Music From a By-Gone Era

Billy Joel come said that he once heard that justice was blind. He just hoped it wasn’t deaf.

Listening to the radio these days, a lot of us wish we were deaf. When music just consists of ‘techno-rifs’ generated by computers and singers that lip-synch and don’t play their own instruments, it leaves many of us boomers yearning for music from the Woodstock days, when music was REAL!!!!

That’s why the new music page on http://www.FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com will be such a welcome change from the ‘music’ that gets played on the airways these days. It is a breath of fresh air and a reminder of when you never trusted anyone over 30.

Warm Regards,

Mark A. Bowman

President
FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com
By Baby Boomers…For Baby Boomers
http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com/
mark@FreeSCS.com

Health Overhaul

This is a recent news article relating to the administration's attempt to overhaul the nations health care system. We want to hear from your thoughts on the debate at:

info@freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers from both parties are telling the White House they will go on vacation next month and leave behind — and incomplete — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

White House officials sought a massive reworking of the nation's health care system before Congress left on August recess, but key lawmakers signaled on Sunday the administration would be disappointed. Work was set to continue Monday on the Senate's version, although officials acknowledge they are far from finished with a plan that could cost taxpayers trillions over the next decade and reshape how Americans receive care.

"Well, we don't expect it to be signed into law by the August recess," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "But we expect the House and Senate to have passed bills, yes."

The same bill? Unlikely.

The White House's strategy to leave the legislative back-and-forth to Congress has produced varying and sometimes contradictory versions of health care legislation — along with delays. As the Senate turns its attention to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, the focus on that side of the Capitol will turn away from Obama's top domestic priority.

The administration's Democratic partners in Congress hinted they would not deliver legislation before leaving town for an August recess.Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Obama should be pleased with lawmakers' progress; Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said "there really is plenty of time."

The delay would be a blow to the White House and to Democrats' electoral prospects.

The House and Senate are working toward legislation that would deliver on Obama's popular goals from his presidential campaign, but they are hardly in unison. House Democrats have proposed raising taxes on wealthy Americans to pay for the plan. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, have tried to calm moderate and conservative lawmakers about a proposal that could guarantee tough re-election bids.

Republicans, seizing on an issue that affects all Americans and has shown a glimmer of hope for an out-of-power political party, have lambasted the proposals as rash and irresponsible. They also see the issue as a way to win House and Senate seats in the 2010 midterm elections.

"There is no chance that it's going to be done by August," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "President Obama was right about one thing: He said if it's not done quickly, it won't be done at all. Why did he say that? Because the longer it hangs out there, the more the American people are skeptical, anxious and even in opposition to it."

Obama's Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, tried to calm fears Democrats would tax some employer-provided health care benefits as income. She said the details are far from finished.

"Well, the House has a version," she said, discounting any version as final. "There are a couple of different proposals being worked on in the Senate."

Schumer appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Stabenow, Conrad and Sebelius spoke with CNN's "State of the Union." Kyl appeared on ABC's "This Week."

Warm Regards,

Mark A. Bowman

President
FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com
By Baby Boomers…For Baby Boomers
http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com/
mark@FreeSCS.com

Overlooking the largest group in history

I feel with all the other things going on in the world we are overlooking a huge impending group we need to reach out to. This huge group is our baby boomers with one hundred million strong.

This huge group of us needs to see how our aging at this time will affect everything in our country in the near future. I could fill a page with these effects; however it is ALL across the board. Thus I have started www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com and will make sure I stand up for the one largest group in our history. I believe we need a sub group to address this situation and I would love to continue my efforts. Please give me any and all of your feedback which will let me keep going on this tremendous undertaking.

Warm Regards,

Mark A. Bowman

President
FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com
By Baby Boomers…For Baby Boomers
http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com/

mark@freescs.com

And on the lighter side of things.....

No Cost-of-Living Raise?!?!?!? We want your feedback

NO COST-OF-LIVING RAISE? IS IT AN OUTRAGE?

Here is a sample of the outrage over word that, for the first time, there won't be a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), a raise, in Social Security benefits for the next two years - January 2010 and 2011 - because the cost of living isn't rising.

George Billy of Massapequa: "Are they kidding or what about zero inflation? Where are they getting their data from - Mars?"

James C. Nicholas, Diamond, Ohio: "Everything has gone up in the last year. What about gas increasing, insurance increasing until we are almost forced to cancel? Prescription drugs increasing? This makes me sick."

Charlie and Peg Firth, of Vero Beach, Fla.: "The cost of everything we need to buy has gone up, food, gas, electric, rent, home insurance. Congress spends billions on bailouts but the senior citizen who worked gets nothing."

