iOMe Challenge

Grandma and Grandpa may be getting a Social Security raise, but half of their grandkids are pretty sure they won’t see any Social Security at all.

That’s according to a new poll from the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. It’s working with several other organizations on the iOMe Challenge, which seeks to help young people think about their financial future.

Apparently, they don’t think there’s much future there at all, at least when it comes to Social Security.

The online survey, which included a nationally representative sample of 642 18- to 29-year-olds, found only 5 percent expect that the Social Security benefits they stand to receive at age 67 to be about the same as the ones retirees are receiving today.

In addition to the 50 percent who don’t think it will exist at all, another 28 percent thought it would exist but the benefits would be much smaller. Eighteen percent weren’t sure what would happen.

Social Security is at risk of running short of funds unless some changes are made, because the general population is both aging and living longer. Proposals include raising the Social Security tax cap, increasing the age at which you start collecting Social Security and reducing benefits.

David Wegge, executive director of the Strategic Research Institute, noted that no matter what happens with Social Security, millennials will likely have to rely more on their own savings than previous generations. That’s because pensions also are becoming much less common.

“There’s much more responsibility that’s being placed on an individual’s shoulder,” Wegge said.

The survey found that about four in 10 millennials are setting aside some money for retirement each month. The ones who don’t think Social Security will be there when they retire were also the least likely to be currently saving for retirement.

Even those who are setting money aside are generally not saving very much.

That’s not surprising given the current economy. The unemployment rate for 25- to 34-year-olds was at 9.7 percent in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 20- to 24-year-olds, it was 14.7 percent.

Even those who have jobs may not have much left over at the end of the month. In general, younger workers tend to earn lower wages because they are just starting out, and that may be especially true right now.

In addition, Wegge noted, many younger workers may be trying to pay off student loans.

“I think that generation is coming into the workforce at a very challenging time,” he said.

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Results with 134 short comments

I’m 46 and it’s plainly evident it’ll be gone by the time I “retire.” The current payroll tax cuts are designed to accomplish that.

I’m a millennial myself, I don’t expect there to be anything left. I plan on working until I drop.

I’m 19 years from retirement and I don’t think it will be here thanks Uncle Sam for opening it up to the general fund!

I’m 26 and I’m guessing the retirement age will be gradually raised to 75. With longer life expectancies, this is reasonable.

Because I will retire in 10 years. As for the Millenials, it will be there if you want it to be. You have to vote.

No, but little green men will be walking down main street!

What, no reporting on OWS anymore MSNBC?!
The corporate owned mainstream propaganda networks hard at work here controlling the minds of the

Kill it now. No more SS for anyone. Don’t let the Boomers suck it dry and leave nothing for us.

SS is an “entitlement” the GOp/TP is trying drastically hard to eliminate.

I’m not millenial and mine has already been reduced.

SS will not go away but the benefits WILL be cut, there is no other choice.

The Baby Boomers have paid FAR more into than any one else. We will probably not receive half of what we actually paid in over the years.

The American dream includes the rich stealing everyone’s life savings even the futures.

I’m happy I will have Army Guard retirement what think I of as “whatever” Social Sec. It will be changed in the 8 years until my elig.

Social Security has never been a problem.. Politicians are the problem.

The Republicans have been lying about Social Security for years to they can steal it for tax cuts for the rich.

But, when younger, I also doubted that it would exist when I retired.

As long as a dollar is of any value S.S. will be there. Private accounts on the other hand are to risky full of liars and thieves.

Vote republican and your prediction will come true.

It will be there for me since I’ve only got about 8 years to go. Don’t know about my children.

Never thought it would be there, so I got a Roth IRA…

I was raised to believe SS was a tax, not a benefit I will see when I grew up. At 28 I still believe it, this country will be bankrupt.

It damn well better be. This was a promise whether the current thieves in Washington view it that way or not. You want to see how quickly

It will be there only if those in Office are removed from both sides. Vote out career politician from both sides.

By Gene J. Puskar, AP

A “sold” sign hangs in the yard of a home in Mount Lebanon, Pa. on Oct. 18, 2011.

