The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Best wishes on May Day

I love May. When I was a kid, we used to make construction paper baskets, fill them with flowers, and put them on people’s door steps on May Day. It was so much fun to make them and receive them.

In addition, my birthday is May 4. So, I love it when spring comes and the flowers, bushes, and trees start blooming. When I was young and growing up on an apple ranch, I used to imagine that the apple trees blossomed just for my birthday. I’d run through the orchard and climb a tree, sitting there enjoying the wonderful fragrance and beauty of the acres of the blossoming trees.

When I was growing up, I only saw a May pole ceremony done a couple of times. The maypole and the decorating of it has roots in the ancient Pagan festival celebrating the beginning of the summer season.

May 1 is International Workers’ Day. Why isn’t it celebrated in the United States?

Today is Equal Pay Day

Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into the year women need to work to earn what men earned in the previous year.

Equal Pay Day was created by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 to make the public aware of the gap between men's and women's wages.

Since Census statistics showing the latest wage figures aren’t available until late August or September, the committee selected a Tuesday in April as Equal Pay Day. Tuesday was chosen to show how far into the next work week women need to work to earn what men earned the previous week. The date also was selected to avoid religious holidays and other events.

Baby boomers springing forward into spring

The legislature in my state is debating whether to get rid of day light savings time. Arguments include it doesn’t save energy, some people have health effects, and it costs money due to reduced productivity.

For me, my opinion is to keep daylight savings time. I like the increased daylight in the evening. And, while it takes me a couple of weeks to go through the time change, I don’t notice it after that.

Whether daylight savings time or standard time, baby boomers keep on writing. Last week’s articles include:

• Whether baby boomers are leaving the world a better place than they found it.
• The benefits of taking walking tours.
• The challenges of replacing an old TV set.
• The ups and downs of quitting jobs in Connecticut and moving to Florida.
• How to buy a winter coat.

Carol Cassara of Heart·Mind·Soul writes about these articles on the Best of Boomer Blogs #587. Click here to get the links to these articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Today is International Women's Day

International Women's Day, March 8, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

International Women's Day has occurred for more than a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Prior to this the Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom’s suffragettes, America’s suffragists, and other groups campaigned for women’s equality.

This year’s theme is Balance for Better. The IWD website explains the theme this way:

Google stops requiring workers to use arbitration to settle complaints

Google announced Thursday that it will no longer force current or future workers into arbitration for any claims against the company.

A coalition of nearly 50 organizations has been working for more than a year to stop tech companies from forcing workers into arbitration, a proceeding that almost always favors corporations, when they make a claim against the company.

“Google did the right thing, and it should be commended,” said Remington A. Gregg, counsel for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division. “However, this announcement was possible only because of persistent Google workers who organized to protect their rights and pressured the company to do the right thing.”

What presidents are celebrated on Presidents’ Day?

What are your plans for Presidents’ Day? Enjoying a day off? Exercising? Reading? Binge watching TV programs? Shopping? Working? Cleaning house?

I bet not many people are thinking about their favorite president today or about citizen participation to help our government work better.

Again this year, I’ve been seeing the Mount Rushmore presidents on a Presidents’ Day articles. In addition to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, many people are adding the two other Mount Rushmore presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, to honor.

Baby boomers are escaping and remaking

Boomer bloggers are in escape mode whether it’s from the cold, from their comfort zones, or from doing things that don’t benefit them.

They’re remedying their situations by being a snowbird and going to South Carolina and Florida, going on walking tours to reduce stress, mastering the art of career change, and remembering to take care of themselves, too.

Rebecca Forstadt-Olkowski of Baby Boomster writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #583. To get the links to the articles, click here. And be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 14 consumer stories of 2018

All in all, it’s been another bad year for consumers. President Trump and his administration’s generate so much chaos that they get all the media attention. Meanwhile in the background, federal agencies are moving forward on the administration’s conservative regulatory priorities, which are harmful to consumers. One bright spot is the Democrats taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives. That will help curb President Trump's excesses.

Here are the top 14 consumer stories for 2018:

1. The Trump administration continues decimated consumer protections.

President Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney, his budget director, as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Under Mulvaney's leadership, the bureau reversed prior actions and programs of the agency. It has delayed rules to protect consumers from payday lenders, dropped lawsuits, stripped enforcements of fair-lending protections, and reduced the number of fines issued.

Baby boomers working on getting in gear for the New Year

It’s a new year and time to think about fresh starts, new goals, and another year under our belts. 

No matter life’s ups and downs, the baby boomer bloggers in our group keep writing articles and booming along.

This week they’re writing about travel, names for grandchildren, holiday spending, menopause bellies, work stress, and visioning.

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #579. Click here to get the links to the articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer Bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Facts and figures for the 2018 holidays

It’s that time of year. The holidays are upon us. Hanukkah has been celebrated and today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the day with the least daylight and the longest night. Christmas is approaching rapidly as is Kwanzaa, Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

Celebrants

Nine-in-ten Americans — and 95 percent of Christians — say they celebrate Christmas, according to a Pew Research Center survey. These figures have generally held steady in recent years. Today, 46 percent of Americans say they celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious rather than cultural holiday.