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CHICAGO – They’re antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance too. Sounds like Gen Y, the so-called “entitlement generation,” right? Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they’re also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X. They’re the 32- to 44-year-olds who are wedged between...

CHICAGO -- They're antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance, too. Sounds like Gen Y, the so-called "entitlement generation," right? Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they're also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X. They're the 32- to 44-year-olds who are wedged between...

It’s bad enough that President Obama could not be bothered to attend the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But Hillary Clinton’s refusal to even acknowledge the role played by Ronald Reagan in the Wall’s demise as well as the downfall of Communism was highly insulting towards one of the greatest figures of our time, and reeked of petty and partisan mean-spiritedness. The Secretary of State’s remarks yesterday in Berlin completely erased from history the huge contribution played not only by President Reagan but also by the United States in confronting the Soviet Empire....

Pop group A-ha have announced they are to call it a day, just months after achieving a top 10 album in the UK. "We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale," the group, which formed 25 years ago, said. The trio added that the split would allow them to pursue "other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else". The Norwegian band scored international hits with The Sun Always Shines On TV and Take On Me in the 1980s. Their most recent album, Foot Of The Mountain, marked a return to their synth-pop roots after a...

On November 3, Sub Pop will reissue Nirvana's classic 1989 debut Bleach. The 20th anniversary deluxe edition, which will be available on CD and 180 gram white vinyl, will include a complete live recording of a 1990 gig at Portland's Pine Street Theatre. Bleach producer Jack Endino mixed the previously unreleased show from the original tapes. Now, we've got one track from it. Endino really did a hell of a job on "Scoff", which sounds about a million percent crispier than your average live recording. Kurt Cobain's voice here is even more ragged than on the Bleach version, if that's...

Entitlements: That day when Social Security pays out more in benefits than it takes in with payroll taxes is no longer years away. It's here now. Reform, alas, is not. It's widely known that Social Security is headed for deep financial problems. But mainly because projections didn't have the program running deficits until almost 2020, there's been little urgency to make changes in the system. Typical. Politicians are generally inclined to avoid making decisions on such difficult issues. When President Bush proposed a partial privatization plan four years ago, Congress deferred because most members figured they wouldn't be in office...

Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Area Junior High School Students November 14, 1988 The President. You know, this is a real treat for me -- having you here and to have, in a little while, the chance to answer some of your questions. Let me also offer a special hello to those of you who are watching on C-SPAN and -- or the Instructional Television Network. Thank you for inviting us into your home or your school today. This marks the beginning of American Education Week, and I'm particularly pleased to be talking to American students in this, the first in...

Many baby boomers (Americans in the generation born between 1946 and 1964) are continuing to use illicit drugs as they grow older, causing the rate of illicit drug use to go up within the 50 to 59 year old age segment of the population. According to a new analytical publication produced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), those aged 50 to 59 reporting use of illicit drugs within the past year has nearly doubled from 5.1 percent in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2007 while rates among all other age groups are statistically staying the same...

[...] Perhaps as early as this year, Social Security, at $680 billion the nation's biggest social program, will be transformed from an operation that's helped finance the rest of the government for 25 years into a cash drain that will need money from the Treasury. In other words, a bailout. [...] Unlike the pigs feeding at Uncle Sam's trough, the people who qualify for Social Security old-age benefits -- the ones who'll benefit from the bailout -- have played by the rules and paid Social Security taxes for decades. It would be immoral to tell them, "Sorry, we have to...

The sad news of the death of former correspondent and newscaster Walter Cronkite gripped the entire nation last week and continues to do so. Many generations are grieving for the man who brought the truth of living history into our homes and into our lives. Each generation has its own vision of the man who became affectionately known as “Uncle” Walter. To the older generations, born during the Great Depression and prior, he first gained national attention by reporting firsthand on the struggle of World War II. His coverage of the war included North Africa and Europe, where he participated...

The Minivan Celebrates 25 Years Picture the American automotive landscape without the minivan. There was a time that no such vehicle existed here, although it's difficult to imagine. Chrysler invented the front-wheel-drive minivan that debuted in the fall of 1983 as the 1984 Dodge Caravan and the Plymouth Voyager. Here's the story that led to the creation of this entirely new type of vehicle. As much as the minivan continues to be one of the most important vehicles on the road (over 500,000 minivans are sold in the U.S. each year), it's lost a lot of luster to the popular...