If you’re trying to figure out what to study in college, a new report suggests you would do well choosing a major in science, technology, engineering or math.

The report, based on Census and National Science Foundation data analyzed by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, shows that professions that depend heavily on skills learned in these fields are the second-fastest growing occupational group in the United States, after health care.

While traditional fields like computer engineering and laboratory research make up about 5 percent of the work force, demand for science, technology, engineering and math skills is spreading far beyond, to occupations in manufacturing, utilities, transportation and mining, as well as to sales and management. As a result, the study, by Anthony P. Carnevale, Nicole Smith and Michelle Melton, argues that there is a shortage of so-called STEM workers.

The scientific and technological disciplines have “become the common currency in the labor market,” Mr. Carnevale said. With more companies concentrating on technology, “if you’re going to sell in a technical world you’ve got to be credible,” even to be in sales, he said. “You can’t sell to an engineer unless an engineer thinks you’re also an engineer.”

With a shortage of people trained in such fields, many technology and scientific companies in the United States are forced to recruit from abroad, the study’s authors say.

According to the study, people with talent in science, technology, engineering or math don’t often major in such disciplines during college in the first place. And even if they start out doing so, many switch majors. Of those graduating with such degrees, only 10 percent go into related fields such as engineering, physical science or architecture.

Compared with many other fields outside of these disciplines, STEM workers can earn higher wages. On average, 65 percent of those who hold a bachelor’s degree in such fields will earn more than those who hold master’s degrees in other subjects. Among those with associate’s degrees in the science and technical fields, 63 percent earn more than those who hold bachelor’s degrees in other subjects.

But there are bigger lures. While engineers, technicians and lab researchers may start out earning more than their peers in other fields, they can top out by the middle of their careers. So by age 35, a STEM worker with a graduate degree will make about $50,000 less a year than a doctor or other health care professional with a graduate degree, leading many of those with engineering, science or math degrees to choose medicine as a career. Not surprisingly, managers also make more than technicians, so talented engineers often move into the C-suite to increase their salaries.

“What’s striking to me is that I’m used to thinking of liberal arts as the foundational degree that gives you lots of options in a career,” Mr. Carnevale said. Increasingly, he said, science, technology, engineering and math are crucial to a wide-ranging career. “You get a bigger bump going in, and almost at every stage you have other options,” he said.

But don’t count philosophy or literature out, either. Mr. Carnevale said that in surveys of employers, one of the biggest complaints about technical workers is that they “can’t talk and can’t write a memo and have horrible interpersonal skills.” So maybe the best course of study is a double major. Physics and poetry, anyone?

NEW YORK — Running one of the nation’s biggest wireless networks has been a reliable way for ATT Inc. to boost revenues, quarter after quarter, as people loaded up on phones, and then traded up to smartphones. But the easy money may already have been made, ATT’s latest results show.

ATT said Thursday that its wireless service revenue grew just 4.3 percent in the July to September period versus a year ago. That growth rate had often topped 10 percent in the recent years, but has now been declining for a straight year.

Contributing to the slowdown in growth was the delayed launch of the latest iPhone model, which just missed the end of the quarter. ATT said it activated 2.7 million iPhones in the third quarter, the lowest number in a year and a half, as people waited for the new model.

On Tuesday, Apple Inc. surprised investors with global iPhone sales figures that were below lofty expectations. But sales of the 4S were very strong in the first three days in stores, so ATT may already have made up for a slow third quarter.

But the longer-term trend behind the sluggish growth in service revenues may be that people are starting to reach the ceiling for what they’re able to pay for phone service each month. More than half of ATT subscribers now have smartphones, which means they sign up for data plans. But ATT’s revenue from phone calls is declining almost as fast as data revenue is increasing.

“The wireless business simply isn’t a growth engine anymore,” said Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett.

ATT is trying to juice the wireless business by buying No. 4 carrier T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, but the Justice Department is trying to stop the deal, saying it would remove a competitor and raise prices. Observers give it only a small chance of being completed.

