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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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Americans’ Social Security checks will get a lot smaller in 2034 if lawmakers don’t act to address the pending shortfall, according to an annual report released Friday by the Social Security trustees.

That’s because the combined Social Security trust funds – which help support payouts for the elderly, survivors and disabled – are projected to run dry that year. At that time, the funds’ reserves will be depleted, and the program’s continuing income will only cover 80% of benefits owed.

The estimate is one year earlier than the trustees projected last year. About 66 million Americans received Social Security benefits in 2022.

Medicare, meanwhile, is in a more critical financial condition. Its hospital insurance trust fund, known as Medicare Part A, will only be able to pay scheduled benefits in full until 2031, according to its trustees’ annual report, which was also released Friday.

At that time, Medicare, which covered 65 million senior citizens and people with disabilities in 2022, will only be able to cover 89% of total scheduled benefits. Last year, Medicare’s trustees projected that the hospital trust fund’s reserves would be depleted in 2028.

LONG-STANDING FISCAL TROUBLES

Immensely popular but long troubled, Social Security and Medicare are on shaky financial ground in large part because of the aging of the American population. Fewer workers are paying into the program and supporting the ballooning number of beneficiaries, who are also living longer. Also, health care is becoming increasingly expensive.

Social Security has two trust funds – one for retirees and survivors and another for Americans with disabilities.

Looking at them separately, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is projected to run dry in 2033, at which time Social Security could pay only 77% of benefits, primarily using income from payroll taxes. The date is one year earlier than estimated last year.

The Disability Insurance Trust Fund is expected to be able to pay full benefits through at least 2097, the last year of the trustees’ projection period.

Merging the two trust funds would require Congress to act, but the combined projection is often used to show the overall status of the entitlement.

Social Security’s projected long-term health worsened over the past year because the trustees revised downward their expectations for the economy and labor productivity, taking into account updated data on inflation and economic output.

However, the long-term projection for Medicare’s hospital trust fund’s finances improved, mainly due to lowered estimates for health care spending after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the program is projected to take in more income because the trustees estimate the number of covered workers and average wages will be higher.

ADDED PRESSURE ON CONGRESS

The trustees’ reports are the latest warnings to Congress that they will have to deal with the massive entitlement programs’ fiscal problems at some point soon. But addressing their issues is politically challenging. Elected officials are hesitant to suggest any changes that could lead to benefit cuts, even though that could reduce their options in the future.

“With each year that lawmakers do not act, the public has less time to prepare for the changes,” the trustees warned in a fact sheet.

The programs’ shortfalls are back in the spotlight this year as President Joe Biden and House Republicans battle over how to address the nation’s debt ceiling drama and mounting budget deficits. GOP lawmakers want to cut spending in exchange for resolving the borrowing limit, while the White House has said it will not negotiate.

In a memorable moment in his State of the Union address in February, Biden garnered public acknowledgment from congressional Republicans about keeping Social Security and Medicare out of the debt discussions.

But “not touching” Social Security means a hefty cut in benefits within a decade or so.

“Change is inevitable because without changes to current law, both Social Security and Medicare Hospital Insurance would go insolvent, subjecting program participants to sudden and severe payment cuts,” said Charles Blahous, senior research strategist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and former Social Security and Medicare trustee. “The outstanding question is whether change will be tolerably gradual, or instead highly damaging because it is too long delayed.”

Though Biden has repeatedly vowed to protect Social Security, his latest budget proposal did not include a plan to stabilize its finances.

However, his proposal did call for extending Medicare’s solvency by 25 years or more by raising taxes on those earning more than $400,000 a year and by allowing the program to negotiate prices for even more drugs.

Spending on the entitlement programs is also projected to soar and exert increased pressure on the federal budget in coming years.

Mandatory spending – driven by Social Security and Medicare – and interest costs are expected to outpace the growth of revenue and the economy, according to a Congressional Budget Office outlook released in mid-February.

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01sentencereviews · 2 years

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sometimes i randomly remember that most streaming services don’t allow you to take screenshots anymore and truly... if that would have been the case when i was still in school, i probably wouldn’t have gotten much into ~film~ at all.

