Obama's new retirement plan for the masses

Hell...if the Unicorn and Skittle crowd elected him...they'll have no trouble swallowing this.

Belgium wins the Bronze medal!

Belgians have to hand over, on average, 44.8 percent of all their earnings to the state. The fiscal burden in Belgium in 2006 was the third highest in the countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), after Sweden and Denmark. This emerges in provisional figures from this organisation. The tax burden in Belgium did drop in comparison to 2005.
The tax burden is measured by the OECD in a percentage of the GDP. This comes to 44.8 percent in Belgium for 2006. Only in Sweden (50.1 percent) and Denmark (49 percent) is the figure higher.
All three countries did show a fall in the tax burden compared to 2005.

Belgium's tax burden is quite a bit higher than the OECD average. For 2005 – the last year for which complete figures are available – the average percentage was 36.2.

First USA baby boomer applies for Social Security

The Silver Tsunami has started!

The nation's first baby boomer applied for Social Security Monday, the start of an avalanche of applications from the post-World War II generation.
Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, a former teacher from New Jersey, applied for benefits over the Internet. Casey-Kirschling was born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946, making her the first baby boomer -- a generation of nearly 80 million born from 1946 to 1964.

She'll apply — online — for Social Security at a public ceremony. When Kirschling turns 62, she'll be able to celebrate with that first monthly check. Celebrating may be short lived. Paying for 80 million retirees is not going to be cheap.