The subject has been debated in Congress and among economists almost since 1972, when President Richard Nixon signed the law providing for an automatic COLA each year, based on the rate of inflation. That made Social Security the only defined benefit pension with inflation protection. Now, beneficiaries are questioning that protection. Let me explain what's happened.
The official measure of inflation comes from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And based on the CPI, the COLA has given Social Security beneficiaries yearly raises averaging 2.5 percent for the past 10 years, ranging from a low of 1.4 percent in 2002 to a record 5.8 percent last year, starting this past January, which was greeted with cheers.

Actually there are three different CPIs:

The CPI-U, for urban consumers, the CPI-W (which is the one that is used for all wage earners and clerical workers) and the CPI-E, which stands for "experimental." Many think it stands for "elder" because it's limited to people 62 and older and was designed to see if their costs of living differed from other wage earners.

The Consumer Expenditure Survey, from which the CPIs are compiled, monitors a vast array of prices for food, transportation, medical care, education, utilities and virtually every other service. Each category is weighted for each group; medical care is weighted heavily for older people; education costs for younger wage earners who likely have children in school.

According to Social Security, a COLA "is equal to the percentage increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the next." Last year, with the onset of the recession, when some prices went down, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that inflation, overall, was so minimal there would be no COLA this January or next (see ssa.gov/OACT/COLA).

But the "overall" inflation rates may be flawed, said Shawn McMahon, a researcher on the subject for the nonpartisan Wider Opportunities for Women. During this past quarter, he said, "Food, housing and medical costs have all increased by approximately 4 percent. Elders are correctly seeing continued increases in their most basic expenses. The costs elders face are also dependent on where they live, their housing status and their health."

Some elder organizations have lobbied for the bureau to use the CPI-E, which they believe is weighted toward the more typical spending among older people for health care and food. But over a 25-year-period, the bureau says, there was little difference between the CPI-E, which rose at 3.3 percent, and the increases of 3.1 percent and 3 percent, for the CPI-U and CPI-W, respectively.

But the tables from 1983 through 2007 show several years in which the CPI-E had the highest cost increases but none where it was the lowest. Moreover, there were more years when the costs of food, medicine and health care were considerably higher than other costs.
McMahon said the bureau "uses the same stores, the same goods, the same prices for all inflation measures. These may not represent elder consumption patterns as well as they should." But the bureau counters that the CPI-E sample, limited to people over 62, is too small to be accurate and should be used "with caution."

Senior advocates and lawmakers have suggested changing the bureau's methods; many federal poverty programs depend on the CPI. McMahon's group, advocates on women's economic issues, has created an "elder index," which, he says, monitors actual costs at local levels, along with the CPI data. Their aim is to get Congress to adopt a true "economic security index" for all families, including the elderly. See wowonline.org /ourprograms/fess. Meanwhile, with the prices of fuel and medicines rising again, the outrage among older consumers continues.


Warm Regards,

Mark A. Bowman

President
FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com
By Baby Boomers…For Baby Boomers
http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com/
mark@FreeSCS.com

I feel with all the other things going on in the world....

I feel with all the other things going on in the world we are overlooking a huge impending group we need to reach out to....

I feel with all the other things going on in the world we are overlooking a huge impending group we need to reach out to. This huge group is the baby boomers, one hundred million strong.

This massive group needs to see how our aging at this time will affect everything in our country in the near future. I could fill a page with these effects; however it is ALL across the board, from Social Security and Medicare to local housing and caregiving issues.

This is why I have just started http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com and will make sure I STAND UP for the largest group of people in the history of our world. I believe we need a sub group to address this situation and I would love to continue my efforts and discussions there.

Please give me any and all of your feedback which will enable me to continue this noble undertaking.

‘Yesterday's just a memory, tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be’-Bob Dylan

We want to hear your thoughts regarding our feelings. Please contact us with your feedback.


Warm Regards,

Mark A. Bowman

President
FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com
By Baby Boomers…For Baby Boomers
http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com/
mark@FreeSCS.com

The REAL meaning of the 4th of July

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying.. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Warm Regards,

Mark A. Bowman

President
FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com
By Baby Boomers…For Baby Boomers
http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com/
mark@FreeSCS.com

Caregiving Tips for Boomers: 5 Tips for Decreasing the Cost of Caring for Elderly Parents

Caregiving Tips for Boomers: 5 Tips for Decreasing the Cost of Caring for Elderly Parents
by: Vicki Rackner MD


Over 30 million Baby Boomers provide countless hours of assistance to elderly parents at no charge. It is estimated that, using average hourly wages, the total amount of this uncompensated care is comparable to the entire Medicare budget. For the estimated 7 million Boomers who provide long distance care, actual out of pocket expenses amount to almost $5,000 per month. For caregivers who have, or are considering leaving the workforce to care for an ailing parent, the costs are even greater over $650,000 in forfeited salaries, benefits and pensions.