#like making filmsets was quite literally my ~career~ from ages 20-24 #there's obvi ways around it (hello torrents!) but still... nothing about this new policy makes much of any sense to me #all that free promo... gone #the ease of capturing your fav moments... gone #sad sad sad #personal

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ephemeral-winter · 10 months

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so crazy to me that british academia is only just starting to outright ban relationships between faculty and (undergraduate) students. obviously the us is not winning on this front but the policies have been in place at the major unis for at least a decade now if not longer

#(there was an op ed in the times higher ed section today)#but is it because the us had anita hill? because of the endless campus rape news stories c. 2014-15?#feel like a lot of us institutions tightened up their policies in 2014ish even if they had existed before #but i have a sense that british academia never properly got me too'd prior to well me too #and then with the pandemic we're only just seeing the old guard reacting to it/the new policies #also i think the alcohol culture of the uk and the lower drinking age matters a lot here!#us profs would never go to a pub with a student (undergrad) because they literally couldn't!#grad student/advisor relationships obvs still a mess on both side of the atlantic #anyway! much to think about #rare pic of me in the wild

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vordemtodgefeit · 2 years

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*eye twitch*

#there’s several different layers of wrong here #a) how does one ‘do diversity’ improperly?#my answer to that would be by using minority candidates to further the bigoted agenda and avoid being labelled as racist for it #which is precisely what the tories are doing here #b) she is LITERALLY ENDORSED BY BRITAIN FIRST.#also known as the antithesis of ‘doing diversity properly’#c) ‘fresh thinking and fresh tone’ no it’s not it’s just recycled conservatism transphobia and anti-green policy we’ve all seen it before #the major difference is that now the tories andd/or brit first can say ‘no we’re not racist we endorsed a black woman for pm’#d) ‘new generation of voters’ with the implication that they will vote tory #i am a classics student at st andrews yet i don’t know a single person my age that would vote tory #i’m sure they exist but they’re damn rare even in such a field as this #uk politics

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stjohnstarling · 3 months

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The ACLU has launched a petition against Mastercard’s policies on adult content!

Mastercard put into effect a new policy regulating adult content sellers that makes it extremely hard for sex workers to earn a living online. It must be stopped.

The policy itself imposes strict and invasive requirements on adult content websites using Mastercard’s financial services – including pre-approval of all content before publication, forbidding certain search terms, and monitoring the age and identity verification process for all performers.

Americans sign here!!

#Original post

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bestgreenshope · 1 month

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(2) http://www.theteethwhiteningcenter.com/a-white-smile-the-key-to-happiness-and-self-confidence/

(3) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2307430/White-teeth-make-look-younger-employable-Holly-Willoughby-envied-smile-say-dentists.html

(4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4113395/

(5) https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/the-aging-mouth-and-how-to-keep-it-younger

(6) https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/oral-care/problems/what-wears-down-tooth-enamel1.htm

(7) https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/brushing-your-teeth/faq-20058193

(8) https://www.prevention.com/beauty/skin-care/a20479029/dangers-of-teeth-whitening/

(9) https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/features/oral-health-the-mouth-body-connection#1

(10) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891584997000166

(11) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saman_Warnakulasuriya/publication/40039456_Causes_of_oral_cancer_-_An_appraisal_of_controversies/links/54a06d890cf257a636021879/Causes-of-oral-cancer-An-appraisal-of-controversies.pdf

(12) https://askthedentist.com/mouthwash-risks-and-alternatives/

(13) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30562408

(14) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28157418

(15) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-dental-consumables-market-to-be-worth-us334-billion-by-2024-dental-tourism-in-developing-countries-promises-continued-growth-says-tmr-610814045.html

(16) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190409135928.htm

(17) https://harvardmagazine.com/2006/01/light-blitzes-plaque.html

(18) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4289549/

(19) https://www.bioopticsworld.com/biomedicine/article/16429351/laser-treatmenttooth-whitening-red-light-makes-teeth-white

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The statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here is not meant as a substitute for or alternative to information from health care practitioners. Please consult your health care professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act requires this notice.

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defensenow · 2 months

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youtube

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krill-joy · 2 months

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"Under the new rule, which goes into effect Sept. 30, food will no longer count toward calculations for eligibility for benefits, known as In-Kind Support and Maintenance, or ISM.

The new rule means SSI beneficiaries will no longer have to worry that the groceries or meals they receive from family or friends may reduce their monthly benefits, said Darcy Milburn, director of Social Security and health care policy at The Arc, a nonprofit organization serving people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

The Social Security Administration, in turn, will no longer have to use its limited resources to document every time a beneficiary received free food and then cut their monthly benefit by as much as a third, she said."

#good news 2024 #ssi

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reasonsforhope · 6 months

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It’s an open secret in fashion. Unsold inventory goes to the incinerator; excess handbags are slashed so they can’t be resold; perfectly usable products are sent to the landfill to avoid discounts and flash sales. The European Union wants to put an end to these unsustainable practices. On Monday, [December 4, 2023], it banned the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear.

“It is time to end the model of ‘take, make, dispose’ that is so harmful to our planet, our health and our economy,” MEP Alessandra Moretti said in a statement. “Banning the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear will contribute to a shift in the way fast fashion manufacturers produce their goods.”

This comes as part of a broader push to tighten sustainable fashion legislation, with new policies around ecodesign, greenwashing and textile waste phasing in over the next few years. The ban on destroying unsold goods will be among the longer lead times: large businesses have two years to comply, and SMEs have been granted up to six years. It’s not yet clear on whether the ban applies to companies headquartered in the EU, or any that operate there, as well as how this ban might impact regions outside of Europe.

For many, this is a welcome decision that indirectly tackles the controversial topics of overproduction and degrowth. Policymakers may not be directly telling brands to produce less, or placing limits on how many units they can make each year, but they are penalising those overproducing, which is a step in the right direction, says Eco-Age sustainability consultant Philippa Grogan. “This has been a dirty secret of the fashion industry for so long. The ban won’t end overproduction on its own, but hopefully it will compel brands to be better organised, more responsible and less greedy.”

Clarifications to come

There are some kinks to iron out, says Scott Lipinski, CEO of Fashion Council Germany and the European Fashion Alliance (EFA). The EFA is calling on the EU to clarify what it means by both “unsold goods” and “destruction”. Unsold goods, to the EFA, mean they are fit for consumption or sale (excluding counterfeits, samples or prototypes)...

The question of what happens to these unsold goods if they are not destroyed is yet to be answered. “Will they be shipped around the world? Will they be reused as deadstock or shredded and downcycled? Will outlet stores have an abundance of stock to sell?” asks Grogan.

Large companies will also have to disclose how many unsold consumer products they discard each year and why, a rule the EU is hoping will curb overproduction and destruction...

Could this shift supply chains?

For Dio Kurazawa, founder of sustainable fashion consultancy The Bear Scouts, this is an opportunity for brands to increase supply chain agility and wean themselves off the wholesale model so many rely on. “This is the time to get behind innovations like pre-order and on-demand manufacturing,” he says. “It’s a chance for brands to play with AI to understand the future of forecasting. Technology can help brands be more intentional with what they make, so they have less unsold goods in the first place.”

Grogan is equally optimistic about what this could mean for sustainable fashion in general. “It’s great to see that this is more ambitious than the EU’s original proposal and that it specifically calls out textiles. It demonstrates a willingness from policymakers to create a more robust system,” she says. “Banning the destruction of unsold goods might make brands rethink their production models and possibly better forecast their collections.”

One of the outstanding questions is over enforcement. Time and again, brands have used the lack of supply chain transparency in fashion as an excuse for bad behaviour. Part of the challenge with the EU’s new ban will be proving that brands are destroying unsold goods, not to mention how they’re doing it and to what extent, says Kurazawa. “Someone obviously knows what is happening and where, but will the EU?”"

-via British Vogue, December 7, 2023

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draw-you-coward · 7 months

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aaaa i kinda want to delete the ol ffxiv racism "discussion" from this blog... gives me the ick now

#smth abt me a fresh 20 yr old being picked on by a middle aged white woman with a huge following doesn't ahhh.. . how u say... sit right #i dont think i want that kinda stuff on here even as a record 🤔#for the gw2 ppl who have no idea what im talking abt: be glad you werent there for it lmao #altho i suspect you are adding /search to my url rn #(is fine but all i'll say is add five years of education and a shiny new 0 tolerance policy for that kind of bs to anything i said lmao)

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mostlysignssomeportents · 10 months

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Kickstarting a book to end enshittification, because Amazon will not carry it

My next book is The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation: it’s a Big Tech disassembly manual that explains how to disenshittify the web and bring back the old good internet. The hardcover comes from Verso on Sept 5, but the audiobook comes from me — because Amazon refuses to sell my audio:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation

Amazon owns Audible, the monopoly audiobook platform that controls >90% of the audio market. They require mandatory DRM for every book sold, locking those books forever to Amazon’s monopoly platform. If you break up with Amazon, you have to throw away your entire audiobook library.