CAIRO – Iran clamped down Tuesday on independent media in an attempt to control images of election protests, but pictures and videos leaked out anyway — showing how difficult it is to shut off the flow of information in the Internet age. The restrictions imposed by the government made such social-networking sites as Twitter and Flickr more prominent — with even the U.S. State Department calling on Twitter to put off a scheduled shutdown for maintenance. Iranians were posting items online, but it wasn't known how much of that information was being seen by others inside the country. And although...

370 Beech Street, Highland Park, IL 4 Bed, 4 Bath | 5,300 Sq Ft on 0.75 Acres $2,3000,000. THE BEN ROSE HOME-site of the famous movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", cantilevered over the ravine, these two steel and glass buildings, which can never be duplicated, have incredible vistas of the surrounding woods. This is a unique property designed by A. James Speyer and David Haid, both notable architects of the 20th Century. Estate Sale Sold -No disclosures! This is an amazing architectural treasure.

As a working American, you have paid roughly 12% of all your earnings into Social Security. Is this your money? In my opinion it certainly is. The government took it from you with the promise that it would manage it wisely for you and provide for your future retirement. Please underscore that last part: the government took your money because it deemed itself more capable than you for providing for you in your golden years. Let us begin with the assertion, then, that this is your money. Upon your retirement the government owes it to you, with interest. The trouble...

So you may have heard that ABC is doing a remake of the 80s television miniseries, "V". Trailer is at the link above. What's interesting is the angle: Devotion is the weapon, a carefully crafted message from the Visitors of Change and Hope. And a good-looking, charismatic spokeperson, with demands for a perfectly controlled image. I wonder if ABC realizes JUST how subversive it is, especially as the bloom comes off the Administration. It's even identified by a single letter. And, of course, the bringers of Change and Hope are hiding their true face, and have sinister ambitions. Sound familiar...

Isn't it high time America did less for the elderly? A politically incorrect question for sure. But Medicare has an astounding $34-trillion unfunded liability. And because of rising unemployment, its hospital-stay program will go broke two years earlier than previously predicted. For my recent ABC special "You Can't Even Talk About It", I spoke with residents of La Posada, a development in Florida that made Forbes's list of top 10 "ritzy" retirement communities. These folks are well off. And they get a bonus: You pay for most of their health care under Medicare. The retirees love it. Everyone likes getting...

Author Mark Bauerlein aims to provoke in his new book, "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future" (Tarcher/Penguin). Do you agree? Take a look at eight reasons the Emory University English professor gives to ''not trust anyone under 30'' -- see which you think is the best. Disagree, or have your own spin? Have your say on this message board. Or see if Bauerlein answered your question directly in a chat from Wednesday, May 14. 1. They make excellent "Jaywalking'' targetsBauerlein writes: "The ignorance is hard to believe ... It isn't enough to...

I would like to share, with you, my friends and fellow Freepers, a quite remarkable, somewhat complicated, and very personal experience in hopes you will find it as fascinating as I do! Also, I would like to hear your thoughts, comments and recollections, and perhaps learn of similar experiences. The other day I awoke with an absolutely wonderful, driving, soaring pop song in my head, a song I had never before given any thought to, and which I had not heard in a very long time: Synchronicity II by The Police (1983). If you don't know the song, here it...

"HOPE I DIE BEFORE I GET OLD" always seemed to be the retirement-planning credo of Baby Boomers. It seems like ages ago, but just back in October 2007, Kiplinger's was featuring a cover story shouting, "Retire Rich," a theme favored by finance-magazine editors nearly as often then as "New Sex Secrets" or the like got plastered on the front of the likes of Cosmopolitan. Both are probably equally fictional, though I have not researched the latter. Most likely, it's doubtful there are any revelations on either score. Retiring rich requires the discipline to save along with discipline, diversified asset allocation...