Dallas-based ATT reported its net income fell to $3.62 billion, or 61 cents per share, for the quarter, down from $12.3 billion, or $2.07 per share, a year ago, which was boosted by the sale of a subsidiary and a tax settlement. Excluding those items, last year’s earnings were 54 cents per share.

The latest earnings matched the average forecast of analysts polled by FactSet.

Its revenue slipped 0.3 percent to $31.5 billion from $31.6 billion a year ago. That was slightly below analysts’ expectations of $31.6 billion.

In morning trading, ATT shares fell 10 cents to $28.99. The stock trades in a tight band, but is closer to its 52-week high low of $27.20 than its 52-week high of $31.94.

ATT’s recruitment of subscribers to its contract-based wireless plans continued to recover in the third quarter after being slashed earlier this year by the advent of the iPhone at Verizon Wireless. Contract-based plans are the most lucrative.

In the quarter, ATT gained a net 384,000 subscribers on contract plans, excluding the effects of two minor acquisitions. That was roughly in line with analyst expectations and an improvement from the first quarter’s figure of 62,000. However, it was still only half the number it gained in last year’s third quarter. Most phone companies are finding it harder to gain subscribers now that almost everyone has a phone.

ATT added a total of 2.1 million phones and other devices to its wireless network, for a total of 100.7 million phones and other devices on its wireless network. Half of the gains were non-phone, low-margin devices like Kindles.

Cable companies kept chipping away at broadband customers from ATT’s wired side, and ATT’s buildout of U-Verse, its own cable-TV service, slowed down. It added 176,000 TV subscribers to U-Verse, the lowest number in three years. Total broadband subscribers were flat — the worst third-quarter showing yet for the company.

ATT eked out a 0.2 percent increase in consumer wireline revenue compared to last year, as U-Verse barely made up for the loss of phone lines.

ATT provides local phone service in 22 U.S. states.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Weekly applications dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 403,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up to 409,000.

But applications are ticking down. The four-week average fell for a fourth week, to 403,000. A month ago it was 422,250.

And in another report Thursday, a gauge of future economic activity edged up in September, signaling modest economic growth in coming months.

The Conference Board says its index of leading economic indicators rose 0.2%, a fifth consecutive gain, but weaker than increases of 0.3% in August and 0.6% in July.

Five of the 10 indicators that make up the index showed gains in September.

The reports point to excruciatingly slow economic growth.

Unemployment applications need to fall consistently below 375,000 to signal sustainable job growth. They haven’t been below that level since February.

Economists have been closely watching the unemployment benefits report since fears of another recession intensified in August. Layoffs and applications tend to rise at the beginning of recessions. The slow decline in applications suggests hiring remains sluggish but layoffs aren’t worsening.

Employers pulled back on hiring this spring, after rising gasoline prices cut into consumer spending and Japan’s March 11 earthquake disrupted supply chains. That slowed U.S. auto production.

Auto output has rebounded in the past couple of months and gas prices have come down from their peak in early May. Those trends likely boosted growth in the July-September quarter to about a 2.5% annual rate, economists predict. That’s an improvement from the 0.9% annual rate the first six months of this year. But it’s not enough to spur much job growth.

Employers have added an average of only 72,000 jobs a month the past five months. That’s far below the 100,000 a month needed to keep up with population growth. And it’s down from an average 180,000 the first four months this year.

In September, the economy generated 103,000 net jobs. That was enough to calm recession fears, but it wasn’t enough to lower the unemployment rate, which stayed at 9.1%.

An event to mark the end of Jean-Claude Trichet’s tenure as president of the European Central Bank drew most of the main players in the debt drama to a Frankfurt opera house, and inevitably raised hopes that a deal to shore up European banks and offer Greece a way out of its debt trap was near.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, tried to play down expectations, saying that it would not be possible “to erase the mistakes of the past in just one stroke.” A European summit meeting Sunday, she said during a speech praising Mr. Trichet, will be just “one point” in “a long journey.”

