How Does Social Security Factor Into Your Retirement Plan ...

How Does Social Security Factor Into Your Retirement Plan

It?s funny, because whenever we run profit projections for our clients, many of them will say, ?Oh, you know, I don?t know. Social Security is shaky. Let?s not include it.? So, we?ll run one [projection] without it and another from it. It?s a big difference. Then when they find it, they assert, ?Well, yes, OK, let?s keep that in.??

Financial planner Mark Balasa got a chuckle on the crowd when he made that statement at Morningstar.com?s retirement income seminar in January 2011, without doubt because at the very least some audience members saw a bit of themselves from it. Because it offers an inflation-adjusted income stream that could last through a retiree?s life, Social Security is surely an incredibly powerful benefit. At the same time, deficit worries have led some to question whether this program continues on its current course: Proposals to reform Social Security have included raising the eligibility age, tweaking the inflation adjustment, or incorporating means-testing so that wealthy beneficiaries would be handed a scaled-back benefit.

I just asked Morningstar.com Discuss forum participants to how Social Security had factored within their own retirement planning. Posting in the Investing During Retirement forum, Gurus them when they were depending upon the full benefit or were thinking of scaled-back level of income from the program.

A robust conversation ensued, with clear divisions based on life stage. While retired or soon-to-retire posters generally stood a moderate or advanced level of confidence they?d receive their full benefits, younger investors were more skeptical that this program could be viable as soon as they were given around to retiring. Some posters also shared what role Social Security had played in their retirement plans. It is often a necessary component of some retirees? income streams, while other people take their Social Security benefits in the category of ?nice to own.?

To learn to read the full thread or share the role of Social Security absolutely need retirement planning process,
?I Think Social Security Benefits Are Fairly Sure?
A tiny contingent of posters who are retired or near retiring are yet to factored Social Security benefits to their planning process. Chief K, although it is not expecting the imminent dissolution of Social Security, was obviously a rare poster who?s currently eligible to Social Security but is leaving open the possibility that his benefits might be curtailed in retirement. He wrote, ?I expect Social Security benefit payments to keep in something towards the existing form. However, I?ve got thought we would discount the amount of estimated benefits personally (I?m over 65) by 15% because, I will be just guessing concerning the future and i also always prefer any financial surprises to get ?better? rather than to help them to be ?worse.??

More commonly, however, retirees who posted are fully seeking to receive their benefits throughout their lifetimes.

Bubbygator was on the list of first retirees to weigh in, speaking for a lot of when he said he?s relying on his full benefit. He proceeded to argue that altering the machine in a fashion that would affect current retirees? incomes would not be politically viable. ?In my opinion that when any changes are created to the Social Security measure, such changes aren?t going to be retroactive to individuals with already qualified and are also currently receiving benefits. One reason I believe that is how the existing retiree base would raise hell politically against any retroactive bill.?

Racqueteer concurred that joggers who are already taking benefits are unlikely to discover their benefits cut. Thus, he wrote, ?I took Social Security at 62, and i believe by doing that, I caused it to be much more likely that my benefits will be grandfathered in regardless of what occur in the longer term.?

FidlStix agreed. ?For all you heat and light-weight being generated above the demise of Social Security and Medicare, I think Social Security benefits are fairly sure for all those folks 55 or older. I expect my wife and I will derive about 40% of our own retirement expenses from our Social Security benefits.? He continued to note that major market shocks are a bigger concern. ?Although I?m planning to investment income for the big portion our retirement, I feel very vulnerable to Cygnus atratus attacks.? ["Black Swan" describes Nicholas Taleb's book of the same name, which argued that market participants often underestimate the possibility of extreme market events.] ?However, federal programs like Social Security are relatively protected against Black Swans, or even attacks from Washington insiders seeking political advantage.?

?Without one I?d personally Need to Pinch Pennies?
Retired posters also shared what role their Social Security benefits had played in their in-retirement plans. For Bobert42, and many more in the thread, it is often a large one. ?My family and i both collect Social Security. In 2011, Social Security contributed 44% of our income. In 2012 this will likely jump to 64%. So yes, Social Security is and may remain a huge consider our retirement. We will maintain deep trouble if there was to be determined by income from our investments given the poor performance within the last few decade or possibly even longer.?

WOODJ is on the same page, writing that his household?s Social Security benefits amounted to 55% of their spending not too long ago. He concluded, ?I would like Social Security to take care of our quality of life.?

JBP57?s post illustrates what lifesaver Social Security may be should you have needed to are amiss prior to when that they had hoped. ?Social Security is the largest a part of my yearly income. I started drawing at 65 and 10 months because I became jobless together gotten helpful to eating regularly. I continued to draw after i returned to be effective. Really the only jobs in existence were $10-per-hour counter-help jobs (1 / 3rd of what I produced in construction) it?s the same appearing therein new normal, retirement might not be an alternative. I will have to cobble together lots income streams, employment, Social Security, pension, and investments to make it. My counter-help job lasted 16 months, and here I am pushing 70 looking for work again. The upside is, my sister is a decade younger, self-employed, solvent, plans to work to age 70, and now we have little debt, only our mortgage. I?ll just have to confuse my ?Golden Years? until I?m 80. So, I?m just quite thankful for Social Security.?

AviOren noted that he with the exceptional spouse use Social Security to address medical expenses, which are likely to increase during retirement. ?Inside my wife?s and my case, Social Security helps invite Part B and medical expenses above Medicare.?

Other posters noted that Social Security has reduced the demands they?ve was required to put on their portfolios.

ColonelDan wrote, ?I took Social Security at 62 to supplement my military retirement well , i wouldn?t need to touch my IRAs until required minimum distribution time. The master plan is performing exercises wonderfully.?

For other people, Social Security covers the extras that promote their quality of life.

Racqueteer wrote, ?I would not be determined by my Social Security, but it makes it simpler to live on comfortably in retirement. It?s about 1 / 3 of my income, so without it, I?d need to pinch pennies.?

Merjet quipped, ?If my monthly benefit is ever reduced, it may put some pressure on our vacation and entertainment budget.?

Stockvapors isn?t about to take Social Security until age 70, but likes that the benefits will help hedge against plenty of different possibilities. ?It?s going to be my extra inflation hedge, my extra money for medical bills or should i be lucky and healthy, my extra cash for charities and vacations. It?s also my security blanket just in case we have a major depression or other sorts of economic meltdown that eliminates a good chunk of my investments.?

Ditto for gary11112, who wrote, ?For us Social Security would be the difference between dying and leaving something behind and/or long-term care we buy versus dying broke and/or long-term care their state pays for. It is also the real difference between sleeping soundly at night through market gyrations or worrying about every market-affecting event.?

?A large Codgers Move on Washington?
Among readers closing in on retirement however , not yet tapping Social Security, most appear depending upon their benefits to supplement other options for retirement income, mainly due to firestorm that might ensue if benefits are altered. Juris2, who?ll use Social Security to supplement 403(b) withdrawals in retirement, notes, ?We?re able to probably scrunch up and survive if there are no Social Security by any means. But the chances of Social Security disappearing is nil for those inside my age cohort. They may fiddle with the inflation adjustment, but I do not think that would have a materially harmful relation to my income. (If this did, the federal government could expect an enormous Codgers Progress Washington. When folks don?t have anything to get rid of by protesting, they will confederate and take action.)?

Nelsoe hasn?t yet begun taking Social Security, but isn?t anticipating great changes on the structure in the program, either. ?I anticipate how the Social Security benefits will still be adjusted for inflation and never otherwise means-tested.?

GAPAhl is usually relying upon Social Security benefits to augment investment income. ?We will be retiring in four years at our full retirement age of 66. Considered one of us may elect to keep off receiving Social Security benefits until 68 or later, to spike the payout a little. We now have retirement savings which will contribute 55%-60% individuals retirement income, but we expect Social Security becoming a significant a part of our fiscal ?pie? through out our lives.?

BlackCoffee, approaching retirement, says employing Social Security in his in-retirement budget has allowed for just a more stock-heavy portfolio. ?As Social Security and rental income will roughly cover our nondiscretionary expenses, the Social Security entitlement has allowed me becoming a much more aggressive in my portfolio asset allocation than I might otherwise. While allocation is really a personal choice, on account of Social Security My business is comfortable with a 10-25-65 mix (cash, bonds, stock) whereas without it I?d probably want to become closer to 10-50-40 without them. Hence the Social Security entitlement is letting me assume a tad bit more risk and still sleep.?

He proceeded, ?I view Social Security for indexed annuity stream with the each of us that has a 50% spouse benefit (when considered one of us dies the other is left because of their own Social Security entitlement?more than half the combined total in my case and fewer than half within my wife?s case). The payment stream with spouse benefit and indexing would cost about $1.5 million to get. ?

Jocojayhawk has, similarly, considered Social Security as a possible annuity for retirement-planning purposes; in her case, the goal of that income stream would be to save it for the children. ?We?ve got fashioned our budget round the premise that Social Security represents a huge, inflation-adjusted annuity that?s not an ?entitlement? but a multidecade, paid-in retirement benefit. As I notice, our large, nearly untapped savings will likely be be passed on to our son and the family in order that it will have an ongoing revenue stream on their behalf in retirement 30-plus years from now when potentially the government?s power to fully provide this earned annuity will never be there for him or her. ?

Wartybliggins shared the following formula for quantifying the value of Social Security benefits. ?I considered the calculated present price of Social Security as having a bond fund delivering a 4% return. I calculated the virtual present worth of my Social Security benefits as about $400,000 of shares in a fund using a payout of four years old%. Quite simply, the Social Security benefit substitutes for a $400,000 holding. For many, that virtual present value plays a crucial role in your retirement wealth accumulation strategies and when you will get by for a couple years without drawing it, the virtual present value increases. So to determine the genuine effect Social Security can have in capitalizing your retirement, multiply your expected Social Security monthly benefit by 12 and divide by 0.04. The actual result may be the virtual capital contribution your Social Security enhances the principal worth of your retirement.?

Posters strategizing about their impending retirements differed on whether or not to take Social Security benefits early, thereby delaying tapping their investments, or waiting, along with so doing enlarging their benefit amounts. JHAsheville is incorporated in the former camp: ?My partner and I anticipate collecting Social Security at 62 after paying into the system over 40 years. By hitting up Social Security at age 62 we figure we can easily keep our ?buckets? safe and dealing harder and longer for many people by staying put in our portfolio.?

DSRoss seemed to be an earlier filer. Similar to JHAsheville?s idea, doing so reduced portfolio withdrawals at an inopportune time. ?I retired in 2004 and began taking Social Security in 2008 at 62. Given what transpired in 2008, taking Social Security at the time was the best move. It cushioned the withdrawals I would have gotten to make which would also have an impact about the ability of my portfolio to extract since then.?

Almstthr, conversely, has thought we would wait. ?I turned 65 in February. We?ve done the calculations comparing collecting now versus allowing the payment to increase by waiting. It lets you do appear that it?s going to take me 12 years to ?balance? the waiting period, but I quite like things i do, receive money reasonably well to perform my job, which includes a lots of travel.?

TerryQ50 has additionally made a decision to wait. ?Dependant on articles and interviews with Mary Beth Franklin, I now view Social Security as an inflation adjusted annuity using a 32% enhancement in benefits if we postpone trying to get those benefits from age 66 to 70.?

Other posters who definitely are nearing retirement are leaving open the entranceway on the possibility that Social Security could be tweaked during their retirement years. VinceN wrote, ?Were definitely relying on Social Security being offered. We also recognize that Social Security benefits might be reduced later on for people.?

TOOOINTENSE is much more pessimistic. ?I wouldn?t factor Social Security into any retirement funding. I am not saying yet in retirement (due to my wife not wanting me to potter around the property), but it will be unwise to trust any government assistance to its qualifications in financial mismanagement. Would you let a drunk hold the critical for your cellar??

?The Uncertainty Is just too High?
While most posters aren?t expecting imminent cuts in Social Security benefits, many from the thread think that benefits shall be reduced for those who will retire decades from now.

Doug89 said plainly, ?I?m 22, and i also don?t expect Social Security to exist as i retire.?

Similarly pessimistic was AndThat, who wrote, ?We both just turned 30, we?ve both paid into Social Security for near many years, and neither of people honestly expect to make use of it whatsoever for retirement. The rewards may still be there in most form 35 years from now, and it also will be nice if there was something for individuals. But far more solvent everything has gone belly up in significantly less time.?

