'Social Security COLA increase for 2025 projected to be lowest in several years'

 The next cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients is projected to be the lowest in years, according to The Senior Citizen’s League.

The Senior Citizen’s League (TSCL), a nonpartisan senior advocacy group, released its latest estimate on Thursday. Based on figures from the Labor Bureau’s most recent Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), next year’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is projected to be only 2.63%.

If that estimate holds true through October — when the COLA is officially announced — it would be the lowest increase since 2021’s 1.3% adjustment.

The Social Security Administration’s yearly cost-of-living adjustments are designed to help Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients retain their buying power amid rising inflation. These increases, which are issued annually, are determined using the Bureau of Labor’s CPI-W, which itself is a measure of the change in prices for common consumer goods and services.

In the past, however, seniors have complained that the CPI-W doesn’t necessarily take into account their spending habits.

“This year’s COLA will be important because many seniors said it didn’t keep up with their real-life expenses last year,” TSCL wrote in a June report. “Among the roughly 1,550 participants in TSCL’s 2024 Senior Survey, 69 percent said their household costs rose faster than the COLA last year, with costs for food and housing leading the way.”

The price of groceries, especially, were a focus of TSCL’s latest release. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the organization estimated the cost of the “average grocery item” to have inflated by 24% since 2020.

Still, TSCL’s most recent COLA estimate is slightly higher than the group’s June estimate, when they predicted a 2.57% increase for 2025. But it’s still below the 3.2% increase afforded to Social Security recipients in 2024, and nowhere near the 8.7% and 5.9% increases for 2023 and 2022’s recipients, respectively.

Those larger increases were designed to mitigate the effects of historic inflation. But even with those adjustments, seniors said they continue to pay higher-than-expected prices on key items like housing, food and healthcare, survey results have indicated.

TSCL also feels that the Labor Bureau’s CPI-W — which the Social Security Administration uses to calculate yearly COLA increases — is not a good metric for determining the average senior’s spending habits.

“It’s not like we have a target number we were hoping for,” Mary Johnson, a policy analyst with the Senior Citizen’s League, previously said. “We want to see an approach that’s more comprehensive. … People are also living longer lives in retirement, so it’s hard for anyone to save for that.”

The Senior Citizen’s League releases an updated COLA projection each month. Next year’s cost-of-living adjustment will be announced by the Social Security Administration in October, following the release of the Labor Bureau’s revised CPI-W data from July, August and September.

https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/4768754-social-security-cola-increase-for-2025-projected-to-be-lowest-in-several-years/

Texas lawmakers press Biden on FEMA assistance in wake of Hurricane Beryl

 More than a dozen members of Texas’s congressional delegation are pressing President Biden in a letter Friday to approve additional federal assistance for Texans impacted by Hurricane Beryl.

“Many residents in and around the Houston area have been without power for several days with heat indexes exceeding 100 degrees daily,” the letter from 19 lawmakers reads. “They urgently need the resources FEMA can provide.”

The bipartisan group of legislators, led by Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), is calling on the White House to approve funding under FEMA’s Individual Assistance program. The program provides financial assistance to households with uninsured or underinsured expenses following a disaster. 

The administration has already approved two forms of federal assistance through the Hazard Mitigation Assistance program, which funds disaster prevention, and Public Assistance for state and local government.

“More immediately, though, the vast majority of our constituents require Individual Assistance (IA),” the lawmakers wrote, “as they are much more vulnerable on an individual basis in their respective homes while their communities focus on the recovery and rehabilitation of their municipalities at large.”

Hurricane Beryl made landfall near Matagorda, Texas, on Monday, causing significant flooding and wind damage to several parts of the state. Federal aid to the state was not approved until Tuesday, which Biden said was due to Texas officials failing to make a formal request for a major disaster declaration.

