Seniors’ benefits averaged record $27,289 in 2007

The cost of government benefits for the elderly soared to a record $27,289 per senior in 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

That’s a 24 percent increase above the inflation rate since 2000.

Last year, for the first time, health care and nursing homes cost the government more than Social Security payments for seniors age 65 and older.

The average Social Security benefit per senior in 2007 was $13,184.

"We have a health care crisis. We don’t have an entitlement crisis," said David Certner, legislative policy director of the AARP, which represents seniors.

He says seniors shouldn’t be blamed for the growing cost of government retirement programs.

The federal government spent $952 billion in 2007 on elderly benefits, up from $601 billion in 2000. States chipped in another $27 billion in 2007, mostly for nursing homes.

All three major senior programs – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – experienced dramatically escalating costs that outstripped inflation and the growth in the senior population.

The portion of the U.S. population age 65 and older has been constant at 12 percent since 2000.

The senior boom, however, hits high gear in 2011 when the first baby boomers – 79 million people born between 1946 and 1964 – turn 65 and qualify for Medicare health insurance.

Eugene Steuerle, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, noted that the full cost of senior benefits would also include other programs for retirees, such as military and civil servant pensions and medical benefits.

The vast majority of U.S. workers say they work much harder than the president of their firm, according to a new poll from employment advertising company Monster.

A full 77 percent of respondents argued they toiled longer and harder than the occupants of the corner office, the survey found.

Unscientific by the company’s own admission, the poll findings speak nonetheless to a general sense in American society that the higher echelons have it too easy, getting paid a whole lot more form doing far less.

"Nowadays, with the ratio of CEO pay to the average worker exploding, feelings of disenfranchisement from not being compensated fairly are much more likely," said Steven Blader, assistant professor of management and organization’s at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

The results were based on 5,369 votes cast by website users on the Monster homepage.

Ball sitting can improve posture and strengthen your core. Plus, the soft surface may actually be better for your spine than hard chairs — but talk to your doctor before trying it if you are pregnant or have back problems. If you want to use a stability ball in place of an office chair, be sure to choose one that puts your hips level with or just slightly higher than your knees (26 inches), will be a good fit for most.

gild the lily • \GILD-thuh-LILL-ee\ • phrasal verb

: to add unnecessary ornamentation to something beautiful in its own right

Example Sentence:
My sister has good bone structure and lovely skin, so she doesn’t need to gild the lily by wearing makeup.

Did you know?
You might be aware that "gild the lily" is attributed to Shakespeare, but there is a catch — the phrase used in Shakespeare’s play King John is actually "to paint the lily." The quotation reads, in part, "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily / To throw a perfume on the violet. . .. / Is wasteful and ridiculous excess." There are those who criticize "gild the lily" as a misquotation, and "paint the lily" does appear from time to time. But "gild the lily" has become firmly established, and it holds true to the spirit of the original version, even if the wording does not.

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• William Henry Harrison Dies of Pneumonia (1841)
  Harrison was an American military leader, politician, and the ninth president of the US. When the 68-year-old statesman took office in 1841, he became the oldest man elected president, a record that stood for 140 years and was broken by Ronald Reagan, who was 69 years old when he took office. Harrison died just one month into his term—making him the first president to die in office and making his presidency the briefest ever.