Approximately three decades from retirement, random1 isn?t factoring Social Security into retirement planning, either. ?I am not counting on buying a dime from Social Security, i assume that lots of my peers are intending similarly.?

That sentiment was echoed by Carrie, who wrote, ?I?m 45 and don?t factor Social Security into my retirement planning by any means. For my maturity, the uncertainty is simply too high.?

Retirement is 13-20 years away for Dabignip, but he isn?t relying on benefits either. ?I will be investing now as if neither my spouse nor I?ll have any Social Security benefits in the least. By necessity, it indicates a focused balance on both diversified global growth and capital preservation.?

Other posters who are ages from retirement don?t expect Social Security to head out but do expect that benefits is going to be changed or reduced. Skreet wrote, ?I?m 38 years. I anticipate Social Security to get there when I be ready to retire, but I expect the payout will likely be about 50% of what is currently provided. That is still pretty helpful and surely inadequate to call home off without additional retirement funds. Should Social Security benefits be around to us in this retirement, it?s all lagniappe that can boost our quality of living.?

Llaroo can be expecting changes towards benefits calculations. ?I?m 53, i expect that eventually before My business is scheduled to draw on my Social Security (I most certainly will not implement it until at the least age 67) you will see means-testing or another(a) reduction in the latest value of benefits. I have not included Social Security around my retirement planning, then it is a bonus basically get any Social Security by any means. When the remaining portion of the bits of my pension account keep falling into place, I plan to give my Social Security benefits to my children or grandchildren for the reason that way our economy is heading long term, they may want it.?

MWarny would also view Social Security benefits as gravy. ?I am convinced Let me get ?something,? but my retirement savings plan will not calculate those to be conservative.?

ArgonBeam, 38, moved in terms of to create aside a separate fund to generate up on an anticipated Social Security shortfall. ?We are let?s assume that I am going to have no Social Security to attract upon. I?d personally guess that means-testing or various other income limit are going to be executed, and i also won?t be eligible when time comes. My current retirement forecasts estimate how much Social Security I will receive monthly. Then i estimate simply how much I must save now to supply that monthly amount at age 67 (my planned retirement, as I believe retirement will improvement in the upcoming decades) assuming a modest 5% annualized return about what I will be saving now. I put aside that calculated amount into a pre-existing aftertax account (I max the nontaxable). Definitely a glass half-empty approach, but I?d rather not rely on money i will not have.?

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Birds cultivate decorative plants to attract mates

ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2012) ? An international team of scientists has uncovered the first evidence of a non-human species cultivating plants for use other than as food. Instead, bowerbirds propagate fruits used as decorations in their sexual displays. The researchers discovered male bowerbirds had unusually high numbers of fruit-bearing plants growing around their bowers, and used these fruits in order to attract females.

Published April 24, in Current Biology the research was carried out by the Universities of Exeter (UK), Postdam (Germany), Deakin and Queensland (Australia).

This is the first time a species other than humans has been found to cultivate non-food plants. However, the scientists do not believe the bowerbirds are intentionally cultivating the plants: it is more likely that they are growing around their bowers as a result of the birds gathering fruits for display.

Native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, bowerbirds are well known for their unique courtship behaviour, which involves males building ornate bowers. Males gather brightly-coloured objects to decorate their bowers, in order to attract females.

The research team observed bowerbirds in Taunton National Park, Central Queensland. They found higher numbers of Solanum ellipticum, or potato bush, plants around bowers than in other locations. These plants have bright purple flowers and green fruit. Their research showed that the birds were not selecting locations with a high number of the plants, but rather that they were growing plants around their bowers.

Bowers with many fruit on them are especially attractive to choosy females. Males collect the fruits, but when the fruits shrivel, they discard them nearby. This results in seeds germinating in the ground around the bower. Bowerbirds clear the area around their bower of grass and weeds, making ideal conditions for new plants to germinate. Male bowerbirds can maintain a bower in the same location for up to ten years, so will benefit from establishing plants that may survive for several years.