“I’ve been trying to track down the governor to see — I don’t have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor,” Biden said Tuesday in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) has stepped in as acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is abroad on an economic development trip. The aid was approved once Biden and Patrick connected Tuesday.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter from lawmakers.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4768891-texas-lawmakers-biden-fema-assistance-hurricane-beryl/

Legend Biotech said to have received takeover approach, hired Centerview - source

 Legend Biotech (NASDAQ: LEGN) has recently received a takeover bid and has hired investment bank Centerview Partners to assist the process.

https://www.streetinsider.com/Hot+M+and+A/Legend+Biotech+said+to+have+received+takeover+approach%2C+hired+Centerview+-+source/23459215.html

Biden's Student Loan Plan "SAVE" Will Cost $230 Billion

 Via SchiffGold.com,

As student loan debt in America swells to a staggering $1.7 trillion, President Joe Biden’s new SAVE plan could actually cost $230 billion, a CBO report finds. This is not only a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul — it will bring more inflation, make college more expensive and give the federal government unprecedented control over higher education.

The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.

The federal student debt loan amount is $1.7 trillion. This debt portfolio is an installment personal loan. Payments occur monthly. Active students have loan totals not due this year. We have no idea how much of the total will be repaid.

The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan is President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s reply to the Supreme Court, who ruled the administration’s original sweeping forgiveness program was unconstitutional. The SAVE plan was announced in August 2023. The White House bulletin included a table of payment amounts, indexed by the number of dependents and size of loan.

It is the greatest gift for all income-dependent student-debt payoff plans. It is a Trojan horse for the state to control higher education.

The “original” student loan program from the sixties repaid loans plus interest in a straightforward installment-style plan. A $7,500 loan might take ten years to fulfill. Larger loans received longer terms.

The federal government’s interjection into debt financing came with the Income-Contingent Repayment plan, passed in the 1993 Student Loan Reform Act signed by then-president Bill Clinton. The Student Loan Reform Act set payments at 20 percent of discretionary income. After twenty-five years of eligible payments, the plan writes off any outstanding debt. This was the first signal that the plans anticipated partial payments on student loans.

The slide toward free university accelerated in 2007 with income-based repayment. Monthly payments were calculated on what a student could pay, not what was owed, resetting Income-Contingent Repayment plan payments from 20 percent of income to 10 percent or 15 percent of discretionary income depending on the date the borrower first started borrowing student loans.

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Both the lending and collecting of loans was consolidated within the Department of Education (DOEd). This act nationalized the student loan process, putting it in the hands of political appointees, managed by an unprepared, non-banking-experienced staff. In 2010, student loan debt was half the 2023 total.

Income-dependent payback plans describe the four remaining options for paying student loans. SAVE is a new income-dependent plan. There are four common elements to all income-dependent plans.

Published poverty wages:

Poverty wages are deducted from adjusted gross income to produce “discretionary income.” Early plans deducted 100 percent of poverty wages. In the Affordable Care Act of 2010, poverty wage deductions became 150 percent. Later, the DOEd increased the multiplier to 200 percent. SAVE uses 225 percent of poverty wages.

Payment percentage:

Discretionary income is assessed by a fixed percentage to create a payment due. The original plan from 1993 used 20 percent of discretionary income. This changed to 15 percent of discretionary income in 2007. President (“I have my phone and a pen”) Obama issued a presidential memorandum reducing it from 15 percent to 10 percent.

Length of loan and unpaid balances:

If there is an unbroken record of payments, unpaid balances at the end of a loan term are forgiven. The DOEd waved the surrender flag for taxpayers. All loans will not be paid back to the Treasury.

Special status:

Most recently, the DOEd forgave the administration recently using extralegal authority for 1.5 million debtors with $28 billion in debts that were expunged by a department ruling of “substantial misconduct” by colleges that closed early. $45.7 billion was zeroed out by reclassifying 662,000 public service workers. This type of skullduggery is easier in the SAVE plan.

SAVE uses 225 percent of poverty wages as a deduction to reduce the subjective discretionary income. This reduced discretionary income uses a 5 percent calculation to create a payment due. The smallest amount of discretionary income assesses at the smallest percentage as calculated by the White House.

The SAVE plan is not eligible for loans in default. However, a phone call to the DOEd and enrollment in the “Fresh Start” program makes previously ineligible loans available for SAVE. Student payments that are seventy-five days delinquent will automatically enroll in the SAVE program. This can start the delinquency clock on loans greater than 270 days, erasing the record from credit reports. SAVE will eventually bring all loan payments under one process and one department, directed by the president.

