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Last week, the Social Security Trust Fund report was released. One of its more telling charts was of the trend in Social Security revenue. Social Security revenue comes from a tax on the wages of earners, paid by both employees and employers. So, essentially it tracks the level of employment. Based on the simple trend of revenues from 1990 to 2007, just before the Great Recession started, 2012 revenue would have been $899.4 billion; instead, it was $840 billion. That gap means less money to build up the Social Security Trust Fund than expected. The trustees do not break down the revenue by the age of workers, but based on the dramatically lower employment experience of young workers, the bulk of that gap reflects the lost wages of young people.
The Obama administration is defending the policy of gathering phone records from American citizens while neither confirming nor denying a report that the National Security Agency is collecting information regarding communications by Verizon customers.Such information has been “a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats,” a senior Obama administration official said.“On its face...
The judge overseeing the upcoming trial of George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin last year in Florida, will hear Thursday from experts who could testify about a 911 call from the night of the shooting.Screams and a gunshot can be heard on a recording of the call. Lawyers for Zimmerman are seeking to prevent voice analysts hired by the prosecution from t...
The White House is defending the practice of gathering phone records from American citizens while neither confirming nor denying a report that the National Security Agency is collecting information regarding communications by Verizon customers.Such information has been “a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats,” a senior Obama administration official said.“On its face, the o...
A former Air Force drone operator who says he participated in missions that killed more than 1,600 people remembers watching one of the first victims bleed to death.Brandon Bryant says he was sitting in a chair at a Nevada Air Force base operating the camera when his team fired two missiles from their drone at three men walking down a road halfway around the world in Afghanistan. The missiles hit ...