The researchers found that, like farmers selecting for fatter pigs or larger seeds, the bird's behaviour may lead to a change in the appearance of fruits. The fruits from plants close to the bowers were slightly greener in colour than those found on other plants. The researchers tested the males' choices and found they preferred this colour to that of the other fruit.

Lead researcher Dr Joah Madden said: "Until now, humans have been the only species known to cultivate plants for uses other than food. We grow plants for all kinds of things -- from drugs, to clothing, to props that we use in our sexual displays such as roses -- but it seems we are not unique in this respect.

"We do not believe bowerbirds are intentionally growing these plants, but this accumulation of preferred objects close to a site of habitation is arguably the way any cultivation begins. It will be very interesting to see how this mutually-beneficial relationship between bowerbirds and these plants develops."

This study was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Exeter.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Joah R. Madden, Caroline Dingle, Jess Isden, Janka Sparfeld, Anne W. Goldizen, John A. Endler. Male spotted bowerbirds propagate fruit for use in their sexual display. Current Biology, 2012; 22 (8): R264 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.02.057

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Samsung announces Galaxy Note S Pen App Challenge winners!

Monkey Write

The Samsung Galaxy Note S Pen App Challenge of which our very own Phil Nickinson was a judge, has now concluded, and the winners have been announced. The grand prize winner has scored $100,000 with second place pulling in $50,00 and third taking home $20,000. The goal was to create apps that make use of the Samsung Galaxy Note's S Pen in unique ways and according to Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Mobile the results exceeded expectations both in terms of quantity and quality. So who won? Check out the list below:

  • Best Overall App – Grand Prize - $100,000 “Monkey Write * Learn Chinese” by Chiu-ki Chan (Square Island LLC): Learn to write Chinese with Monkey Write – a game that makes it fun to learn. Chinese characters are written in a specific order to give them structure. Follow the stroke numbers to learn to write each character.
  • Best Overall App – Second Prize - $50,000 “Maze Racer” by Roger Peters (SmartyPantsGaming) and David McCanless: Maze Racer is a simple maze inspired game where you draw a line from start to finish. In Maze Racer, you get rewarded stars based on how quickly you reach the finish. Maze Racer is optimized for precision from the S-Pen over traditional finger input.
  • Best Overall App – Third Prize - $25,000 “Drawing Pad” by Christopher Lott and Daren Murtha (Murtha Design): Drawing Pad is a mobile art studio with a beautiful user interface that puts the fun into creating art. Drawing Pad provides amazing realistic textured brushes with the pressure sensitivity data of the S Pen.
  • Popular Choice - $2,000 and a Galaxy Note - “SignDoc Mobile” by Softpro North America: Professionally capture user handwritten signature using pressure sensitivity of the S Pen

In addition to the top three winners and the popular choice award, Samsung also opened up a segment for honorable mentions where the winners took home $2,000 and a brand new Samsung Galaxy Note. Congrats to winners! You can check out the full press release beyond the break.

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Himalayan glaciers could be growing, new study finds

A new study published in Nature Geoscience has discovered Himalayan glaciers that are not shrinking at all. They could be getting larger.

Glaciers and sea ice around the world are melting at unprecedented rates, but new data indicates that this phenomenon may be lopsided. It seems that some areas of the Himalayan mountain range are melting faster than others, which aren't melting at all, a new study indicates.

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Specifically, the Karakoram mountain range is holding steady, and may even be growing in size, the study, published in the April 2012 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, suggests.

"The rest of the glaciers in the Himalayas are mostly melting, in that they have negative mass balance, here we found that glaciers aren't," study researcher Julie Gardelle, of CNRS-Universit? Grenoble, France, told LiveScience. "This is an anomalous behavior."

Karakoram mountains

The Karakoram mountain range spans the India-China-Pakistan border. It is home to the world's second highest peak, K2, and has the highest concentration of peaks over 5 miles (8 kilometers) high in the world. It is home to about half of the volume of the Himalayan glaciers.

The researchers used satellite photos to analyze the extent of the ice in about a quarter of the total range ? about 2,167 square miles (5,615 square kilometers). The photos were taken in 1999 and 2008. The researchers used two computer models to translate the images, revealing the elevation of the glaciers and estimating the extent of the ice.

