Fifty Plus Advocates

By Al Norman I think Congress has it totally wrong on the issue of the Social Security payroll tax. The House and the Senate both passed bills extending the so-called “payroll tax holiday,” which was a misguided idea in the first place. In 2010, workers paid 6.2 percent of their earnings as a Social Security [...]

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By Al Norman Last July, I wrote about a new state law that was supposed to help get unsafe drivers off the road. But will it work? Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law Chapter 155 of the Acts of 2010, under which, if you are 75 years of age or older and applying for a [...]

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By Al Norman After two straight years with a 0 percent Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA), the recently announced 3.6 percent Social Security COLA must have looked pretty good to retirees. But this is one of those cases of “been down so long it looks like up to me.” On Oct. 19, the [...]

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By Al Norman In the movie Oklahoma, the farmer and the cowman were encouraged to be friends: “One man likes to push a plough, the other likes to chase a cow. But that’s no reason why they cain’t be friends.” The same advice should apply to people in the health care system, and their elderly [...]

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By Al Norman John Kerry has some big decisions to make. The senior senator from Massachusetts, as a member of the so-called “Super Committee” in Congress, has to come up with $1.5 trillion in cuts to the federal budget. There are those in Congress who see this is a super opportunity to cut programs like [...]

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By Al Norman Another state budget debate has come and gone. The Conference Committee working out differences between the House and Senate budget for 2012 released its final version on the evening of June 30. The entire budget process from January to June was a reminder that elderly services are not a top priority on [...]

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