Sunday, February 6, 2005

Retirement and Social Security These will be hot topics in 2005, given the Bush administration push to change the system that's been in place for the past 70 years. A recent story in the Washington Post gives a fascinating account of how the concept of retirement began, in Arizona in the 1950s, with the creation of Sun City. The population trends: more seniors who live longer and fewer young workers to pay to support their elders. Lots of ideas are now circulating: should higher income folks give up their SS pensions, should we invest a percentage of those pensions in private accounts, and should we find some other way to guarantee that seniors do not live in poverty, as they often did before 1935? Another trend, described in the WP article, is that many seniors are not "retiring" in the sense of vegetating, but opening up a third life by starting a new business or pursing a long-held dream. Me, I am hoping to visit New Zealand and write novels. What are your thoughts about retirement? 10:16:58 AM    comment []

Fighting Illini Basketball Sorry to repeat some previous entries, but my hard drive fried a few weeks ago, and I lost all the stuff I've written on this news site for the past 60 days! (I didn't realize that the files were on MY hard drive.) Anyway, the U of Illinois basketball team is number 1 in the nation, has a record of 29-0 as of 3/5/05, and is a strong bet to win the NCAA championship. (Hope I don't jinx them by saying all this.) I have caught them on TV a few times and they are a pleasure to watch: fast breaks, lots of passing and assists, a patterned offense that is more than run-and-gun, and a very tight defense. You may follow the team's current fortunes at Illini Basketball. Go Illinois! 10:00:51 AM    comment []

Comics, Chrome, and Coffee All right, my friends, enough sad news. Return with me to yesteryear and thrill to the wit and nostalgia of James Lileks, who maintains a hilarious website called Lileks.com. The two sections I like most are The Comics and Have a Seat! The first is a collection of his favorite comic strips from 1930-60, and the second a set of postcards from diners, restaurants, coffee shops of the same era. His comical comments on both architecture and ambience are priceless. Once in a while he goes off on a rant about how it's all been downhill since 1960, but then that's so true, right? 12:18:28 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 William Howarth. Last update: 3/8/05; 8:11:16 PM.