Fifty Plus Advocates

By Al Norman In 1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt first pitched the idea of a Social Security program to Congress, he referred to “three principles” of the program: •Non-contributory old-age pensions for those who are now too old to build up their own insurance; •Compulsory contributory annuities, which in time will establish a self-supporting [...]

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By Al Norman I recently attended a rally on Beacon Hill on the subject of raising tax revenues in Massachusetts. More than 400 people crammed into Gardner Auditorium in the basement of the State House. At least 100 of those people were from the elder home care system. Some people wore signs which read, “End [...]

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By Al Norman These two guys walk into a restaurant and order a sirloin steak — well done.  One of the men is a social worker at the local welfare office, and the other is the branch manager of an area bank. Both guys leave a $20 bill under their plate. While clearing the table, [...]

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By Al Norman In September of 2012, a coalition of five elder advocacy groups sent a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick urging him to help end the home care waiting lists. Their letter was never answered. More than 100 activists went to the State House and presented the governor with a cell phone, hoping for [...]

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By Al Norman Just before the New Year, I was invited to listen in on a White House conference call. The briefing was not open to the media — so it will never be in the news. The conference call was with a high-ranking staff person for President Barack Obama. The subject was the fiscal [...]

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By Al Norman In the fall of 2008, the Goldman Sachs Group, which describes itself as “a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm,” received nearly $13 billion in a U.S. taxpayer’s bailout for securities it held in failed insurance company AIG. The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, had his salary tripled [...]

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