But the cast of characters at the event created the opposite impression. They included Christine Lagarde, president of the International Monetary Fund and Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, who bustled in after the speeches in praise of Mr. Trichet were over, trailed by a large entourage and looking grave.

Mr. Sarkozy and Mrs. Merkel later left the event, in an ornate concert hall known as the Alte Oper, without making statements. A spokeswoman for Mrs. Merkel, Elke Ramlow,  said they discussed preparations for the meeting on Sunday, but had no other details.

Pressure on the leaders came not only from markets and from ratings agencies — one of which downgraded Spain — but also from Mr. Trichet. “The present calls for immediate action,” he said.

Helmut Schmidt, the 92-year-old former chancellor of Germany and a living symbol of the postwar reconstruction of Europe, delivered a blunt lecture on leadership to the officials assembled in the front row, who also included Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.

After being pushed onto the stage in a wheelchair and adjusting his hearing aid, Mr. Schmidt railed in a booming voice against German critics of the euro and leaders who put their parochial interests ahead of the European project. “Anyone who considers his own nation more important than common Europe damages the fundamental interests of his own country,” Mr. Schmidt said, in what could be read as a rebuke to Mrs. Merkel.

Reminding listeners that Germany received a de facto debt restructuring after World War II as well as huge economic aid, Mr. Schmidt said that “of course the strong should help the weak,” a clear reference to Greece, which was the scene of violent demonstrations again Wednesday.

Mrs. Merkel later responded that, while Germany would do everything necessary to preserve the euro, “we live in democracies and have to operate according to fundamental rules.”

Earlier, Mr. Barroso said the European Union was at a “turning point” and required decisive action from its leaders on the euro zone debt crisis. But he also tried to calm expectations ahead of a meeting of European leaders in Brussels on Sunday, warning that any agreement to end the crisis would take time to implement.

“Even if we do arrive at a political decision on everything that is on the table, which I hope we will, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there will not then have to be an implementing phase,” Mr. Barroso said. “You cannot hope that this will be the end of all our troubles, but I very much hope that important, long-term, positions, which are important for the future of the European Union and the euro, will come about.”

Numerous open questions remained, including how to increase the financial clout of the European bailout fund and find money to recapitalize weaker banks. “In Germany, the coalition is divided on this issue. It is not just Angela Merkel who we need to convince,” Mr. Sarkozy told French lawmakers at a lunch meeting, according to Charles de Courson, one of the legislators present, Reuters reported.

Expectations are also building that Greek bondholders may have to accept a deeper cut in the value of the debt, or “haircut,” than agreed to earlier.

Adding to the urgency, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Spain’s long-term sovereign rating by two notches and placed it on watch for further downgrades.

Moody’s cut Spain’s rating to A1 from Aa2, citing concerns over debt levels in the Spanish banks and corporations, as well as broader concerns about weakening growth among countries that share the euro.

If even a banker can’t make money, times are really tough.

The latest round of quarterly bank earnings is bringing into sharper focus the breadth and depth of the economy’s distress.

Interest rates are lower than they’ve been in decades. Ordinarily, cheap money is a banker’s dream. But businesses and consumers just don’t want to borrow — at least not until they see some evidence that the economy is improving.

“It’s hard not to be cautious,” JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told investors and reporters on a conference call last week. “Right now, nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow.”

That will likely be the main theme of hundreds more corporate conference calls in coming weeks, as business leaders try to give investors their best guidance about business prospects for the next few months. Most will likely cite ongoing uncertainty over slowing demand, flagging consumer confidence and the fresh whiff of inflation in the air. With the presidential campaign under way, many will also add to the list the confusion surrounding tax policies, federal budget cuts, health care costs and new regulations.

More recently, another major threat has hit the banking industry’s radar screen: the escalating turmoil in Europe.

“The fact is we don’t know what the rest of the world is going to do,” said Dimon.

