The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Best wishes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Over the years, I’ve written more than a dozen articles for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They included his most famous quotes, how a day to celebrate King was finally approved, and how it’s a day of service, not a day off.

But one of ones I liked the best was on King’s commitment to eliminating poverty. I found it when I did research on what were King’s thoughts about consumers. In his last book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” written in 1967, King said programs to improve housing and education and to offer counseling to families were sporadically funded and uncoordinated. And, in addition, he said such programs are indirect. Each seeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.

King supported a guaranteed income for all Americans in his book.

Baby boomers enjoying the New Year and making plans for 2020

Last week, I was fortunate to be able to attend a conference in San Diego on women’s history. Sponsored by the National Women’s History Alliance, an organization that promotes women’s history, the conference featured discussions on how to plan activities to celebrate the 100^th anniversary this year of women getting the vote in 1920.

The Washington delegation offered a presentation on “From Bloomers to Short Shorts: A Brief History of the Right to Wear Pants.” I portrayed Fay Fuller, who, in 1890, was the first known woman to climb Mount Rainier.

Boomer bloggers in the Best of Boomer Blogs are also writing about what’s up for 2020:

Tom at Sightings Over Sixty came across several new state rankings for retirement in 2020. So this week he puts them all together and gives us the highlights and the low lights about retirement meccas from Hawaii to Florida to Vermont. Check out "Best States to Retire In – 2020" to see if your state made the Top Ten Best List, or Top Ten Worst list.

For the New Year, Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin writes about trying new things. Whether it’s eating at a new restaurant, starting a new job, or buying a new pair of shoes, we’ve all tried new things in our lives. It’s part of life and it’s part of growing up. But sometimes, when we're about to start something new, we become unsure and let fear creep in. Koshak discusses why it's important to try new things in “When Was the Last Time You Tried Something New.”

Carol Cassara of A Healing Spirit has a tip if learning is on your list of 2020 resolutions. Cassara was relieved to know that yoga can be practiced without having to contort one's body in unnatural (or natural) poses. She tells us we don't have to use our body at all to be a yogi in “How Can You Practice Karma Yoga.”

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting began the New Year by traveling once again. Baer spent a lot of time on the road the past two weeks not driving, or rather not necessarily moving along. Her trip began with a bit of a problem at the airport, as she recounts in this week’s post, "Winter Brea(down – Almost)."

For the New Year, Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com has updated her best online exercise programs for women over 50 as she’s found some new and exciting programs you can enjoy from the comfort of your home. 

Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles, on the other hand, tell us about an activity that she admits to liking throughout the year. She eavesdrops sometimes. She tries not to, but can’t help it. And her favorite place for eavesdropping is her local java joint. She's there for lunch an embarrassing amount of time. (O.K., almost every day). She brings her laptop and works. But here’s the interesting thing. Fascinating insights can be gleaned by “accidentally” listening into the following groups…

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #632. Click on the links to read these great articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

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

Beware of tax scams as tax season approaches

It will be time to file your income taxes soon, so that means scam artists are hard at work trying to get your money.

The IRS is seeing two new types of tax-related scams, one dealing with Social Security numbers and the other a phony tax bill:

• The SSN hustle. The latest twist includes scammers claiming to be able to suspend or cancel the victim’s Social Security number. It may be associated with the IRS impersonation scam. Con artists try to frighten people into returning “robocall” voicemails. They may mention overdue taxes in addition to threatening to cancel the person’s SSN.
• Fake tax agency. A letter threatens an IRS lien or levy, based on bogus delinquent taxes owed to a non-existent agency, the “Bureau of Tax Enforcement.” The lien notification scam also probably refers to the IRS to confuse potential victims into thinking the letter is from a real federal agency.

PayPal Charitable Giving Fund agrees to transparency in donations to charities

Twenty-three state officials have reached an agreement with PayPal Charitable Giving Fund Inc. or PPGF to ensure donors receive adequate information and disclosures when making contributions to charities through the company’s online fundraising platform. 

“Every individual who chooses to donate funds deserves transparency and honesty throughout the process,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

PayPal Charitable Giving Fund Inc. is the arm of PayPal for donating to charities. It’s a nonprofit corporation where donors contribute funds electronically to PPGF and select a charity. PPFG puts the donations together then distributes them to the charities. PPGF doesn’t collect fees from donors or charities; however, a charity receives contributions more quickly if the charity has a PayPal account, a fact that wasn’t disclosed to donors. In some cases, PPGF redirected contributions from the charity selected by the donor to other organizations with similar purposes without telling donors.