That’s a hell of a lot of leverage to hand to any company, let alone a rapacious monopoly that ran a program targeting small publishers called “Project Gazelle,” where execs were ordered to attack indie publishers “the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle”:

https://www.businessinsider.com/sadistic-amazon-treated-book-sellers-the-way-a-cheetah-would-pursue-a-sickly-gazelle-2013-10

[Image ID: Journalist and novelist Doctorow (Red Team Blues) details a plan for how to break up Big Tech in this impassioned and perceptive manifesto….Doctorow’s sense of urgency is contagious -Publishers Weekly]

I won’t sell my work with DRM, because DRM is key to the enshittification of the internet. Enshittification is why the old, good internet died and became “five giant websites filled with screenshots of the other four” (h/t Tom Eastman). When a tech company can lock in its users and suppliers, it can drain value from both sides, using DRM and other lock-in gimmicks to keep their business even as they grow ever more miserable on the platform.

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

[Image ID: A brilliant barn burner of a book. Cory is one of the sharpest tech critics, and he shows with fierce clarity how our computational future could be otherwise -Kate Crawford, author of The Atlas of AI”]

The Internet Con isn’t just an analysis of where enshittification comes from: it’s a detailed, shovel-ready policy prescription for halting enshittification, throwing it into reverse and bringing back the old, good internet.

How do we do that? With interoperability: the ability to plug new technology into those crapulent, decaying platform. Interop lets you choose which parts of the service you want and block the parts you don’t (think of how an adblocker lets you take the take-it-or-leave “offer” from a website and reply with “How about nah?”):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

But interop isn’t just about making platforms less terrible — it’s an explosive charge that demolishes walled gardens. With interop, you can leave a social media service, but keep talking to the people who stay. With interop, you can leave your mobile platform, but bring your apps and media with you to a rival’s service. With interop, you can break up with Amazon, and still keep your audiobooks.

So, if interop is so great, why isn’t it everywhere?

Well, it used to be. Interop is how Microsoft became the dominant operating system:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

[Image ID: Nobody gets the internet-both the nuts and bolts that make it hum and the laws that shaped it into the mess it is-quite like Cory, and no one’s better qualified to deliver us a user manual for fixing it. That’s The Internet Con: a rousing, imaginative, and accessible treatise for correcting our curdled online world. If you care about the internet, get ready to dedicate yourself to making interoperability a reality. -Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine]

It’s how Apple saved itself from Microsoft’s vicious campaign to destroy it:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

Every tech giant used interop to grow, and then every tech giant promptly turned around and attacked interoperators. Every pirate wants to be an admiral. When Big Tech did it, that was progress; when you do it back to Big Tech, that’s piracy. The tech giants used their monopoly power to make interop without permission illegal, creating a kind of “felony contempt of business model” (h/t Jay Freeman).

The Internet Con describes how this came to pass, but, more importantly, it tells us how to fix it. It lays out how we can combine different kinds of interop requirements (like the EU’s Digital Markets Act and Massachusetts’s Right to Repair law) with protections for reverse-engineering and other guerrilla tactics to create a system that is strong without being brittle, hard to cheat on and easy to enforce.

What’s more, this book explains how to get these policies: what existing legislative, regulatory and judicial powers can be invoked to make them a reality. Because we are living through the Great Enshittification, and crises erupt every ten seconds, and when those crises occur, the “good ideas lying around” can move from the fringes to the center in an eyeblink:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/12/only-a-crisis/#lets-gooooo

[Image ID: Thoughtfully written and patiently presented, The Internet Con explains how the promise of a free and open internet was lost to predatory business practices and the rush to commodify every aspect of our lives. An essential read for anyone that wants to understand how we lost control of our digital spaces and infrastructure to Silicon Valley’s tech giants, and how we can start fighting to get it back. -Tim Maughan, author of INFINITE DETAIL]

After all, we’ve known Big Tech was rotten for years, but we had no idea what to do about it. Every time a Big Tech colossus did something ghastly to millions or billions of people, we tried to fix the tech company. There’s no fixing the tech companies. They need to burn. The way to make users safe from Big Tech predators isn’t to make those predators behave better — it’s to evacuate those users:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/18/urban-wildlife-interface/#combustible-walled-gardens

I’ve been campaigning for human rights in the digital world for more than 20 years; I’ve been EFF’s European Director, representing the public interest at the EU, the UN, Westminster, Ottawa and DC. This is the subject I’ve devoted my life to, and I live my principles. I won’t let my books be sold with DRM, which means that Audible won’t carry my audiobooks. My agent tells me that this decision has cost me enough money to pay off my mortgage and put my kid through college. That’s a price I’m willing to pay if it means that my books aren’t enshittification bait.

