| Chemeketa show spotlights 14 artists nationwide
"American Portfolio V," a group show with 14 artists, opens Tuesday at the Chemeketa Community College Art Gallery. There will be a reception from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday for the show, which runs through March 9. Artists from across the country work in a variety of media, including video, fused glass, painting, photography, mixed media, digital prints and bronze. The artists simultaneously are exploring different themes and processes. This show offers a cross section of that work. Among them is Los Angeles artist Joanna Grasso, who creates video pieces stemming from her autobiography. She uses members of her own family as subjects to explore themes of community and memory. Kurumi Conley from Portland is a fused-glass artist. She makes bright, glass objects that push the fusing method to a very sophisticated level.
Do Americans Save Enough? It Depends on What Calculator You Use
Every week, one financial services firm or another releases findings of its latest retirement study: Americans aren't saving enough. The savings rate is abysmal. Americans keep up with the Joneses at the expense of their Golden Years. They borrow against their homes to pay for luxuries, and so forth. But is the situation as dire as most people think? A New York Times story on January 27 cited a handful of academics who think Americans are saving plenty -- too much, in many cases. So who is right? There is no definitive answer, says Olivia S. Mitchell, professor of insurance and risk management at Wharton and executive director of the school's Pension Research Council. Some studies, including one of her own, suggest Americans are not headed for the old-age catastrophe that many predict.
Research Looks at Ways To Protect Vulnerable Elderly From Social ...
With Social Security's trust funds facing depletion by 2040, many observers suggest partly addressing the projected deficit by raising the age at which workers can first receive retirement benefits. While a higher retirement age would bolster the system by reducing benefits and encouraging people to work longer, would it disproportionately hurt vulnerable populations, who generally do not live as long as other retirees and typically depend more on Social Security? New research from the Urban Institute's Retirement Policy Project says lifetime benefits for all groups would be lower, but less so for those with lower lifetime earnings and less education. The policy change would not disproportionately hit lower-income groups because the Social Security disability program provides some protection.
Empire marches on
Over two million dead and over three million rendered homeless thus constitute roughly 20 per cent of the population - and the process continues. The bulk of the country's intelligentsia has fled, and documented evidence exists to show that close to a thousand academic professionals, journalists, judges and doctors have been murdered. Tens of billions of dollars have disappeared into the coffers of the new, U.S.-made ruling elite, but the vast majority of the surviving population has been pauperised in a country that was once the Arab world's most advanced welfare state. Before the U.S. invasion, Iraq was also a highly secular polity; it is now a murderous cesspool of sectarian militias and communal strife in which a hundred corpses may be picked up from the streets of Baghdad on any given day, the daily toll of death across the country runs at roughly 1,000, and members of the Shia-administered Ministries may abduct members of the Sunni-administered Ministries.
The 'death trap' menacing middle Britain is a myth
As Gordon Brown finalises his budget, the bleatings of the "middle Britain" lobby are reaching a climax. The Daily Express and the Daily Mail compete in the virulence with which they denounce inheritance tax - the "death trap" as some ingenious subeditor has dubbed it. As a Labour peer I hope that the chancellor is going to show more backbone in resisting their blandishments than Tony Blair has ever shown, and here is why. First, let's get the facts clear. Inheritance tax is not a tax on middle Britain at all. It is a tax on the rich. To be liable for it, even in theory, you need to have more than £285,000 in assets. In the tax year 2006-07, only the top 6% of estates will be liable. .
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