Report on Social Security and Medicare could be bleakerStory By: Associated Press Updated Tue May 12, 2009, 06:44 AM MDT Analysts say today's release of a report card on Social Security and Medicare won't be anything to celebrate. Analysts think this year's trustees' report will project the two trust funds will run out of money sooner than projected a year ago, thanks in part to the worst recession in decades and resulting high unemployment. The economic downturn has resulted in a loss of 5.7 million payroll jobs since it began in December 2007 and an unemployment rate that hit a...

Remember the looming Social Security crisis? If you don’t, you’re not alone. The credit crisis and economic downturn have monopolized public attention to such an extent that the Social Security crisis that was at the center of the policy debate during President George W. Bush’s second term now seems forgotten. This is unfortunate, for not only has Social Security not been fixed, but reform, if done right by tapping into the power of the market, can help provide new capital, which American businesses now desperately need. To see how this could be done, it’s worth looking at the experience of...

Here's the good news: future costs of Social Security and Medicare won't require higher taxes. Now here's the bad news: the reason these programs won't require higher taxes is that they'll be so expensive that there's no possible way to pay for them through taxes. Everything in the US (not counting people) is worth about $50 trillion and those two programs will cost $80 trillion, unless they are reformed. Wharton insurance and risk management professor Kent Smetters, a former deputy assistant Treasury secretary and economist for the Congressional Budget Office, explains that the only way for these problems to survive...

Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ has topped a new poll of ‘The Greatest Albums of all Time’. The 1982 hit notched up almost one in three of all votes cast by more than 40,000 fans, and 20 percent more than its nearest rival. Paying tribute to the king of pop, DJ Trevor Nelson said there would probably never be another album like it. “Thriller was innovative, groundbreaking and is timeless. I don’t think there will be another album like it - ever,” the Daily Star quoted him, as saying. In the poll, conducted by music channel MTV, Craig David’s ‘Born To Do...

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better. Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better. Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not...

Don't ask why I do it. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. I love to patrol the liberal blogs to get a glimpse at their thought process, or lack of which. I drop a comment from time to time, which normally kicks off a flurry of name calling, hair pulling, and all sorts of other forms of serious debate. Today's waste of time was spent on FireDogLake, where they seem to have a problem with Paul Ryan's comments regarding the future of Social Security. Keep in mind one thing: liberals love them some social security.

It's official! New Line is developing a feature film based on "MacGyver." The daughter of Dino De Laurentiis, Raffaella De Laurentiis, is producing the film through her Raffaella Prods. And Mister Laurentiis is taking the role of executive producer. According to a recent poll, "MacGyver" beat "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "24" as America's favorite TV action hero! So can "MacGyver" be a global franchise? New Line's Richard Brener says, "We think we're a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise."

Compact discs weren't always impromptu drink coasters. Once, in the not-so-distant past, they played music, contained pictures, and let people play video games with tacked-on FMV sequences. And today, the venerable CD turned 30. Happy birthday! 1979-2009.Thirty years. Pretty amazing that it's been that long since those crazy Dutchmen at Philips spun the technology off of laser discs as part of an optical digital audio disc demo in Eindhoven.Of course, the CD didn't immediately take off right then and there. It needed a little help from Sony, which worked with Philips to get the format standardized. The standard they named...

As a successful playwright this woman should have the world at her feet. So why, at 36, does she feel bitterly unfulfilled?Though I never thought I would be saying this, being a free woman isn't all it's cracked up to be. Is that the rustle of taffeta I hear as the suffragettes turn in their grave? Very possibly. My mother - a film-maker - was a hippy who kept a pile of dusty books by Germaine Greer and Erica Jong by her bedside. (Like every good feminist, she didn't see why she should do all the cleaning.) She imbued me...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up to combat fraudulent practices. The SEC's website explains that "Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s." It goes on to say, "Decades later, the Ponzi scheme continues to work on the 'rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul' principle, as money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses." That is how the SEC described the recent Bernard Madoff $50 billion Ponzi scheme, "a...

During the past couple of weeks, the Washington media and political establishment have focused on such matters of crucial and lasting importance as President Barack Obama’s possible “overexposure,” whether he showed suitable affect by chuckling during a TV interview in a time of severe economic difficulty, and just when he became angry about the bonuses received by American International Group executives. To be fair, the focus on trivialities is bipartisan. We have also been treated to several days of discussion about whether conservatives Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter or moderate Meghan McCain have the appropriate body shapes for Republican women....