This stark economic reality shows only one dimension of the price caregivers pay for this act of love.

Caregivers pay with losses that extend well beyond their bank accounts. They often forego the activities that bring joy and richness to their lives, like meeting friends for dinner, or going out to the movies or taking family vacations. They pay with their time, the loss of professional opportunities and the erosion of personal relationships that result in isolation.

Sometimes, otherwise healthy loved ones need a short dose of care as they recover from an acute medical episode like a broken leg. Usually loved ones are on a path of steady decline with cascading assistance needs. Some caregivers sacrifice large chunks of their own lives as they help their parents and other family members and friends peacefully make their transitions. Caregivers can pay with their own health and well-being. In fact, we have evidence that some caregivers pay for their acts of care with their very lives.

You can decrease the personal and economic costs of caregiving. This means proactive planning rather than reactive responding. Planning saves money. You know this as you reflect upon your experiences of going to the grocery store with and without a shopping list. Planning also minimizes personal wear and tear and decreases stress. You will feel much better when you know your options and develop back-up plans before you jump into a challenging project.

5 Tips to Decrease the Cost of Caregiving:

1. Begin the conversation today. We have tremendous cultural resistance to the recognition of aging, disability and death. Just as the first few steps uphill are the hardest, so, too, you may meet the greatest resistance simply starting the conversation about their possible need for care. Say today, Mom and Dad, it would be great if you lived forever, but the discovery for the fountain of youth is nowhere on the horizon. What thoughts and plans do you have about enjoying your golden years?

2. Create a plan. Talk with your parents about their ideal plan if they are no longer able to care for themselves. Then, start to work toward that proactively. Investigate long-term care insurance. Draw up the appropriate legal documents. Find out who would make medical choices if they were not able to make them on their own, along with some guiding principles for the choices. You can anticipate and limit parental resistance by saying, Mom and Dad, I just got back from the lawyer’s office signing my will and durable medical power of attorney. I’ve asked Mitch to make my medical choices if I cannot make them myself. Just so you know, if I were in vegetative state, I wouldn’t want to be maintained on a machine. You probably already planned ahead too, right?

3. Use personal and community resources. Make caregiving a family job to which each member contributes. Even children can make grandmas life special with drawings and phone calls. Identify services that make your job as a caregiver easier. If you and your parents live in the same community, check with friends and neighbors and local organizations to learn about services and resources that will make your job easier. You say, Mom has just moved in with us, and she wants to find a card game with the girls. Do you know of any senior centers that have social events? How about transportation?

We’re a mobile society and millions of caregivers live more than an hour away from their parents. Executive William Gillis learned from his own personal experience how challenging it is to identify community resources from afar. As he was carving the path that ultimately led his on-line portfolio management service, he became the caregiver for his father. Talk about mixed emotions! Professionally, he was introducing a service that let millions manage their investments with one click of a computer mouse. Personally, he was investing untold hours just to find one bit of information to help his dad.

As with so many innovators, he used his personal and professional experience to launch Parent Care (www.parents-care.com), a service that he wished would have made his life as a caregiver-at-a-distance easier.

4. Gather cost-savings tips. This might mean something as simple as ordering generic medication or regularly inquiring about senior discounts. But, most cost savings opportunities aren’t as obvious. Mr. Gillis found, for example, that some states will pay for phones for hearing, visually or mobility limited seniors or fund home safety improvements. He said, we’ve invested heavily to locate time and money saving resources that most would have difficulty finding. I made it a personal mission to help other caregivers avoid some of the costs and frustration I encountered. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Tap into the resources others have collected.

5. Take care of yourself. You will be able to provide the best care as a caregiver when you’re at your best. Get good nutrition, enough sleep and regular exercise. Manage your stress and do a little something every day to nurture your soul. Understand that you are at increased risk for anxiety, depression, and weakening your immune system. Talk to your doctor if you see worrisome signs such as problems sleeping, changes in appetite or loss of interest in activities you enjoy.

Despite the costs, most caregivers say that they received much more than they gave. Most say they would do it again, and many do.
Warm Regards,

Mark A. Bowman

President
FreeSeniorCitizensSolutions.com
By Baby Boomers…For Baby Boomers
http://www.freeseniorcitizenssolutions.com/
mark@FreeSCS.com