They found that the glaciers are holding steady and based on the numbers might actually be gaining mass. But Gardelle warns this doesn't mean global warming and glacier melt isn't happening elsewhere.

"We don't want this study to be seen as questioning the planet's global warming," she told LiveScience. "With global warming we can get higher precipitation at high altitudes and latitudes, so thickening isn't out of the question." [10 Global Warming Myths Busted]

Glacier growth

Glaciers grow and shrink based on how much snow falls and the temperatures in the area. Why this area isn't showing the melt seen in other areas is still a mystery. "For now we don't have any explanation," Gardelle said. "There's been a study reporting an increase in winter precipitation, this could maybe be a reason for the equilibrium, but that's just a guess."

Because of its location and physical characteristics of the glaciers themselves, it was been exceptionally difficult to study the glaciers in this region. Usually satellite photos are combined with physical readings of the ice extent, and Gardelle says they'd like to get the physical data in the future to validate their findings.

Previous estimates had suggested the Himalayan mountain range as a whole was contributing about 0.04 millimeters per year to sea-level rise. These numbers now need to be adjusted to account for the anomaly of the Karakoram region, and are probably more like negative 0.006 millimeters per year, the researchers say.

"Evidently, extrapolation and analogy have failed in this significant region," Graham Cogley, a researcher from Trent University, in Canada, who wasn't involved in the study wrote in an accompanying essay in the same issue of Nature Geoscience.

"It seems that, by a quirk of the atmospheric general circulation that is not understood, more snow is being delivered to the mountain range at present and less heat," Cogley wrote. "Gardelle and colleagues have demonstrated that the mass balance of Karakoram glaciers is indeed anomalous compared with the global average."

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See If You Can Answer the Weirdest Standardized Test Question Ever [WTFriday]

Students, teachers, and parents in New York State don't know what to make of this bizarre question on the state exams. Let's see if you can do better. Sharpen your pencils! But first, everyone's familiar with the story of the pineapple and the hare, right? More »


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More Secret Service agents gone; Obama briefed

In this photo taken Oct. 4, 2008, David Chaney, right, who identified himself on his Facebook account as a member of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin?s Secret Service detail, watches Palin during a rally in Carson, Calif. Chaney?s lawyer, Lawrence Berger of New York, said he is representing Chaney in the fallout from the prostitution scandal inside the Secret Service. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

In this photo taken Oct. 4, 2008, David Chaney, right, who identified himself on his Facebook account as a member of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin?s Secret Service detail, watches Palin during a rally in Carson, Calif. Chaney?s lawyer, Lawrence Berger of New York, said he is representing Chaney in the fallout from the prostitution scandal inside the Secret Service. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2008 file photo, a Secret Service agent stands near then presidential candidate Barack Obama, background, at a rally in Norfolk, Va. Moving swiftly, the Secret Service forced out three agents Wednesday, April 18, 2012 in a prostitution scandal that has embarrassed President Obama. A senior congressman welcomed the move to hold people responsible for the tawdry episode but warned "it's not over." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

People walk past Hotel El Caribe in Cartagena, Colombia, late Thursday April 19, 2012. Eleven Secret Service employees are accused of misconduct in connection with a prostitution scandal at the hotel last week before President Barack Obama's arrival for the Summit of the Americas. The identities of two Secret Service supervisors who have been pushed out of the agency in the wake of the scandal have been revealed.(AP Photo/Pedro Mendoza)

FILE - In this June 30, 2010 file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sessions told reporters Thursday, the president should take responsibility for the Secret Service, GSA and energy company Solyndra scandals and insist on a government culture in which taxpayer dollars are not wasted. He said, "I don't sense that this president has shown that kind of managerial leadership." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

(AP) ? Three more Secret Service officers resigned Friday in the expanding prostitution scandal that has brought scorching criticism of agents' behavior in Colombia just before President Barack Obama's visit for a summit meeting last week. Agency Director Mark Sullivan came to the White House late Friday to personally brief Obama in the Oval Office.

The Secret Service announced the new resignations, bringing to six the number of agency officers who have lost their jobs so far because of events at their hotel in Cartagena.