Two months shy of its 150th birthday, the Rocky Mountain News breathes its last. Elsewhere, the state of Minnesota shifts tax money from retraining manufacturing workers, to helping newspaper staff connect with an online audience. Before the World Wide Web, I was one of those journalists in training. As fate would have it, the year I graduated in 1993, an invention called the web browser would soon change everything. While starting my career as a journalist for a pauper’s salary, my brother emails me something that blows my mind. It’s called Netscape Navigator and allows people to share “web pages”...

The new Jason Voorhees is coming this Friday in Friday the 13th, and a new Freddy Krueger is not far behind. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, A Nightmare on Elm Street is being remade by first-time director Samuel Baye, who has given us music videos like "No Rain" from Blind Melon and the classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana. The script reportedly draws heavily from the original film and not the sequels. Casting for the clawed Freddy, who invades the dreams of his victims, is underway. Though there may be a guest spot for Robert Englund, he will...

There is a natural flow regarding the work force. New workers enter the workforce as old workers retire or simply die. This is most keenly seen in such industries as aviation. The FAA, in its never-ending work to ensure the industry stays in its glory days of the 1940s, refuses to acknowledge any advances in medicine since 1945 and forces airline pilots to retire at age 65 (until recently it was 60). This forcible removal from the aviation industry of its best and most accomplished pilots has, on the other hand, the salutatory effect of allowing a steady stream of...

With his soft voice and unassuming manner, Mark Bauerlein seems an unlikely prospect for penning an ostentatious book like The Dumbest Generation. The title immediately brings to mind the Greatest Generation, the idol of 20th century American history that weathered the Great Depression, beat the Nazis at Normandy, and brought us swing music. But the generation that Bauerlein writes of is very different. Ignorant of politics and government, art and music, prose and poetry, the Dumbest Generation is content to turn up its iPods and tune out the realities of the adult world. It is brash, pampered, young, and dumb...

They say life improves with every decade, so good news for the thirtysomethings amongst us, after a new survey reveals women feel at their most beautiful aged 32. After leaving behind acne in our teens, insecurities and heartbreak in our twenties, once we hit our early thirties, we feel the most comfortable in our own skin. Nearly 40% of women quizzed on how they feel about their looks said they felt most attractive at 32 – and they’re in good company with celebs including Liv Tyler, Sophie Dahl and Sarah Michelle Gellar all entering their 32nd year in 2009. Women...

Robert MorleyColumnist The United Ponzi States of America January 20, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com If you thought Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was bad, don’t look now, but you’re in one. Robert Morley Anyone can work a simple swindle. But you need to be a special kind of con man to bilk billions from otherwise intelligent people. Bernard L. Madoff was one such man. Charles Ponzi was another. But the biggest fraud and scam master of all goes by the name of Uncle Sam. Just what does a person have to do to make his name synonymous with fraud? Charles Ponzi, the...

Back in 1984 everybody cut "Footloose. Just admit it. We all did the dance. We all knew every move. And we all had a crush on Kevin Bacon. Now, 25 years later, with the news that Zac Efron is slated to star in the 2010 remake (and Bacon considering a cameo), we look back at the original cast members and the blockbuster hits, surprising career twists, as well as tragedy that have followed in their post-'Footloose' careers.

[F]ewer human beings would mean fewer mouths to feed. It would also mean fewer entrepreneurs, fewer pioneers, fewer problem solvers. Which is why it is not an increase but the coming decrease in human population that should engender foreboding. For as Phillip Longman, a scholar of demographics and economics at the New America Foundation, observes, "Never in history have we had economic prosperity accompanied by depopulation." And depopulation, like it or not, is just around the corner. That is the central message of a compelling new documentary, Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family. Longman is one of numerous...

Generation L and its fearful future By Gideon Rachman Published: January 12 2009 19:11 | Last updated: January 12 2009 19:11 Pop sociologists like to divide people born since 1945 into different groups. There are the baby boomers, there is Generation X, we may even be on to Generation Y by now. But, as far as I am concerned, we are all members of Generation L – that is, L as in lucky. Those of us born in western Europe or the US have never really experienced hard times. Our parents and grandparents lived through world wars and the Great...