We cannot be certain of the ultimate costs. With appropriate disclaimers (for static budgeting with hyperdynamic plans), the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the cost of implementing SAVE could cost $230 billion. Based on a five-year-old study, just under half of all student debt is estimated to be on income-dependent plans. The current number is likely greater based on trends. These plans have variable monthly payments during the term and have a forgiveness option, making any predictions of a final cost speculative. These plans are continually in flux. Any estimate of cost is a guess, more so after covid.

SAVE has legal challenges from attorney generals from three states. This challenge is not creating headlines. Without an injunction or congressional action, the plan would be initiated in July 2024. In June, twenty-five courts in Kansas and Missouri blocked further enrollment in the SAVE plan.

The SAVE plan fits the long-term goal of increased federal control of public higher education. The president can manipulate the plan to modify payments for a population demographic such as “dreamers” or for a major employment segment such as green energy ambassadors.

The courts’ challenge to this plan must succeed. We need a pause for a better fix on the actual debt. Both political parties have mismanaged this program. There are responsible measures in Congress to bring forward to cap this vote-buying scheme and protect taxpayers.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/bidens-student-loan-plan-save-will-cost-230-billion

Moped-Mounted Crime Soars: Migrants Bring Third World Tactic To USA

 Open-border advocates love to tell you that "diversity is our strength." Unfortunately, illegal immigrants flooding into the United States are diversifying the criminal threats Americans face on city streets, exposing them to a tactic widely used across Latin America but rarely seen here -- until now. 

Latin Americans -- and US followers of Phoenix, Arizona-based Active Self Protection's popular YouTube channel -- are quite familiar with attacks carried out by two criminals riding a single moped or dirt bike -- a modus operandi that facilitates both surprise and a quick getaway. Sometimes the criminals don't even dismount. In other instances, one or both may get off the ride. Regardless, they frequently wield deadly weapons to compel their prey to part with valuables. 

These two men were believed responsible for a spree in which they snatched headphones from pedestrians' heads (via @ViralNewsNYC)

That was the recent experience of two friends strolling in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood after 11pm on a Thursday night. They say a man in a ski mask jumped off the back of a moped and pointed a gun at one of them, taking the 29-year-old man's watch and the 32-year-old woman's purse. The gunman then hopped back on the moped and the getaway driver sped the two criminals off into the night.  

“It was very quick, but it was obviously super rattling. I’ve lived in the area for over seven years now, and I’ve never felt unsafe,” the woman told the New York Post, asking that her name be kept out of print for fear of criminal retribution.

The female victim is certain the criminals were Venezuelan -- based on her familiarity with their accents, thanks to her having grown up in that country. What she said next spoke volumes:

“It’s pretty insane for this to be happening here. My family left Venezuela because crime like that is very common there, and they just didn’t want us growing up in that kind of like, like lack of safety.”

NYPD told Fox News that, earlier this year, they arrested two armed Venezuelans on a moped -- and believe just this one pair was connected to more than 100 robberies. 

Awash in hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, New York City is the top hotspot for moto-crime. “Mopeds as a means of flight from the seven major [crimes] is up over 400% since 2022,” an NYPD source told the Post, "and that’s when we believe we first started seeing the beginning of the wave of new arrivals." 

These two rode up a Bronx sidewalk and yanked a cellphone out of a woman's hand (via @ViralNewsNYC)

Some victims have been targeted because of their foolish choice to wear outrageously pricey watches in public (compounding their foolish choices to spend their money that way in the first place). On June 26, a man in Greenwich Village had a gun pointed at his head before surrendering his $40,000 Rolex. On June 18, armed robbers stole another man's $100,000 watch outside a Manhattan hotspot. They've also been known to yank gold chains off people's necks. 

Don't think you're immune from a moto-attack if don't flaunt your money. An iPhone, purse or wallet could be all the enticement the low-lifes need. In June, there was a spree of at least four moped-launched robberies in which the thieves yanked headphones off pedestrians' heads. 