Also late Friday, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa urged a broader investigation, including checking hotel records for White House advance staff and communications personnel who were in Cartagena for the summit. In a letter to Sullivan and the inspector general at the Homeland Security Department, Grassley asked whether hotel records for the White House staffers had been pulled as part of the investigations.

An additional Secret Service employee was implicated Friday, a government official said, commenting only on condition of anonymity concerning the continuing investigation. That brings the number to 12. One has been cleared of serious misconduct but still faces administrative action, an official said.

Obama's spokesman has assailed Republican criticism that has attempted to blame a lack of presidential leadership for the scandal and has said Obama would be angry if allegations published so far proved to be true. Friday's was Obama's first personal briefing by Sullivan on the subject, officials said.

Involvement by 11 Secret Service employees had been noted earlier. The 12th has been placed on administrative leave.

The scandal also involves at least 11 military members who were working on security before Obama arrived in Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas. The Pentagon acknowledged Friday that the 11th military person, a member of the Army, was implicated.

The incident in Colombia involved at least some Secret Service personnel bringing prostitutes to their hotel rooms. News of the incident, which involves at least 20 Colombian women, broke a week ago after a fight over payment between a prostitute and a Secret Service agent spilled into the hotel hallway. A 24-year-old Colombian prostitute told The New York Times that the agent agreed to pay her $800 for a night of sex but the next morning offered her only $30. She eventually left the hotel, she told the newspaper, after she was paid $225.

Two Secret Service supervisors and another employee were forced out of the agency earlier in the week. All of the agents being investigated have had their top-secret clearances revoked.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for two Secret Service supervisors said that Obama's safety was never at risk, and he criticized leaks of internal government investigations in the case, signaling a possible strategy for an upcoming legal defense.

The Secret Service briefed about two-dozen congressional staff members Friday, mainly from the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to one individual who was there but was not authorized to be quoted by name.

The person said investigators have photo ID's and names from a Cartagena, Colombia, hotel registry for all the women who stayed overnight and are in the process of conducting interviews. Investigators have interviewed maids and said no alcohol or drugs were found in the rooms.

Those under investigation were offered polygraphs and drug tests. It is unclear whether anyone accepted, the person said.

Grassley, in his letter to Sullivan and the Homeland Security inspector general, Charles Edwards, asked about checks on hotels in Cartagena for White House advance staff members and the White House Communications Agency, which includes military personnel: "Have records for overnight guests for those entities been pulled as part of the investigation? ... If not, why not?"

Additionally, Grassley, top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked whether rooms were shared by Secret Service, the communications agency and the presidential advance staff.

As for the military personnel noted previously, Pentagon press secretary George Little said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was getting regular updates on the investigation.

"He understands the level of interest in this issue," Little said. "He has serious concerns about the alleged misconduct."

Little said members of Congress have not yet been briefed on the military investigation but would be "in the near future."

In a letter to Secret Service employees Monday and obtained by the AP, Director Sullivan said the agency had moved in a "swift, decisive manner immediately after this incident was brought to our attention." He praised "the overwhelming majority" of employees who he said had acted with the "highest levels of professionalism and ethical behavior."

"Our job, our mission, our responsibility is to the president, the American people and the individuals we are entrusted to protect," Sullivan said. "This is not just a matter of honor, although this is critical. It is imperative, as part of our sworn duties, to always act both personally and professionally in a manner that recognizes the seriousness and consequence of our mission."

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview Friday that the Secret Service's investigation has been moving quickly enough to satisfy him and that the resignations are a good sign.

"Secret Service is questioning anyone who has any knowledge at all," King said. "They're talking to maids, they're talking to hotel employees, they're talking to women involved, so I have faith in the investigation."

In Colombia on Friday, Colombian prosecutors spent more than three hours questioning a taxi driver who led reporters to the home of the young woman who he said was the prostitute who launched the scandal by complaining of not being paid by a Secret Service agent at the Hotel Caribe.

A senior official in the local prosecutor's office said the driver, Jose Pena, was not suspected of any crime but that a Colombian investigation into the case began Thursday to ensure that none of the prostitutes involved was a minor.

There is no information indicating a crime was committed, said the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

The prosecutor's office official said the Colombian investigation was separate from U.S. probes and that Colombian investigators had not been in touch with the U.S. investigators. The official also said the Colombian investigators did not have and had not asked for a copy of the security videotapes from inside the hotel.

Pena told the AP Friday morning that he had not spoken with any U.S. investigators. He did not answer his phone after he met with Colombian investigators.

The lawyer for ousted Secret Service supervisors David Chaney and Greg Stokes, Lawrence Berger of New York, said Friday that leaks surrounding the investigations "distort the process."

Regardless of what happened inside hotel rooms, Berger said, it never jeopardized the president's security. Berger said he could not comment on the woman's claims about being paid for sex, but he added, "I don't think anything she has said is material to any of the issues I am pressing with my clients."

"Nothing that has been reported in the press in any way negatively or adversely impacted the mission of that agency or the safety of the president of the United States," Berger said.

Chaney and Stokes were forced out of the agency Wednesday. A third agent, who has not been identified and was not a supervisor, resigned.

On Chaney's Facebook account, which was made inaccessible on Friday, Chaney joked about his work with former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin while he was protecting her in 2008. The AP published a photograph it took of Chaney working in Palin's protective detail in October 2008 during a campaign rally in Carson, Calif.

"I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?" Chaney wrote after a friend commented on the picture posted in January 2009 on Chaney's Facebook account.

Speaking on Fox News late Thursday, Palin said the joke was on Chaney.

"Well, check this out, buddy ? you're fired!" Palin said.

The agency's investigation has included interviews of agents and hotel staff. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said this week that investigators in Colombia have not been able to interview the women.

The affair has also prompted a military investigation of the service members, including six members of the Army, two Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal technicians, two Marine dog handlers and an Air Force airman.

An Air Force colonel and a military lawyer were also dispatched to Colombia this week. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, patronizing prostitutes is a crime for military personnel. It is referred to as "compelling, inducing, enticing or procuring a person to have sex in exchange for money; or receiving money for arranged sex."

Officials from U.S. Southern Command, which organized the military role for the security operation, have not provided details of its probe beyond saying that at least some of the military members violated curfew and may have been involved in "inappropriate conduct."

White House press secretary Jay Carney has said it is "preposterous to politicize" the issue, responding to criticism from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and Palin, who have said the allegations reflect poor management of the government under Obama.

Palin described the affair Thursday as a "symptom of government run amok."

"It's like, who's minding the store around here?" Palin said.

___

Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan, Laurie Kellman, Robert Burns, Larry Margasak, and Julie Pace in Washington, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Frank Bajak in Cartagena, Colombia, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/acaldwellap

Associated Press

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Spotify: the iPad app is 'in the works'

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It's never a great sign when the first thing you see upon entering a press conference is a giant Coca-Cola logo. iPad and web platform rumors aside, today's Spotify "special announcement" event was all about the soft drink side of things, marking a partnership between the music streaming service and Coke, which involves, at present, some Spotify / Coke apps. The first question from the audience, however, revolved around the rumored tablet version of the service. Spotify founder Daniel Ek acknowledged that it is indeed "in the works," otherwise evading the question, insisting that the event was all about the Coke partnership, to the relief of the two beverage reps who joined him on stage.

Spotify: the iPad app is 'in the works' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon releases Q1 financials; report highest wireless growth in three years

Verizon

Verizon has released their first quarter 2012 earnings, and it looks like they're going to need some help carrying all that money. I'm no finance wizard (I can barely keep a checkbook balanced) but there's no need to be when things look this good. Their wireless division reported the highest growth it has had in the past three years, with a 7.7 percent year-over-year increase in service revenues, 8.9 percent y-o-y growth in retail, and a whopping 21.1 percent increase in revenue from data services.

That's a lot of cabbage.

It stems from the addition of over 500,000 new postpaid customers, bringing the total to 88 million. 47 percent of those customers are using a smartphone, and the number will likely keep growing as Verizon continues its LTE expansion -- which now covers more than two-thirds of the U.S. population in 203 markets. In addition, the wireline services (FIOS cable Internet and phone) also grew by a couple hundred thousand customers, making the picture rosy all around. Of course, running a network isn't cheap so most of this profit and earnings will go back into the company. Hit the break for the press release with all the highlights.

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