The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Make sure a scammer isn't getting employment benefits in your name

In Washington state where I live, scammers have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in employment benefits. The state, in a hurry to get payments to people needing funds during the pandemic, didn't have adequate safeguards in place to stop crooks. Now, the process has been slowed down to do more checking.

How are scammers doing this? They're filing claims for unemployment benefits, using the names and personal information of people who haven't filed claims. People learn about the fraud when they get a notice from their state unemployment benefits office or their employer about their supposed application for benefits.

If this happens to you, it means someone is misusing your personal information, including your Social Security number and birth date, said Seena Gressin, attorney for the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Consumer and Business Education. Gressin said to act fast using these steps to help protect your finances and credit:

Baby boomers ponder these times

Photo: .RGB.

America is in turmoil. Millions of Americans are pouring out into the streets to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when a police office pressed his knee on his neck until he died. All this in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic. 

I'm stressed. I don't know what's going to happen next. Police reform? I hope so. Millions more getting the coronavirus and thousands more dying of it? I hope not. 

I've decided what I'm going to do in these challenging times is make a large contribution on an organization that works to improve my community, including working on homeless issues.

Our boomer bloggers are writing about what's going on in America and what's going on in their lives:

Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter protests are swelling throughout the nation. As she reached out to her friends of color, Carol Cassara of Heart·Mind·Soul has learned more about what it means to be an effective ally. In "How Much Do Black Lives Matter to You?" she relates an impactful dialogue she had with a female friend; one that made even more vivid what people of color face every day of their lives. 

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin has been struggling with a lot of emotions lately; sadness, anger, and outrage, to name just a few. She was sickened by the casual way in which a cop murdered George Floyd, and while she doesn't know exactly what to say, she does have something to say.

Something that happened to Laurie Stone of Musing, Rants & Scribbles five years ago seems as relevant today as it did back then. She was in her neighborhood grocery store when she encountered a tall, middle-aged African-American man stocking shelves. He had a cart full of product and part of it blocked her way. She looked at him, smiling, saying, “Excuse me.” He turned and gazed at her, his eyes hard, face tight and unsmiling. And that’s when she saw it.

Travel

Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com attended the American Travel Trends Forum online with guest speakers Peter Greenberg, Samantha Brown, Andrew McCarthy, and others. The tourism industry has been heavily impacted by the pandemic with over 100 million out of work. What does it need to do to come back? Rebecca reports on some of their thoughts and findings.

Bathing suits

Quarantine, recession, protest marches. It has been a long week. But it is also summer and time to relax a bit and enjoy the season, the weather, the warmth. Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting obliges with an upbeat post about swim suits. Summer’s here and that means bathing suits.

Social Security

Tom Sightings at Sightings Over Sixty had occasion to check on his Social Security benefits – which we all know can often be complicated and sometimes confusing. So he turned to financial guru Jeremy Kisner to find some important Social Security FAQ's ... which will answer (almost) any question you ever had about Social Security, including if and when it will go bankrupt.

These articles make up the Best of Boomer Blogs #653. Be sure to check out the articles and leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Trump sped up spread of covid-19 in 12 ways, consumer group says

Just three months after the first reported coronavirus-related death in the United States on Feb. 29, the confirmed covid-19 death toll in the nation has surpassed 100,000, far exceeding the number of confirmed deaths in any other country.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, President Donald Trump’s chaotic and incompetent response has fueled the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. and beyond, causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths, according to Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group.

Here are 12 things Trump did to speed the pandemic and push the death count higher:

1. He didn’t prepare. For the first three years of his administration, he failed to take steps to prepare for a long-expected pandemic by expanding the inventory of critical medical supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile, strengthening the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and bolstering other critical components of our national public health system.

2. He ignored warnings. For several weeks starting in early January, he ignored early warnings about the grave threat posed by the coronavirus outbreak, squandering precious time needed to carry out proven measures that would have limited active community spread of the virus.

Happy Mother's Day 2020

I hope your Mother's Day is going well. For about the last 10 years, I've spent the month of May in Madrid with my daughter Lisa and her family. This year is very different. Although I bought a ticket in early March, it soon became apparent as the pandemic unfolded that I wouldn't be able to go this year. I'm tempted to head to Sacramento to visit my daughter Mona. However, that wouldn't be wise.

Also sad, Lisa and the kids won't be able to visit us this year in the United States in July, and, in addition, I won't be able to visit Spain for the holidays either.

For Mother's Day, Mona sent me flowers and chocolates, shown above, which were delivered Saturday. The delivery was a big surprise because the flowers were scheduled to come Monday. I opened the garage door to take a letter out to the mailbox. Right there, in my driveway was a white van with a guy was getting out of it. It was shocking because it's so long since I've had company or visited anyone.

Funeral guidelines in New York show the need for consumers to be aware of their rights during coronavirus pandemic times

If you lose a loved one and need to arrange for funeral services in the coronavirus pandemic era, be sure to find out your rights as well as to compare prices. For example, rules may be changing for cremation and burial.

In New York, Attorney General Letitia James issued guidelines Saturday to protect New Yorkers using funeral homes and reminded funeral homes that the office will take action against any business that violates consumer rights.

Those arranging funerals should be aware of requirements and recent executive orders and emergency regulations that impact funerals and funeral arrangements in the following ways:

Baby boomers have different reactions to stay-at-home orders

During the coronavirus Stay Home, Stay Healthy order in Washington state, I’m doing well. The time is flying by. It’s difficult to believe that we’ve been doing it for seven weeks.

Why are things going well here? I’m working on my book “Follow the Money: My Life as a Financial Journalist.” Since I love blogging so much, it’s been difficult to get my book finished. Now, I work on my book first, then, I get a reward to write a blog post. It’s working. I’m three-fourths done with my book.

The photo is my dining room table stacked with articles I’ve written: well over 1,000 print articles. When I finish writing about my Tacoma News Tribune articles, I’ll pause and sent my book proposal out to interested agents I met at recent writers’ conferences. While waiting to hear from them, I’ll undertake the huge task of writing the final chapter – describing my blogging work, which includes more than 6,000 articles.

However, it’s disappointing that I’m not in Madrid visiting my daughter and her family like I usually do in May. She misses me, too, because I’m good at cleaning the kitchen. In addition, we just figured out she and the kids probably won’t be able to visit in July and my holiday trip to Spain is unlikely to occur.

Here’s how boomer bloggers are handling being at home. They’re writing about:

Corporate leaders and conservative shock jocks pressure Trump to open the economy soon, report shows

A group of billionaires, corporate executives, and conservative commentators has been urging the rollback of social distancing recommendations, despite public health warnings, a Public Citizen report shows. In arguing for a return to economic “normalcy,” the group ignores the devastating health consequences of its recommendations and the difficulty of returning to normal while the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

Public health experts have made it clear that by adhering to social distancing recommendations and requirements, Americans will prevent the crisis from becoming a catastrophe. One study warns that inadequate action could result in the deaths of 2.2 million Americans from the virus.

However, after a mid-March meeting with Wall Street executives, President Donald Trump held a press conference to announce he intended to push for a hastened end to the social distancing measures. Since then, a number of big business executives and conservative media joined the call, forcing the government’s top public health officials to intervene to postpone Trump’s rushed coronavirus deadline.

Baby boomers learn from staying home

On March 23, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee issued a stay-at-home order due to the covid-19 pandemic. About a week before that, I began staying at home because I concerned about getting sick. That means I’ve been at home for about three weeks now.

I’m doing well because on Feb. 25 a federal official advised Americans to prepare for a possible coronavirus outbreak where they live. Nancy Messonnier, M.D., director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said it wasn’t a matter of if an outbreak would happen, but when.

Another federal official said to prepare like you would for an earthquake or other natural disaster. I bought two weeks’ worth of groceries.

Then on March 16, I figured out I’d need groceries (and toilet paper) for a month.

Now, I’m able to order groceries for pick up from my local food co-op.

So, I’m doing well. I’m working on my book, “Follow the Money: My Life as a Money Journalist,” as well as writing articles for my blogs.

Gov. Inslee has extended the stay at home order until May 4, my birthday. However, I bet seniors will need to stay home longer.

Meanwhile, my boomer blogger group is writing about:

Stock up on protein foods on your next trip to the grocery store, because some meat processing plants are closing

Around the United States, several meat processing plants are closing because workers are getting the coronavirus.

A Tyson Foods pork plant and a National Beef Packing slaughterhouse, both in Iowa, and JBS USA beef plant in Pennsylvania have closed, according to an article on National Public Radio.

The plant closings aren’t yet having a significant impact on the supply of meat to consumers, Christine McCracken, a meat industry analyst, was quoted as saying in the article.

How to make a face mask using cloth and rubber bands

In the richest country in the world, the U.S. surgeon general is showing people how to use a piece of cloth, such as a bandana, and fold it, incorporating rubber bands, to make a cloth face mask.

It's better than nothing when you need to go to the store or pharmacy. But, it makes you wonder how this country could have so poorly prepared for a pandemic that it didn't have enough personal protective equipment for its health care workers and for the general public, too.

Mike Bowen, executive vice president and partner of Prestige Ameritech, the nation's largest surgical mask manufacturer, said his company has yet to increase its staff or extend its production times, citing the uncertainty that comes with outbreaks like the current one. Hiring more staff to work longer hours may help to meet the growing needs of the nation's health care workers, but if the outbreak subsides, Bowen said in a CBS News article, his businesses would be forced to downsize.

"We're caught between a rock and a hard place," he said. "We don't like to lay people off." 

So much for capitalism coming to the rescue during a pandemic that's expected to kill 100,000 to 200,000 people.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist