Media

More and more Americans are spending their golden years racking up debt—a trend that if left unchecked could derail entitlement reform and alter the traditional pattern of wealth being transferred from older to younger generations.

For the past several decades, millions of senior citizens have been able to enjoy relatively safe retirements, in part due to a lifetime of savings, private pensions, Social Security, Medicare, and home ownership.

The company an employee works for makes all the difference. Over the course of a 40-year career, workers at some companies lose tens of thousands of dollars in 401(k) fees and earnings -- sometimes more than double the savings lost by workers at other firms, according to an exclusive analysis of about 2,300 company 401(k) plans by FutureAdvisor, an online financial adviser.

A few decades ago, students in most places could go to a state university for next to nothing. We all know that's now ancient history. But less appreciated is how much public tuition costs have increased in just the past few years, amid an epic state budget crisis. The chart below shows the huge spike in costs.

Lotteries are often competitions for something fun, like extra money or prizes. But for thousands of Tennessee residents who have escalating medical bills, their lives almost literally depend on a twice-yearly telephone lottery for people who need help paying medical bills, but while poor, do not quite qualify for TennCare, Tennessee's version of Medicaid. They must call a hotline so popular that its 2,500 call limit is reached in an hour or less. And that's only for requesting an application for the extra funding.

It's no secret that wealthy people have a lot more clout when it comes to politics and civic life. They are more likely to vote, contact their representatives, belong to advocacy organizations, and -- of course -- contribute to politicians, parties, and PACs. Compared to ordinary folks, many of the wealthy are "super citizens." 

If the speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives gets his way, residents of his state will soon notice a barrage of advertisements promoting the benefits of marriage.

A new report by Professors Benjamin Page, Larry Bartels, and Jason Seawright presents the findings from one of the first studies of its kind—a study of the political clout and policy preferences of the wealth. Based on a pilot study of Chicagoans with a mean wealth of 14 million, "Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans" shows that the wealthiest Americans not only are the most politically active, but have a different set of policy priorities.

— Speaking of my employer, Demos finds Politico running an op-ed from Columbia Business School professor Charles M.

Sen. President Donald Williams and 23 other Democratic Senators were cross-endorsed in the 2012 election by both the Democratic party and a third party, but Williams proposed getting rid of the cross-endorsement system Monday because he says it causes confusion for voters.

He told the General Administration and Elections Committee that 44 states have no ability to cross endorse a candidate. He said it’s confusing for voters to have the same candidate appear on two lines on the ballot and could cause problems such as overvoting.