You're not even safe once you've left the street. On June 21, two men with guns entered Williamsburg's Birds of a Feather restaurant. "They basically held up the entire restaurant at gunpoint," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York. He believes the two perpetrators are newly-arrived migrants. 

Of course, you can't commit a moto-crime without a moto, so they're also stealing mopeds left and right -- as was the case when a food delivery worker was stabbed in the chest and robbed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn last month. In a May incident in Queens, thieves demanded that 15- and 19-year-old victims give up their moped. When they refused, both were slashed with a knife and yanked off the vehicle. 

Sometimes the criminals simply grab what they want and hit the gas, with no regard for their victims' lives -- as seen in this February attack on a woman in New York City: 

It's not clear in which country this happened, but here's how one quick-thinking woman foiled an attempted purse-snatching (keep in mind this defensive tactic carries the risk of triggering punitive violence): 

...and here's another failed robbery with an even more fulfilling ending: 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/moped-mounted-crime-soars-migrants-bring-third-world-tactic-usa

Osteoporosis Medication Could Soothe Arthritic Fingers

 "These are exciting times in the field of finger polyarthritis, as there are new data that help us better understand and possibly treat arthritis in the hands," said Margreet Kloppenburg, MD, PhD, professor of rheumatology at Leiden University in Leiden, the Netherlands, at the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) 2024 Annual Meeting.

A promising approach for the erosive form of finger polyarthritis is treatment with an osteoporosis medication: The monoclonal antibody denosumab, which targets the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand. The corresponding study was also mentioned by Willem Lems, MD, PhD, professor of immunology at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, in a session on osteoporosis.

Finger Polyarthritis Common 

Finger polyarthritis often takes a back seat to arthritis of the knees and hips, which is why Kloppenburg referred to it as a "forgotten disease." It is not a rarity, however. "Up to 10%-25% of older women suffer from it."

The term "hand arthritis" may be misleading. "It sounds so simple, as if it were just one joint," said Kloppenburg. In fact, it is mostly a polyarticular disease that affects various finger joints, usually middle and end joints, and the thumb saddle joint.

Arthritis leads to deformities, painful movement restrictions, and sometimes erosive joint changes. "This is seen in around 10% of people with symptomatic, radiologically detectable finger polyarthritis, often accompanied by inflammation," said Kloppenburg.

Inadequate Therapeutic Options 

Treatment is based on nonpharmacologic measures: Education, exercise therapy, and orthoses for rhizarthrosis. The current EULAR guideline from 2018 recommends topical and oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, potentially paracetamol, intra-articular glucocorticoids, weak opioids such as tramadol, and chondroitin sulfate for pharmacologic therapy.

The guideline advises against the use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, specifically biologics, in rheumatology, even though finger polyarthritis sometimes presents with synovitis, and there is evidence of the effectiveness of methotrexate in this indication.

"What we really lack are medications that can stop, reverse, or prevent structural damage," said Kloppenburg. In other words, disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs are needed. The understanding that there are apparently different endotypes of arthritis helps in the search for potentially suitable agents. "The best known are synovitis-driven, cartilage-driven, and bone-driven endotypes."

"We know that osteoclast and osteoblast activation play a role in arthritis, and that's also what we see in erosive finger polyarthritis," said Kloppenburg. Studies suggest that osteoclasts resorb the subchondral bone, leading to bone remodeling at the cartilage interface. MRI studies, such as a meta-analysis with data from nearly 2000 patients, support this observation. "There is an association between these subchondral bone lesions and local joint tenderness," said Kloppenburg.

These findings appear to be clinically relevant. "Bone marrow lesions are also associated with radiographic progression," said Kloppenburg.

There seems to be a link to osteoporosis, she added, describing long-term data from the population-based Rotterdam Study over 4-8 years. "Especially patients with vertebral fractures at study baseline had a higher incidence of finger polyarthritis over time."

Can Denosumab Help?