Consumers, businesses need to reject single-use food packaging, group says

Consumers overlook the environmental impact of food packaging, an analysis by FoodPrint, an organization that studies food production practices, reports.

“If concern about climate change, the environment, or your personal health are motivating factors for you when it comes to deciding what you eat, it’s important to realize that those same issues are factors when it comes to food packaging,” Jerusha Klemperer, director of FoodPrint, said.

Klemperer said massive environmental issues occur with the way food packaging is made and with how much consumers use and throw away, adding dangerous materials also are present in food packaging.

Court orders mortgage relief fraudsters to pay $18.5 million

A federal court ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission Monday in a case against the operators of a scheme that deceived financially distressed homeowners by falsely promising to make their mortgages more affordable. The defendants also charged consumers illegal advance fees and unlawfully told consumers not to pay their mortgages to or communicate with their lenders.

The case was filed by the FTC in January 2018, and the court issued a temporary restraining order against the company then.

In granting the FTC’s motion for summary judgment, the court found that the defendants’ practices violated the FTC Act and the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule.

Pharmaceutical companies raise the prices of more than 250 drugs as of Jan. 1

Big pharmaceutical corporations, including Gilead, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline, have hiked the prices of more than 250 prescription drugs as of Jan. 1. Annual and biannual price increases on existing medicines have become a standard practice of brand-name pharma corporations, said Steven Knievel, access to medicines advocate for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group.

It’s a new decade, but it’s business as usual for prescription drug corporations, Knievel said.

“Tweets and half-baked proposals from President Donald Trump are not stopping Big Pharma from price gouging consumers,” he said.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year.

I spent most of yesterday working on an article about the top consumer stories of 2019. Today, I'll be working on the top consumer stories of the decade. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

The United States of America has such potential. It's a big, diverse country with tremendous resources. But, time and time again, we miss the mark. The opioid crisis. Mass shootings. Climate change inaction. Barriers for minorities and women. Ongoing wars. A lacking health care system.

But, as a consumer writer, the thing that bothers me the most is the continual favoring of corporate interests over the public interest. One of the biggest stories of the decade, in my opinion, is the increase in income inequality. I read about it on social media every day. Families struggling to get by, living paycheck to paycheck.

Top consumer stories for 2019

As usual, most of the end-of-the-year, round-up articles are about national issues or corporations. If consumers are mentioned, it’s usually about how they’re responding to some corporation.

For the most part, it’s been a grim year for consumers. With the Trump administration that is so probusiness and anti-consumer, the not much is happening for consumers that's positive.

1. President Donald Trump is impeached.

We have a president who puts his personal interests above the public interest. He tried to bribe the Ukrainian president to get him to investigate a political rival. As a result, he’s been impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. This is incredible.

How a percentage of the American can support Trump is a great mystery to me. He and his administration announce anti-consumer proposals almost daily.

In addition, we have a president who lies. Since he was elected, Trump has told more than 15,000 false or misleading claims. In 2019, he’s said that the U.S. economy today is the best in history, he passed the biggest tax cut in history, the U.S. has lost money on trade deficits, article II of the Constitution lets him do whatever he wants, windmills cause cancer, and toilet flushes are up. All are untrue.

2. Consumer rights and programs are under continual attack from President Trump and his administration.

The Republican conservatives want to reduce the size of government and give corporations more power. Almost daily, we read about how the Trump administration has done it or is planning to do it. Some examples include:

• The Trump administration’s decision to roll back light bulb standards will cost consumers billions.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rule speeding up pork lines and reducing inspectors endangers the lives and safety of consumers and workers. 
• Corporations keep breaking the law due to declining federal prosecutions.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and seven states launch an “innovation network” that will approve new, risky financial products and protect them from enforcement.
• The CFPB fails consumers by not carrying out the payday lending rule.
• Fewer children’s products were recalled in 2018.
• Under Trump, enforcement of consumer financial laws drops sharply, especially in areas with the highest complaints.

The list goes on and on. Government regulations and programs help consumers. Reducing the size of government and slashing consumer regulations just helps corporations make more profits at the expense of consumers.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you today, if Christmas is a holiday you celebrate.

I'm lucky to be able to celebrate with my daughter and her family. We had a wonderful roast beef dinner last night and opened presents this morning.

Today is a good time to think about what we can do to help others who are less fortunate. We can help others by donating time or money to organizations who have these goals. Or we can help friends, neighbors, and others in our communities when we see that they need assistance.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones today on this day of magnificence and celebration.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist