Dave Hartnett was
surprised with an award this week for his services to tax avoidance. He was celebrating his retirement as head of the UK's tax and customs department, where
he agreed "sweetheart" deals with Goldman Sachs and Vodafone, letting them off outstanding tax bills. Cue some pleasantly awkward confusion as the partygoers realise what is going on.
posted by creeky
on Sep 24, 2012 -
58 comments
The Global Aging Preparedness Index The GAP Index is a measure of how countries are prepared to deal with their elderly/retired - this is a recent report put together by the Center for Strategic International Studies and looks at how things stood in 2007 and looks ahead to 2040.
Hint: you don't want to be old now in South Korea or old in 2040 in Spain.
via cfr.org
posted by skyscraper
on Jan 19, 2011 -
16 comments
The Gray And The Brown - why the baby boom generation's concerns about race may mean that it's stabbing itself in the back as it moves into retirement.
posted by Artw
on Aug 19, 2010 -
66 comments
The story starts in 1992 or so, when the 14 year old Brit,
Dominic Stanton, bought turntables and started spinning early drum'n'bass. He transitioned from DJ to producer, made demo tracks, and got signed by age 17. He went on to produce broken beat
* and jazzy downtempo
*, even into the realm of disco edits. Then about two weeks ago, the 31 year old musician called it quits.
The point is that I am no longer Domu. He is a character, always has been, and as of Friday 13th November 2009, he no longer exists. Neither does Umod, Sonar Circle, Bakura, Yotoko, Rima, Zoltar, Blue Monkeys, Realside or any of the other names I put out music under. I am cancelling all my gigs and not taking any more. My hotmail is closed, my Twitter is closed and my Facebook is closed.
Furthermore, his website is closed and the original post of his farewell message is lost, though you can still
view the cached version or find it
copied elsewhere. Domu's website now simply states
This really is The End . . . Step inside for an abbreviated journey.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Nov 30, 2009 -
46 comments
"
I once proposed a solution somewhat tongue in cheek to the problem of pensions: turn retirement upside down ... people would be supported by society up to the age of 30. During that period they would study, travel, prepare for a profession, reproduce and give full-time care to their young ... After 30, they would work until they dropped dead or became incapacitated." Letter from physicist
Cylon Gonçalves da Silva to The Economist in response to
this original article on the problems of an ageing global population.
posted by rongorongo
on Jul 28, 2009 -
32 comments
UAL (United Airlines)
dumps four pension plans[optional audio interview with Businessweek expert] ; bankruptcy court authorizes shifting of USD 5 billions (allegedly largest pension default in U.S. history) in pension obligations to the
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. As a result the burden of private failure and incompetency will be shared by all taxpayers (whose taxes finance PBGC which is already operating on a
23 Billion deficit) and by beneficiaries of the pension plans who
will see their pension severely cut : pilots from 100K to 30K pensions but also less privileged workers will be hit. For instance Mrs Tamuk, spokeswoman from
Association of Flight Attendants said her pension will be reduced from $1,700 a month to $800 a month.
posted by elpapacito
on May 11, 2005 -
94 comments
One man's retirement math: Social Security wins At the heart of President Bush's plan to sell Social Security private accounts is a simple notion: You're always better off investing your retirement money than letting the government do it.
By doing it yourself, you can stow some money in the stock market, and over the long run will get a better return on that investment than today's Social Security system offers.
The idea is broadly accepted. That's why the administration's plan to partially privatize the system sounds appealing to many. But that better return won't always happen.
Just ask Stanley Logue of San Diego.
For 45 years, the defense-industry analyst paid into the system until his retirement in 1994. But with all the recent hoopla over reform, Mr. Logue, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, decided to go back and check his own records. Would he have done better investing his money than the bureaucrats at the Social Security Administration?
posted by Postroad
on Dec 27, 2004 -
80 comments
An announcement from Trey: "So Coventry will be the final Phish show...For the sake of clarity, I should say that this is not like the hiatus, which was our last attempt to revitalize ourselves. We're done. It's been an amazing and incredible journey."
posted by methree
on May 25, 2004 -
20 comments
"It's good policy and good business." NYC's Employees Retirement System (5 funds managing $78.6 billion in holdings) is targeting Fortune 500 companies to adopt policies that specifically bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. One of them, CSX Corp., didn't even wait for their shareholder meeting, but immediately amended their policy in response.
These funds recently had
great success after a decade-long battle with Cracker Barrel Restaurants--infamous for firing gay and lesbian employees because they don't “demonstrate normal heterosexual values."
Here's wishing an especially happy holiday to employees of those
companies that have stopped discriminating and hopes for many more to join in. More info on this "shareholder activism" at
The Equality Project.
posted by amberglow
on Dec 24, 2003 -
4 comments
Would you like fries with that? Saturday's Washington Post has a touching story about a 58-year-old grandmother who thought she'd be retired by now, but instead finds herself popping four different prescription medications at 4 in the morning while beginning her shift at Hardee's. As a journalist, I found this incredibly detailed story an example of newspaper writing at its rare best.
posted by GaelFC
on Oct 6, 2003 -
44 comments
TV night or a drag show? Gay retirement homes are
starting to open as the Stonewall Generation grows old.
A study by the Brookdale Centre on Ageing at Hunter College in New York found that fewer than one in five elderly gays have a life partner and only one in ten has children. By contrast, nearly half the overall general senior population has a spouse and four in five have children. America’s first, of course, was in
Florida.
posted by gottabefunky
on Nov 22, 2002 -
13 comments
A 401(k) is not a Pension! In a pension plan, your employer invests some money and gives you some of it when you retire. In a 401(k), they, um, don't.
Congress seems a little confused on this issue, however. It turns out that the 401k might be more boondoggle than boon to average people planning to retire before they die.
posted by ilsa
on Apr 11, 2002 -
21 comments
Akebono's sumo retirement ceremony American-born sumo Yokozuna Akebono retired from the sport Sepetember 29th in Kokogikan, Japan.
This excellent photo essay talks about a few of the 300+ people scheduled to help cut off the topknot, a little on the history of Sumo, and why he needs 8 men to help him with the
belt tying ceremony.
Also a few good photographs of another American-born Yokozuna, Musashimaru, and one Japanese one, Takanohana.
posted by swenson
on Jan 5, 2002 -
10 comments
Bob Barker, inspiration to all of us who want to someday host a mid-morning game show, seems to be throwing in the towel.
posted by geoff.
on Oct 17, 2001 -
14 comments
