Author: SeniorWomenWeb

Testimonies: Choosing to Work During Retirement & Extending the Bush Tax Cuts

This past week the Senate Finance Committee held hearings about two important issues, Choosing to Work During Retirement and the Impact on Social Security and The Future of Individual Tax Rates: Effects on Economic Growth and Distribution.

Here is some of the testimony from the ‘Work During Retirement issue from Stephen C. Goss, Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration:

Scenario 1: Increase Work at Age 62 and Older by 10 Percent
… labor force participation has declined generally for men and has risen for women since 1950 and 1970. Under the Trustees intermediate assumptions, participation rates are projected to rise in the future at age 65 and older, on an age adjusted basis, to levels closer to those experienced back in 1970 for males and to double the rates from 1970 for females.

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July 17, 2010
Scandal Sandals and Lady Slippers: A History of Delman Shoes

“Not since Cinderella’s slipper has such footwear magic been worked as in the exquisite designs of … Herman Delman. ” — Atlanta Daily World, 1952

The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City presented the Delman Shoe exhibit this past spring the first exhibition devoted to the Delman brand. Founded by Herman Delman in 1919 and today one of the oldest salon footwear brands in the United States, Delman’s glamorous, innovative, and classic shoes have been a cornerstone of the fashionable and quality-conscious woman’s wardrobe for the past 90 years.

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July 17, 2010
A blonde’s dark secret: How a seductive beauty changed into a demure lady, 300 years after she was painted.

The National Gallery in London is exploring the world of Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries. A painting acquired as a 15th-century work in 1923 was proven to be a 20th-century forgery after scientific analysis of the materials used.

Occasionally science also betrays the errors of past research. At the time of its purchase in 1845, A Man with a Skull was attributed to Hans Holbein. A recent analysis of the painting’s wooden panel support has shown that the work actually postdates the artist’s death.

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July 16, 2010
New Overdraft Rules, Credit Card Rules and Home Mortgage Public Hearings

The Federal Reserve is a destination for information that more of us should refer to. For instance July 15 was the first of four public hearings this year on potential revisions to Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The event was held July 15 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

HMDA requires lenders to provide detailed annual reports of their mortgage lending to regulators and the public. The hearings will help the Board gather information about whether its current regulations are working as intended and what changes might be needed.

But now to some other current news the Fed about new Bank Overdraft Rules:

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July 15, 2010
A guide to what the state ballots will be presenting to voters in 2010:

Stateline.org, a Pew Center on the States Project, has constructed a guide to what the state ballots will be presenting to voters in 2010:

“Voters in Missouri will get the nation’s first chance to weigh in on the federal health care law when they take up a measure August 3 that takes aim at the new mandate that everyone have insurance. Nationwide, more than 120 questions are slated to appear on statewide ballots this fall on topics ranging from property taxes to abortion. And there will be more: A number of states have yet to reach their filing deadlines. Below is a sampling of measures that have already qualified for the ballot. ” For instance:

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July 14, 2010
The Volcker Rule: Proposals to Limit “Speculative” Proprietary Trading by Banks

The Congressional Research Service provided a summary of their report prepared for Congress released on June 22 regarding The Volcker Rule, named for Paul Volcker who was the Fed Chairman from 1979 to 1987. The CRS does not release their reports directly to the public; the FAS collection of CRS reports primarily addresses national security, foreign policy and related topics. These reports are provided without CRS authorization as a public service.

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July 13, 2010
Take Me Out to the Ball Game

by Rose Madeline Mula

All my life I have lived within pitching distance of Fenway Park — well not quite, but never more than twenty miles from the Green Monster. Yet I have never attended a baseball game. The closest I’ve come is viewing an inning or two on TV when the Red Sox have been World Series contenders. Other than that, I’ve had zero interest. The old clichés come to mind — for me it’s like watching grass grow or paint dry. In other words, b-o-r-i-n-g!

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July 13, 2010
No Wimpy Wines: Zinfandel, Joel Peterson and Ravenswood Winery

by Sharon Kapnick

Joel Peterson’s appreciation of wine started at a young age. When he was just 10, he began tasting wine with the San Francisco Wine Sampling Club, which his dad founded. (Peterson’s elder son started making wine with him at age five, after visiting Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, one of the most prestigious vineyards in the world.) While still a teenager, Peterson was already knowledgeable about important European vineyards and vintages. After graduating from college, he wrote about wine.

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July 12, 2010
A Discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird

On the 50th anniversary of the famed book by Harper Lee, we consulted a National Endowment for the Arts ‘Big Read’ transcript of a radio show created in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services :

Dana Gioia: Today, we will visit Maycomb, Alabama, as we discuss the classic 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.

Anne Twomey reads from To Kill a Mockingbird…

“Scout,” said Atticus, “when summer comes you’ll have to keep your head about far worse things […] This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of the man’s conscience — Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.”

“Atticus, you must be wrong.…”

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July 12, 2010
What’s Going on with Young People Today? The Long and Twisting Path to Adulthood

The Future of Children is a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.

Authors: Richard A. Settersten Barbara Ray

Introduction

Becoming an adult has traditionally been understood as comprising five core transitions —leaving home, completing school, entering the workforce, getting married, and having children. Recent research on how young adults are handling these core transitions has yielded three important findings that contributors to this volume will explore in the pages to come. First, both in the United States and in many European countries, the process of becoming an adult is more gradual and varied today than it was half a century ago. Social timetables that were widely observed in that era no longer seem relevant, and young people are taking longer to achieve economic and psychological autonomy than their counterparts did then. Experiences in early adulthood now also vary greatly by gender, race and ethnicity, and social class.

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July 12, 2010