Retirement

The bad economy is worsening the already-shaky finances of Medicare and Social Security, draining the trust funds supporting them faster than expected and intensifying the need for Congress to shore up the massive benefit programs, the government said Friday.

Those who weren't heeding the warnings about a coming retirement crisis before the Great Recession hit probably are now.

House and Senate negotiators hope to resolve their differences on competing plans to reform New Hampshire's public pension system by the end of the month, at the same time the state's retirement system is experiencing a big increase in applications from retirement-eligible employees.

Based on all the headlines and talking heads, the economy's purring back to life.

The Hawaii Legislature is approving a measure overhauling the state's underfunded pension system by reducing benefits of new public employees hired.

What would we ever do without California? I can't think of another state more inept at balancing its budget. Hell, they make the feds look like penny pinchers.