Could osteoporosis medications help? That question was exactly what researchers from Belgium investigated in a randomized, placebo-controlled phase 2a study. They enrolled 101 patients with at least one erosive or pre-erosive interphalangeal joint, a soft swelling in at least one interphalangeal joint with ultrasound evidence of synovitis, and temporary inflammatory activations. Over 48 weeks, participants received subcutaneous denosumab or placebo every 12 weeks.

The primary endpoint was the change in the Ghent University Scoring System at week 24. The semiquantitative score developed specifically for finger polyarthritis combines radiologic signs of progressive erosion and repair. A significant improvement was achieved, which was even more pronounced after 48 weeks.

"What I find promising is that the number of new erosive joints after 48 weeks in the denosumab group was lower than in the placebo group," said Kloppenburg. Erosions first appeared in nine joints in the denosumab group, compared with 38 in the placebo group.

"This is a really exciting study," said Kloppenburg, despite one disappointment. "Unfortunately, they could not demonstrate an improvement in pain and function." The difference on the numerical rating scale from 0 to 10 was only 0.3 points in favor of denosumab at week 24, which was not significant. Kloppenburg attributed it to the study design and suggested new randomized controlled studies with pain as an outcome.

"It was only about radiologic changes," said Lems, who also found the study "quite remarkable," especially "in a disease where we do not have many treatment options." 

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/osteoporosis-medication-could-soothe-arthritic-fingers-2024a1000cis

Cytomegalovirus Shown to Cause Glioblastoma

 Human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) is part of the Herpesviridae family. It infects nearly half of the French population. Once infected, individuals are generally lifelong carriers of the virus, as is the case with all herpesviruses. The infection is often clinically asymptomatic. Viral transmission occurs through direct contact with the secretions of an infected person (eg, saliva, tears, urine, and feces). The virus can reactivate through occasional flare-ups.

Human Cytomegalovirus 

Increasing evidence identifies hCMV as a potential oncogenic virus. This virus is often detected in patients with cancer. Detection of the hCMV genome or antigens has been described in many malignant tumors, including breast, ovarian, colorectal, and prostate cancers.

Glioblastomas are the most common malignant primary tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most frequent subtype of diffuse adult glioma. GBM remains an incurable disease. Despite aggressive treatment involving the most complete surgical resection possible and radiochemotherapy, the median overall survival of patients is only 15-18 months.

Hypotheses about the role of hCMV in GBM have been discussed for many years. The virus has indeed been found, albeit in very small quantities, in most GBM cases. It has been isolated from human neural stem cells, progenitor cells, and astrocytes. The latest World Health Organization classification of CNS tumors considers molecular information for the diagnostic classification and prognosis of gliomas. Although a link between hCMV and GBM has been established, causality has not been demonstrated.

Glioblastoma Development

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Bordeaux, University Hospital of Bordeaux, Besançon University Hospital, and University of Franche-Comté in Besançon, France, has shown, in an animal model, the role of hCMV in the development of glioblastoma. These findings were published in Cancer Gene Therapy in March 2024.

Initially, the researchers isolated hCMV from tumor biopsy samples (GBM) obtained from three patients during surgery. They also used the oncogenic high-risk strain HCMV-DB, which they had previously studied. Human brain astrocytes were infected in vitro with the isolated hCMV; within a few months, these infected cells transformed into cancer cells typical of GBM. These cells were then stereotactically implanted into the brains of immunosuppressed Ragγ2C-/- mice, leading to the formation of deadly glioblastomas in vivo.

For the first time, experimental proof of the generation of GBM cells induced by hCMV possessing characteristics like those of GBM and leading to the formation of a GBM in xenografted mice has been provided. According to the researchers, detection of hCMV in GBM biopsies could suggest use of anti-hCMV therapies, including antiviral treatment and immunotherapies targeted against hCMV antigens. New therapeutic strategies are necessary, and innovative experimental animal models need to be developed, they said.

According to the authors, these results "fit with an HCMV-induced glioblastoma model of oncogenesis in vivo, which will open the door to new therapeutic approaches and assess the anti-HCMV treatment as well as immunotherapy in fighting [GBM]."

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/cytomegalovirus-shown-cause-glioblastoma-2024a1000cvr