But not selling on Audible has another cost, one that’s more important to me: a lot of readers prefer audiobooks and 9 out of 10 of those readers start and end their searches on Audible. When they don’t find an author there, they assume no audiobook exists, period. It got so bad I put up an audiobook on Amazon — me, reading an essay, explaining how Audible rips off writers and readers. It’s called “Why None of My Audiobooks Are For Sale on Audible”:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

[Image ID: Doctorow has been thinking longer and smarter than anyone else I know about how we create and exchange value in a digital age. -Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock]

To get my audiobooks into readers’ ears, I pre-sell them on Kickstarter. This has been wildly successful, both financially and as a means of getting other prominent authors to break up with Amazon and use crowdfunding to fill the gap. Writers like Brandon Sanderson are doing heroic work, smashing Amazon’s monopoly:

https://www.brandonsanderson.com/guest-editorial-cory-doctorow-is-a-bestselling-author-but-audible-wont-carry-his-audiobooks/

And to be frank, I love audiobooks, too. I swim every day as physio for a chronic pain condition, and I listen to 2–3 books/month on my underwater MP3 player, disappearing into an imaginary world as I scull back and forth in my public pool. I’m able to get those audiobooks on my MP3 player thanks to Libro.fm, a DRM-free store that supports indie booksellers all over the world:

https://blog.libro.fm/a-qa-with-mark-pearson-libro-fm-ceo-and-co-founder/

Producing my own audiobooks has been a dream. Working with Skyboat Media, I’ve gotten narrators like @wilwheaton, Amber Benson, @neil-gaiman and Stefan Rudnicki for my work:

https://craphound.com/shop/

[Image ID: “This book is the instruction manual Big Tech doesn’t want you to read. It deconstructs their crummy products, undemocratic business models, rigged legal regimes, and lies. Crack this book and help build something better. -Astra Taylor, author of Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When Its Gone”]

But for this title, I decided that I would read it myself. After all, I’ve been podcasting since 2006, reading my own work aloud every week or so, even as I traveled the world and gave thousands of speeches about the subject of this book. I was excited (and a little trepedatious) at the prospect, but how could I pass up a chance to work with director Gabrielle de Cuir, who has directed everyone from Anne Hathaway to LeVar Burton to Eric Idle?

Reader, I fucking nailed it. I went back to those daily recordings fully prepared to hate them, but they were good — even great (especially after my engineer John Taylor Williams mastered them). Listen for yourself!

https://archive.org/details/cory_doctorow_internet_con_chapter_01

I hope you’ll consider backing this Kickstarter. If you’ve ever read my free, open access, CC-licensed blog posts and novels, or listened to my podcasts, or come to one of my talks and wished there was a way to say thank you, this is it. These crowdfunders make my DRM-free publishing program viable, even as audiobooks grow more central to a writer’s income and even as a single company takes over nearly the entire audiobook market.

Backers can choose from the DRM-free audiobook, DRM-free ebook (EPUB and MOBI) and a hardcover — including a signed, personalized option, fulfilled through the great LA indie bookstore Book Soup:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation

What’s more, these ebooks and audiobooks are unlike any you’ll get anywhere else because they are sold without any terms of service or license agreements. As has been the case since time immemorial, when you buy these books, they’re yours, and you are allowed to do anything with them that copyright law permits — give them away, lend them to friends, or simply read them with any technology you choose.

As with my previous Kickstarters, backers can get their audiobooks delivered with an app (from libro.fm) or as a folder of MP3s. That helps people who struggle with “sideloading,” a process that Apple and Google have made progressively harder, even as they force audiobook and ebook sellers to hand over a 30% app tax on every dollar they make:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/red-team-blues-another-audiobook-that-amazon-wont-sell/posts/3788112

Enshittification is rotting every layer of the tech stack: mobile, payments, hosting, social, delivery, playback. Every tech company is pulling the rug out from under us, using the chokepoints they built between audiences and speakers, artists and fans, to pick all of our pockets.

The Internet Con isn’t just a lament for the internet we lost — it’s a plan to get it back. I hope you’ll get a copy and share it with the people you love, even as the tech platforms choke off your communities to pad their quarterly numbers.

Next weekend (Aug 4-6), I'll be in Austin for Armadillocon, a science fiction convention, where I'm the Guest of Honor:

https://armadillocon.org/d45/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/31/seize-the-means-of-computation/#the-internet-con

[Image ID: My forthcoming book 'The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation' in various editions: Verso hardcover, audiobook displayed on a phone, and ebook displayed on an e-ink reader.]

#pluralistic #trustbusting #big tech #gift guide #kickstarter #the internet con #books #audiobooks #enshitiffication #disenshittification #crowdfunders #seize the means of computation #audible #amazon #verso

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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In a time when life expectancy in the U.S. is declining for the first time in decades and Americans can expect on average to enjoy even fewer years of retirement, Republicans are considering a radical plan to shrink the retirement window.

House Republicans have been working out the details of their deeply unpopular plan to cut Social Security and Medicare in order to deepen poverty and shackle people to the labor force further into old age.

The party is considering a proposal to raise the retirement age for Social Security to 70, per The Washington Post, which means that workers and retirees would have to work an additional 3 to 4 years to receive full benefit. This proposal would mostly affect younger workers who have not yet started to receive benefits from the program.

Under this proposal, Americans could expect to be able to enjoy retirement for only about six years, if the most recent life expectancy estimates hold: In 2021, the average life expectancy in the U.S. dropped to 76 years and one month.

This is 2 years and 9 months less than the pre-pandemic average, which is a larger drop than other wealthy countries had experienced in the same period of time. It is also already harder to retire in the U.S. than in other countries, as older Americans have a higher poverty rate than those in other wealthy countries; by contrast, over a million people in France are striking to protest the government’s proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 to qualify for a full government pension.

The GOP is also considering a proposal for panels that would recommend changes to Social Security and Medicare, which are at risk of facing solvency issues in coming decades thanks in part to Republicans’ efforts to chip away at the program for years. This supposed solution would likely be crafted to ensure that the panel would suggest cuts to the program — but could be done in a way that makes it seem as though the GOP isn’t directly responsible for the cuts.

Cutting Social Security and Medicare could have disastrous consequences for middle- and lower-class Americans, who are already having trouble affording basic expenses like medical care. Social Security is the single most effective anti-poverty program by far in the U.S., even with payouts that are still too low to prevent poverty for many. Medicare is similarly an extremely effective anti-poverty program, and, importantly, helps millions of Americans afford medical care that would otherwise be out of reach.

“We have no choice but to make hard decisions,” said Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Oklahoma), who leads the Republican Study Committee, the largest House GOP caucus which endorsed the retirement benefit age last year. “Everybody has to look at everything.”

Democratic lawmakers have said that Republicans are focusing on Social Security solvency because they think cutting the program under President Joe Biden could hurt Democrats.

If they were truly worried about the funding of the program and maintaining its anti-poverty effects, Republicans could support efforts to make it so that the rich pay an equal share of their income into Social Security as the working class does, for instance; a proposal introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) last year to “scrap the cap” at which people’s incomes are taxed for the program would fully fund the program until 2096, while also upping payments by $2,400 a year.

Democrats in the House, meanwhile, have advocated for decreasing the Medicare eligibility age to 60 or even 55, which would provide tens of millions of people with easier access to health care.

Implementing a change like this would be popular among voters. Polling last year by Data for Progress found that a bipartisan majority of Americans support raising taxes on those making over $400,000 in order to fund Social Security expansion. Meanwhile, more recent polling by Data for Progress found that a majority of voters — Democrat, independent or Republican — say that Republicans should allow the debt limit to be raised without cuts to Social Security or Medicare.

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t-jfh · 8 months

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NDIS Minister Bill Shorten 'perplexed' controversial practices at Irabina Autism Services continued into last year.

By Anne Connolly

ABC TV - Four Corners

ABC News - 27 September 2023

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Anica has seen a lot in her job but this experience left her feeling ‘physically shaking’.

ABC Four Corners investigation prompts worker to come forward, saying controversial practices were still happening last year.

