Money and Computing
Off the Table for Now: Using the Chained CPI to Reduce Social Security Payment Calculations
"The chained CPI grows more slowly than the traditional CPI does: by an average of 0.3 percentage points per year over the past decade. As a result, using that measure to index benefit programs and tax provisions would reduce federal spending (especially on Social Security and federal pensions) and increase revenues." more »
Aging America: The Cities That Are Graying The Fastest
Joel Kotkin writes: In 2000 only three US metro areas had more elderly than children under the age of 15 (Pittsburgh, Miami and Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL). The 2010 Census showed we now have 10, with the addition of Buffalo, Boston, Cleveland, Hartford, Providence, Rochester and San Francisco to the first three. The elderly population is overtaking the younger population not only in Florida’s retirement havens, but in a number of Rust Belt and Northeastern cities. more »
New Studies: Older People and Trust; Science Faculty’s Subtle Gender Biases
A NIA study has shown that older people are less adept than younger people at discerning visual clues of dishonesty in others, helping explain why many older people are more susceptible to financial fraud and other scams. In the other study, science faculty participants rated the male applicant as significantly more competent and hireable than the (identical) female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male applicant. more »
Remembering Your Secret Passwords: Difficult To Be Guessed by Intruders As Well as 'Authorized Users'?
"We expected that differences in password usage would be evident across age and education level. More specifically, based on findings from extensive prior studies on memory and aging, we expected that older adults would report a higher rate of forgotten passwords, an expectation that was surprisingly unconfirmed." more »