Friday, May 17, 2013

Insurers Stray From the Conservative Line on Climate Change - NYTimes.com

Insurers Stray From the Conservative Line on Climate Change - NYTimes.com
"And the industry expects the situation will get worse. “Numerous studies assume a rise in summer drought periods in North America in the future and an increasing probability of severe cyclones relatively far north along the U.S. East Coast in the long term,” said Peter Höppe, who heads Geo Risks Research at the reinsurance giant Munich Re. “The rise in sea level caused by climate change will further increase the risk of storm surge.” Most insurers, including the reinsurance companies that bear much of the ultimate risk in the industry, have little time for the arguments heard in some right-wing circles that climate change isn’t happening, and are quite comfortable with the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels is the main culprit of global warming."

Rising & Falling Home Prices in the USA | The Big Picture

Rising & Falling Home Prices in the USA | The Big Picture

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Average US Retirement Age Is 61--And Rising - Yahoo! Finance

Average US Retirement Age Is 61--And Rising 
"The average non-retired American now plans to retire at 66, up from 60 in 1995, according to the Gallup survey....The trend to retire older started in the 1990s...."

Monday, May 13, 2013

Markets Erode Morals, Let People Do Horrible Things: Study

Markets Erode Morals, Let People Do Horrible Things: Study
"Formerly public institutions have been privatized, including the warehousing of human beings in prisons, as The Huffington Post's Chris Kirkham has documented extensively. People get the names of casinos and porn sites tattooed on their faces. Pension plans have been replaced by market-based 401(k)s, which gradually eat away at retirement security. Some would like to replace social programs like Medicare and Social Security with market-based accounts. Satisfying the god of the free market has led to widening income inequality, with soaring stocks and stagnant wages."