By Anne Connolly, Sacha Payne and Sian Johnson

ABC News - 27 September 2023

COMMUNITY WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT The following YouTube factual video contains graphic content that may disturb some viewers.

YouTube video >> How the NDIS is failing to protect people with disabilities | ABC TV Four Corners (Series 2023, Ep. 35) - Careless [Released 25 September 2023 / 50mins.+47secs.]:

youtube

Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme has transformed the lives of thousands of people, but Four Corners exposes criminals, opportunists and registered providers who have been overcharging and defrauding the system.

This episode also contains shocking video showing how a teenage boy with autism was treated during an NDIS-funded therapy session.

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Australia needs 'social transformation' to be 'truly inclusive', says disability royal commission.

Australia's biggest-ever investigation into the discriminatory treatment of people with disability has handed down its findings, and they make for sobering reading.

The disability royal commission has made 222 recommendations to reduce the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of the roughly one-in-five Australians who live with disability.

After more than four years of witness testimony and 'harrowing' evidence, the disability royal commission wants these changes. Here are the key takeaways.

By the Specialist Reporting Team's Evan Young and Leonie Thorne

ABC News - 29 September 2023

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The 10 key points from the Disability Royal Commission

By Natassia Chrysanthos

The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald - September 29, 2023

#Disabilities #Autism Spectrum Disorder #Health #Child health & behaviour #Health policy in Australia #NDIS - National Disability Insurance Scheme #Health administration #Disability health providers services & training #Cognitive behavioural therapies & methods #Disability discrimination exploitation & abuse #Australia’s Disability Royal Commission #Human rights #ABC News Australia #YouTube #The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald

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thedigitalhorizon · 9 months

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The Role of Technology in Modern Democracy: A Double-Edged Sword

In an era where the digital landscape is ever-evolving its inclufence on our lives in inescapable. From social networks that keep us connected 24/7, to platforms that have democratized knowledge, technology seems to be the driving force of modern society. But have you ever stopped to consider its impact on our democracy? Let's delve into the complex relationship between technology and modern democracy—a relationship that's both promising and fraught with peril.

Increased Accessibility: Democracy at Your Fingertips

One of the shining achievements of technology is how it has made democracy more accessible. Gone are the days when town hall meetings and door-to-door campaining were the only ways to engage with your community. Today, you can Tweet your local representative, participate in online forums, and even host digital petitions. Apps like Nextdoor and platforms like Change.org are empowering local communities to have a say in their governance.

Transparency and Accountability: Can Big Data Keep Big Brother in Check?

We often hear about "Big Data" in the context of marketing or even surveillance. But the flip side is that it can serve as a powerful tool for transparency. Various countries are implementing blockchain technology to ensure transparent voting systems. Moreover, data analytics can track how funds are used in public projects, rooting out corruption and fostering accountability.

Information Overload: The Dark Side of Digital Freedom

While it's amazing to have information at our fingertips, the downside is the sheer volume that we have to sift through. The rise of "fake news" and the spread of misinformation poses serious threats to an informed electorate. Recall the Cambridge Analytica scandal? It perfectly illustrates how information can be manipulated to subvert democratic processes.

Data Security: The Achilles Heel of Digital Democracy?

With great power comes great responsibility. This is especially true for technology’s role in safeguarding our democratic systems. From concerns about foreign interference in elections to alarming data leaks, digital democracy is vulnerable. It poses a difficult question: How can we balance the need for open, accessible systems with the need for security?

Automation and AI: Algorithmic Democracy or Digital Despotism?

Technology isn’t just limited to social media or data analytics; it also includes automation and AI. Estonia, for instance, uses a machine learning algorithm to allocate its police forces, leading to a dramatic reduction in crime rates. However, the use of algorithms for public decision-making also raises serious ethical concerns. Who writes the code? Who ensures it is free from bias?

Conclusion: The Road Ahead

So, is technology a boon or a bane for modern democracy? The answer, as with most things, is not black and white. Technology offers incredible opportunities for enhancing democratic processes but also introduces challenges that require vigilant oversight and ethical considerations.

The road ahead is filled with both challenges and opportunities. But one thing is clear: technology is here to stay, and it's up to us to ensure that we harness its immense power for the greater good of our democratic systems. After all, democracy is of the people, by the people, and for the people—even in the digital age.

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned to The Digital Horizon for more insights, tips, and recommendations on navigating the digital world.

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