Money and Computing

Rose Mula writes: I’m lucky I don’t have children who want to take my car keys because they think I’m too old to drive. However, not having kids to restrict my independence doesn’t mean I’m off the hook, because Mother is threatening to confiscate my keys. Wait. I need to amplify that statement as well. I’m sure you’re thinking if there’s a question of my being too old to drive, how can my mother still be in the picture? That’s because I didn’t mean my mother; I meant Mother Nature, who is forecasting a miserable winter, complete with semi-weekly blizzards. more »

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found actual losses and attempts at elder financial exploitation reported by financial institutions nationwide were $1.7 billion in 2017... studies published from 2016 to 2020 from three states — New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia — estimated the costs of financial exploitation could be more than $1 billion in each state alone. HHS does not currently ask states to submit cost data from APS casefiles to NAMRS, though officials said they have begun to reevaluate NAMRS with state APS agencies and other interested parties, including researchers, and may consider asking states to submit cost data moving forward. Adding cost data to NAMRS could make a valuable contribution to the national picture of the cost of financial exploitation. Recognizing the importance of these data, some APS officials GAO interviewed said their states have developed new data fields or other tools to help caseworkers collect and track cost data more systematically. more »

Carving out a successful career in business and entrepreneurship is tough, but for women, rising to the top of their fields is even tougher. Those who do reach this pinnacle often find that they are the only woman in the room. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History features eight such women in its display, “The Only One in the Room.” This “New Perspectives” case will be on view in the museum’s business history exhibition, “American Enterprise,” through November 2021. The display will explore the stories of women who made a mark in their respective industries, including banking, beauty, advertising and manufacturing, and examine the obstacles they faced and the context of the times in which they lived. more »

"This book is primarily based on one hundred oral histories of outstanding women lawyers commissioned by the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. Impressed by Norgren's other books on women lawyers, two members of the Commission offered to make the transcripts available if she would write another book. Norgren explores childhood influences, law school experiences, and the various types of practice that these women engaged in. Until 1972, most law schools had quotas on women, usually about 7 percent, if they admitted any at all. Law professors told them that they were taking a man's place. But the fact that Amy Coney Barrett, who was born in 1972, could become a Supreme Court Justice while raising seven children is evidence of how far it has declined as a barrier to having a successful career." more »