. 1

  • “More older American families have debt: The percentage of American families with heads ages 55 or older that had debt increased from 63.4 percent in 2010 to 65.4 percent in 2013. Furthermore, the percentage of these families with debt payments greater than 40 percent of income—a traditional threshold measure of debt load trouble—increased in 2013 to 9.2 percent from 8.5 percent in 2010.
  • However, other debt measures were down: Total debt payments as a percentage of income decreased from 11.4 percent in 2010 to 10.0 percent in 2013, and average debt decreased from $80,465 in 2010 to $73,211, while debt as a percentage of assets decreased from 8.5 percent in 2010 to 8.1 percent in 2013.
  • Housing debt drove the change in the level of debt payments in 2013, while the nonhousing (consumer) debt-payment share of income held stable from 2010. Housing debt was the major component of debt for families headed by individuals ages 55 or older.
  • The debt levels among those with housing debt have obvious and serious implications for the future retirement security of these Americans, perhaps most significantly that these families are potentially at risk of losing what is typically their most important asset—their home.”

Advancing a Multimodal Transportation System by Eliminating Funding Restrictions

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“One of the most pervasive, durable, and detrimental myths in transportation policy is that highways pay for themselves, while public transportation does not. In reality, both modes require significant public subsidies, as user fees—such as fuel taxes and farebox revenues—cover only a portion of total costs. States and the federal government supplement these user fees… Continue Reading

Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement Jan 28 2015

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News release: ” Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December suggests that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace.  Labor market conditions have improved further, with strong job gains and a lower unemployment rate.  On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources continues… Continue Reading

Census Data Show California Leads U.S. in Manufacturing Employment for 2012

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“Today the Census Bureau released manufacturing statistics from its 2012 Economic Census at the state, metro area and county levels, as well as for cities and towns, for more than 350 manufacturing industries. These data, referred to as the Geographic Area Series, cover more than 296,000 U.S. manufacturing establishments (NAICS 31-33) within every state and… Continue Reading

The Female Political Career 2015

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“A growing global consensus has emerged around the importance of gender equality in political representation. The failure of national legislatures to reflect their populations is a sign of entry barriers, and deprives societies of female political talent. Although some countries employ quotas to hasten representational equality, women still occupy only 20 percent of lower-level parliamentary… Continue Reading

Logistics of leaving Afghanistan

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Getting out of Afghanistan – E.B. Boyd: “Leaving Afghanistan has become one of the most difficult operations the U.S. military has ever undertaken. “Certainly in our lifetime, it’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest operation in terms of complexity, size, and cost,” said Lt. Gen. Raymond Mason, who headed Army logistics until he… Continue Reading

Study – Melting Glaciers Release Vast Amounts of Carbon

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Newsweek: “As the world warms, glaciers around the world are rapidly hemorrhaging ice and threatening catastrophic sea level rise. But melting glaciers also pose another kind of menace: the release of vast amounts of stored organic carbon into waterways. Florida State University assistant professor Robert Spencer and his colleagues have spent nearly a decade researching… Continue Reading