After two years of talking, European political and financial leaders are running out of time to head off a Greek debt collapse. The hope is that by orchestrating an “orderly default,” bankers can head off another global credit crisis like the Panic of 2008 that followed the collapse of Lehman Bros. But despite repeated efforts to hammer out a workable solution, Europe’s leaders remain hamstrung by the conflicting interests of the 17 eurozone countries frozen in political gridlock.

“The situation needs to get dramatically worse before they really get focused on what they need to do,” MIT professor and former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson told CNBC. “And we’re not there yet.”

Investors have already bid down the market price of Greek debt as it becomes increasingly clear the country simply can’t pay it back. Now, it’s the banks’ turn.

This weekend, the European Union will consider yet another plan, this one forcing bankers to take a bigger “haircut” — of 50 percent — on their Greek debt holdings. But Johnson said the plan may not go far enough.

“For sure the banks are going to be absorbing extra losses,” he said. “But I’m not sure 50 percent is enough. When you look at the numbers carefully, it looks like you’ll need 60, 70, some people would say 80 percent to really get Greece on a medium-term sustainable debt path.”

Bankers routinely write down bad debt, and many have already set aside some reserves to cover the losses. U.S. banks, in particular, are seen as reasonably well insulated from the direct hit of a Greek default. The wider fear is that a disorderly default could spark another global credit crisis.  And even if the default is “orderly,” bank profits will be harder to come by if the ongoing slowdown in Europe spreads to the global economy.

“The eurozone is already heading for recession, and if its public debt and banking crisis is not contained, the rest of the developed world may follow suit,” economists at Capital Economics wrote in research report issued Tuesday.

Bucking the trend
Some smaller, regional U.S. bankers are having better luck than their “too big to fail” counterparts. On Wednesday, US Bancorp and PNC Financial Services reported better-than-expected third-quarter profits thanks to belt-tightening and the growth of commercial loans to smaller businesses.

Smaller businesses rely more heavily on conventional lending because they have a harder time getting funding by selling bonds on Wall Street. Regional banks have also fared better because they are holding fewer bad mortgages and largely sat out the boom in mortgage-backed bonds that drove the housing bubble.

Morgan Stanley bucked the trends facing its big bank rivals, posting a bigger profit Wednesday than analysts had expected. But some $3.4 billion of its revenues resulted from the same accounting footnote that helped Bank of America offset its operating losses in the latest quarter. As the value of the debt on these banks’ books fell, accounting rules require them to record a gain on their financial statements.

Those footnotes didn’t reverse the harsh impact on consumers as unemployment remains stuck at recession levels.

Profits from consumer banking were hit hard in the third quarter as American households coped with high unemployment and falling home prices by cutting spending and shunning new loans. Though households are slowly paying down debt, wages have stalled, leaving them with little or no money to save or invest.

Consumers are just as leery as big businesses to take on more debt. Bank of America, one of the nation’s largest credit card issuers, said revenue from that division dropped 16 percent in the latest quarter

With no signs of recovery in the housing market, banks are writing fewer mortgages. They’re also struggling to stem the losses from the mortgages already on their books. Falling housing prices have also added to the number of homeowners who find themselves “underwater” on their loans. That puts them at greater risk of joining the huge backlog of homes in the foreclosure pipeline. As those houses are sold at distressed prices, bankers face the prospect of further losses.

Bankers with heavy mortgage portfolios also face tens of billions of dollars in legal claims from investors who bought bonds backed by mortgages that failed. Bank of America, for example, said that as of the end of the quarter it had $11.7 billion worth of such claims pending from investors and others who are demanding the bank buy back bad mortgages.

They also face a host of other legal claims for doctoring documents and cutting corners in the foreclosure process, including “robo-signing” paperwork without properly verifying it. The industry’s largest players are in talks with state attorney’s general over a settlement that could cost the industry tens of billions of dollars. But those talks continue to drag on with no clear resolution in sight.

“We would love to have some kind of settlement,” Dimon said on the conference call. “But there are 50 state AGs. It looks like it’s getting bogged down.”

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Finance officials around the world are working to find a solution for the global economy to grow. Insight with Simon Johnson, MIT entrepreneurship professor/former IMF chief economist.