NEW YORK-When George W. Bush lifts off in his helicopter on Inauguration Day, leaving Washington to make way for Barack Obama, he may not be the only thing disappearing on the horizon. To a number of social analysts, historians, bloggers and ordinary Americans, Jan.20 will symbolize the passing of an entire generation: the baby boomer years.

New online program can replace trip to a field office WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration, envisioning the near-future prospect of 10,000 baby boomers applying for benefits every day, has put together a new online service that will allow people to get their benefits without ever traveling to a Social Security field office. The agency, in introducing the program Tuesday, said most people will be able to apply for their retirement or disability benefits in 15 minutes or less.

As others have noted, the Catholic-school movie Doubt (like the play) is kind of a Rorschach test that leaves audiences forming conclusions based on their preconceptions. The film, set in 1964, pits a disciplinarian nun (Meryl Streep) against a “the-Church-needs-to-change” priest (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) over his abuse of a child. But having seen it, I think the movie version is open to several interpretations: 1. It might be a “Gay message movie.” (Spoiler alert!) We meet a boy who is misunderstood and abused because of his homosexuality (“God made him that way,” explains his mother. “We’re talking about actions, not...

THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS The “audacity of hope” seemed to rear in a cruel twist last week in India: a father and a daughter, caught in the clatter of chaos, on a pilgrimage for peaceful balance cut short by the complexity of events which challenge even the most stoic of philosophers. A paradox called synchronicity: the underlying organization of a collective existence and probabilities, better explained by the Jungian and Gaussian theorists, but experienced by all. As life on twenty-first century Earth is assaulted from every angle, most of western thought continues the lineal path annoyed by inconvenience but thankful...

Fans of the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” are celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary with a convention and trips to the house where the movie was made. The 1983 film, an adaptation of Jean Shepard’s memoir of a boy in the 1940s, was set in Indiana but largely filmed in Ohio. The movie starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it. It eventually joined “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street” as a Christmas classic. “It’s...

This was his last presidential address to the nation from the white House http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=92OX2-BSOrU&feature=related http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Z-nN1YB5A&feature=related

The love of chrome-and-glass modern restaurants is probably due to one place, which I’ve mentioned before – the Erie Jr. in Detroit Lakes, MN. It had a counter, a high ceiling, plastic booths in vivid hues, a roof that looked like it space ships could dock in the back, and it had that space-age vibe that shimmered off so many new things when I was very young. We had a keen sense of the future then; we knew the toys we had today would be the tools of the future. You know how you put your hand out the window...

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008 AT 10:54 AM "Punk Rock Republicans" POSTED BY MEGHAN I am often asked what my favorite band of all time is, and for me it is an incredibly difficult decision - almost impossible. However, if I had to pick a band, it would probably be The Ramones. I have been a fan since around sixth grade when I first heard the song "I Want To Be Sedated" on the radio and was immediately hooked (I even had my first kiss while "Beat on the Brat" was playing in the background). The power, impact and influence of...

The rate of suicide in the United States has risen for the first time in a decade and middle-age white men and women are driving the increase, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy.

Revisiting The Organization Man Men today aren’t joiners. They’re disillusioned and cynical about society’s organizations. Politics? Riddled with corruption. Corporations? Run by greedy bastards. Church? Brimming with hypocrites. Fraternal lodges? Just a bunch of old fogies. Men in contemporary society prefer to remain aloof and apathetic, criticizing these organizations from the outside. For many men, manliness has been equated with rugged individuality; the man who does his own thing and associates as little as possible with other people. So is belonging to an organization even desirable? Is it possible to be a part of a group without killing your manliness?...

The Lost Country Mad for nostalgia? Don't be. By Rod Dreher, October 8, 2008 The most emblematic scene in “Mad Men,” the justly acclaimed serial drama now in its second season on the American Movie Channel, concluded an episode in September. Father Gill, an idealistic young Jesuit priest serving in 1962 Brooklyn, methodically removed all his priestly garments as he prepared for bed. It was as if he were divesting himself of armor, deconstructing a façade. Wearing his undershirt and his trousers, the priest sat on the edge of his bed, picked up his guitar, and thrashed out an impassioned...