For the 13th year in a row, Jacob was the most popular name in 2011 for newborn boys in the United States, according to rankings released by the U.S. Social Security Administration.
A divided Supreme Court ruled Wednesday against a California pilot who sued after the federal government publicly revealed his HIV status.
Joy Lieberman is concerned over troubles getting a photo ID to vote.
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened under the Voting Rights Act to stay a South Carolina voter ID law.
Are undocumented Mexicans "financial refugees" or "financial fountains"? Columnist Charles Garcia discusses the topic.
One day, California wakes up and every single Latino has inexplicably disappeared. No business owner, doctor, nurse, soldier, teacher, entertainer, athlete or politician can be found. No bus driver, farm worker, cook, gardener or nanny. All gone. California -- the ninth largest economy in the world -- grinds to a halt because Latinos have vanished. Chaos and tragedy follow. This scenario is what Sergio Arau's satiric film, "A Day Without a Mexican," explores.
This week, Americans were confronted -- yet again -- with more of the same refusal by President Barack Obama to take on the greatest long-term threat to our economic and health care security. Consistent with his track record, the president's annual budget proposal offers no credible reforms for our entitlement programs that will ensure their solvency in the years to come. Instead, his budget reflects the same disregard he demonstrated last month, in his 7,000-word State of the Union address, in which only 40 words were used to talk about Social Security and Medicare.
The current Congress has a habit of lurching from crisis to crisis, usually reaching a deal to avoid the unpleasantness du jour just before time runs out.
Despite bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for extending a temporary payroll tax cut for the rest of 2012, lawmakers have yet to close the deal.
It's a little ridiculous to have to be writing this story.
The statement: The Social Security payroll tax cut that President Barack Obama is seeking to extend "will cost the Social Security trust fund another $112 billion, and we don't have enough money this year in the Social Security trust fund to put out those checks -- which means we have to go to the general Treasury to get the money." -- Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, at Saturday night's ABC News debate in Iowa. She added that the tax cut "blew a hole" in the trust fund.
In all the talk about whether to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut, a lot of the focus is on the economy: Will the recovery suffer if Congress lets it lapse?
Come January, will 160 million American workers owe a) more than; b) less than; c) the same as they've been paying in payroll taxes this year?
High above San Francisco Bay, Stan Cooper can get away from it all in his private plane. His five-decade passion for flying once threatened to upend his personal and professional life -- because of his own mistakes, and those of the government. It is a tale of accountability, one the Supreme Court is poised to tackle with oral arguments Wednesday.
A pilot with HIV sues over invasion of his privacy, a case the Supreme Court will decide, as Kate Bolduan reports.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday released the outlines of their proposal to extend the payroll tax cut -- and it differs significantly from one put out by Senate Democrats.
The Supreme Court wrestled Wednesday with a familiar, if elusive, foe -- legislative intent -- when considering whether a California man should be compensated after the government violated his privacy by disclosing his personal medical history.
A Michigan congressman said Sunday that relatives are trying to blackmail him with decades-old allegations that he sexually abused a young cousin, an accusation he called "false and shameful."
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to repeal the federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.
Court documents obtained by CNN on Friday reveal disturbing new details about the prior conviction of the alleged ringleader of a group charged this week with imprisoning four mentally disabled adults in a dank Philadelphia boiler room.
More than 2 million Americans received education tax credits in error last year, according to a watchdog report issued Thursday, at a total cost to taxpayers: $3.2 billion.
Senior citizens will soon get their first raise in three years, the government announced Wednesday.
Senior citizens are expected to get their first raise in two years.
Here are four things we learned from Thursday night's Republican Party of Florida/Fox News/Google debate in Orlando, the third GOP presidential debate in as many weeks:
Should members of Congress cut their salaries or raise the age at which they can draw a congressional pension when many Americans are making personal sacrifices during the country's prolonged economic crisis?
Sen. Sherrod Brown on why lawmakers should agree to a salary cut.
Social Security is still the third rail of American politics.
With Rick Perry instantly assuming the top spot among candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, it is no surprise that nearly every other man and woman on stage with him at last night's debate took aim.
While many Americans worry that the Social Security Administration won't have enough money left to pay their benefits when they retire, the agency is doling out millions of dollars to people who aren't even alive.
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are three of the government's most popular and relied upon programs.
Rick Perry is not a fan of Social Security -- or is he?
More Americans are being erroneously killed off by the Social Security Administration every day.
Social Security is safe...for now.
Don't you dare withhold our Social Security payments!
Can the government afford to send out Social Security checks next week if the debt ceiling isn't raised?
The risk of a U.S. default has incited panic among many older Americans, who are now calling the Social Security Administration to find out what's going to happen to their monthly benefits if the debt ceiling isn't raised by Aug. 2.
Veterans advocacy groups have been called to the White House for a late afternoon meeting Tuesday to be briefed by Obama administration officials on the impact to veterans if Congress does not pass legislation raising the debt ceiling.
Fortune: 3 stealth tax trapsupdated: Fri Jul 22 2011 14:03:00
Congressional gridlock over whether to cut or raise income taxes is obscuring a different threat to six-figure earners: a host of stealth taxes implemented in the name of deficit reduction. Many of the provisions, as with the dreaded alternative minimum tax, have never been adjusted for inflation. As a result, they have morphed into tax traps for upper-middle-income earners. Here are three of the most glaring examples.
President Obama issued a broadside Tuesday in the debt ceiling debate, saying in a high-profile interview that he cannot ensure government benefits -- including Social Security -- will be paid if Congress fails to act.
If I retire early, how do I decide whether to take reduced Social Security benefits early or to delay payments and draw down on my savings? Is there some sort of "tipping point"? -- Douglas Goodman, Tacoma, Wash.
The AARP said Friday it expects Social Security benefit cuts to be part of a package to make the program solvent for the long run.
This week, voters in New York's 26th Congressional District will go to the ballot box to replace Rep. Christopher Lee, who resigned after a scandal involving a photo of himself shirtless that he sent to a woman he met online.
CNN's Kate Bolduan reports on why Democrats might pick up a "safe" Republican seat in New York.
Already enduring a two-year pay freeze, federal workers are once again in the crosshairs of a plan designed to cut government spending.
Grisha Stpanov opened a credit card, charged up $20,000, but never paid it back.
It just got a little harder for banks to seize money from accounts holding federal benefits like Social Security and disability checks.
My wife and I are 62 years old, have about $1.6 million in retirement savings and $250,000 in discretionary funds. We have no mortgage or debt payments. I get $12,500 a year from a pension and we both work part-time.
The battle lines over Social Security are being drawn a day before President Obama delivers a major speech on the nation's long-term fiscal dilemma.
If Congress fails to approve a spending bill by Friday, the federal government will shut down. And boy, things aren't looking good.
Have you discussed your retirement plans with your spouse lately?
The first wave of of baby boomers -- including Cher, Steven Spielberg, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and nearly 3 million other Americans -- will turn 65 this year. If you're among those celebrating in 2011 or the next few years, you may be feeling a bit gloomy about a birthday that officially crowns you a senior citizen. You're too young to be old, right?
Commentary: Maya MacGuineas is the director of the fiscal policy program at the New America Foundation.
If Congress fails to approve a spending bill before midnight on March 4, the federal government will shut down.
What happens to Social Security if the government shuts down?
This much is a shoo-in: President Obama will spell out hundreds of billions in spending cuts in his 2012 budget request on Monday.
House Speaker John Boehner backed off Wednesday from a previous call to raise the eligibility age for Social Security benefits, but still described the idea as logical.
The Republicans' midterm surge has given the federal debt-reduction commission -- whose recommendations are due Dec. 1 -- a chance to stand up and be counted. The panel is bipartisan, but as long as Democrats were able to have their way ultimately in both houses of Congress, Republican members had little clout. Now that the balance of power has shifted, the ideas of the panel's deficit hawks, such as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), may get a bit more respect. Co-chairs Erskine Bowles (chief of staff for Bill Clinton) and Alan Simpson (former GOP senator from Wyoming) have offered a proposal, but it's only a draft. We'll know the commission blew its opportunity ...
The country got a little shock therapy last week when the co-chairmen of President Obama's debt commission offered their recommendations for curbing U.S. debt. One of their goals: reduce deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade.
When House Democrats return to Washington on Monday, a top priority will be putting a $250 dollar check in the mail to 58 million Social Security recipients.
Life is getting tougher for the average worker, not just in America, but in other advanced nations around the globe.
Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle says in a campaign ad that Democratic incumbent Harry Reid is the "best friend an illegal alien ever had." According to her, he tolerates illegal people "sneaking" across the border and receiving "illegal Social Security benefits."
Social Security beneficiaries will see no increase in their benefit checks next year, the federal government said on Friday.
Chances are high that for the second year in a row Social Security beneficiaries will see no increase in their benefit checks.
The road to retirement is littered with distractions. In the hurly-burly of life, so many things compete for your attention that you can lose sight of what really matters most.
After 30 years studying pension systems around the world, Alicia Munnell knows what works -- and what doesn't. As head of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, she warned early on that 401(k) plans would fail to provide the level of income that retirees would need. Not many agreed with her at first.
Even if the costly state pension system undergoes reform, taxpayers could get stuck with a hefty bill.
It's official: Social Security will reach its tipping point this year.
There's real money in the world, then there's funny money -- stuff that looks real, but isn't.
Companies are starting to hire again, but many are turning their backs on older job seekers.
Question: My husband recently retired and we are in the process of deciding how to invest the money in his 401(k). He and I both have good pension plans and I plan to work at least another five years. We have been advised to invest two-thirds of my husband's 401(k) assets in annuities, but I'm comfortable with putting only a third in annuities. Any advice? -- Jean, Omaha, Nebraska
Trying to reform retirement benefits has long made for combustible politics in Washington. Europe is no different.
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