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Axios
4 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Why more Americans are filing for Social Security this year
Social Security is certainly beloved, but it's usually a little bit boring. Not this year. Why it matters: There's been a surge in older Americans applying for benefits in 2025, and a large increase in the amount of money paid out. Zoom in: That's happening for a host of reasons, including a new law that marks the biggest expansion to the program this century, a White House that made changes to the program and, of course, a growing elderly population. By the numbers: Social Security retirement claims are on track to rise 15% this year from 2024, per an analysis by the Urban Institute, a research group. From 2012 to 2024, claims increased by 3% per year, on average. At the same time, benefits payments surged in March and April, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis released last week. Between the lines: The benefits increase was so large that it boosted income data also released last week. "The economy has apparently been benefitting from a stealth form of income support for the past several months," writes Jonathan Levin in a column for Bloomberg Opinion. "Which may be giving some of us false confidence about the future." The big picture: Many new applicants are filing for benefits earlier than planned out of anxiety over moves by the Trump administration on Social Security this year, according to the Urban Institute. High-earning individuals appear to be driving the rise in applications, says Jack Smalligan, a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute. Another piece of the increase is simply attributable to the growing population of retiring Baby Boomers. 2024 marked the start of the Peak 65 Zone, the largest surge of Americans turning 65 in U.S. history, the Social Security Administration points out. The agency emphasizes recent improvements in how it notifies spouses of Social Security recipients that they may be eligible for larger benefits. Zoom out: For years, policymakers didn't mess with Social Security. This year has been different. The Social Security Administration made a flurry of changes: staff and office cuts, updates to phone policies and other customer service changes. The messaging around the moves was confusing. New policies were announced, rolled back or changed. At the same time, the agency was experiencing more systems crashes. Meanwhile, Elon Musk called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made public statements about benefits fraud that also upset people. That sent a surge of people to agency field offices, while others started calling in as well. "People were very concerned that their benefits were going to stop," says Jessica Lapointe, who works in a field office in Wisconsin, and is a union official. "The public really didn't understand what was going on." For the record: "I am fully committed to upholding President Trump's promise to protect and strengthen Social Security," Frank Bisignano, the recently appointed agency commissioner, tells Axios in a statement. "Beneficiaries can be confident that their benefits are secure. We will deliver the highest standard of service, ensuring every payment is accurate, timely, and delivered to the right person." The agency has prioritized processing retirement claims this month and says it has reduced the number pending by nearly 13% over the past two weeks. How the new law expands benefits Some of the increase in applications — and most of the surge in benefits payouts — is due to the Social Security Fairness Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support last year. How it works: The law, the biggest expansion in the program over the past quarter-century, increases benefit payments to about 3 million people, mostly workers for state and local governments, like teachers, firefighters and police officers, who were previously shut out from receiving Social Security checks, or were getting smaller checks. Some of the payments increases are temporary. Many have been paid lump-sum checks this year for benefits dating back to 2024, elevating payouts over the last few months. That's expected to decline. Between the lines: The new law is estimated to cost about $200 billion over the next 10 years. Critics have warned that it will speed up the depletion of the Social Security trust fund.
Otago Daily Times
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Stanford students, staff on hunger strike
Stanford University students and faculty launched a hunger strike this week, joining a broader statewide movement calling for universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel in protest of the ongoing war in Gaza. At least 12 students and three faculty members are participating in the hunger strike, which also calls for local authorities to drop criminal charges against student protesters. They are also calling for the university to repeal recent free speech restrictions and for Stanford president Jonathan Levin to sign a national academic freedom statement. The protest began with a peaceful assembly at White Plaza, the campus' designated free-speech zone. "We've continuously called for divestment and the university has not responded," strike participant Yousef Helal said. "We continue to witness the genocide in Gaza, and it's our duty to stand up." Stanford has faced criticism from multiple sides over its handling of past protests. A university subcommittee found anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias on campus, while another concluded that Islamophobia and prejudice against Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students were also prevalent. According to Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, students have experienced continued repression for their activism, including what they describe as selectively enforced overnight camping bans and ID or face-covering checks during campus events. Stanford senior Arwa Faruk, a human biology major, said the university's response stemmed from fear. "I think the administration only wields that power when they feel threatened," she said. "It means our actions are having an effect." The hunger strike is open-ended and despite potential consequences, Helal said he intended to continue. "I'm not afraid ... Right now, my whole life is Gaza. "One of the core tenets of Islam is standing up against oppression — and that's what I'm doing." • Harvard University expanded its lawsuit yesterday against the Trump administration for freezing billions of dollars in federal funds, ratcheting up the high-stakes legal battle between the wealthiest United States university and the White House. University lawyers revised their lawsuit on the same day the federal Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said the government ceased $US450 million ($NZ757m) in grants to Harvard. The US earlier froze more than $US2.2 billion ($NZ3.7b) in funding, citing the university's handling of alleged discrimination on campus. In its new complaint, Harvard cited several actions taken by the administration since the university's initial lawsuit on April 21. It claims federal agencies illegally halted the flow of funds because the university refused to submit to government control over its academic programmes. As with their earlier complaint, Harvard's lawyers asked a federal judge in Boston to bar the government from enacting the funding freeze and declare that the government violated Harvard's First Amendment right to free speech. — TCA
Gulf Today
27-04-2025
- Business
- Gulf Today
What the tomato teaches us about free trade
Jonathan Levin, Tribune News Service Most tomatoes from Mexico will face a 21% tariff effective July 14, the US Department of Commerce said recently. Ironically, the 'love apple' may be the perfect illustration of how trade contributes to economic prosperity — and of the folly of President Donald Trump's protectionist policies. First and foremost, the tomato trade gives Americans access to wintertime produce. While fresh US tomatoes are abundant and delicious in the summer, most states simply can't produce the fussy fruit on a year-round basis (Florida is the primary exception here, and I'll return to it shortly.) Before agricultural trade boomed under the North American Free Trade Agreement, US consumers had to pay significantly more for a tomato in December or January than in August or September. The growth of trade has not only slowed tomato inflation, it's also made supply and prices more stable. Second, trade has allowed the US and its partners to focus on their comparative advantages, just as the British economist David Ricardo famously predicted. In Mexico, tomatoes and other crops thrive thanks to year-round warm and arid conditions, as well as access to low-cost labor. Meanwhile, Mexican growers have perfected the use of greenhouses — often erected with government subsidies, to the chagrin of US competitors — to efficiently produce tasty tomatoes without all the pesticides. While Florida has a proud winter tomato-growing tradition, its comparatively humid weather makes it a haven for pests and fungal diseases. And the prevalence of hurricanes makes it significantly less hospitable to greenhouses. Fortunately, US consumers get the benefits of the Mexico tomato trade with only modest collateral damage. When Florida farmers retreat from the tomato business, they tend to sell out to residential real estate developers, sometimes netting a fortune. Florida cropland has seen some of the fastest growth in value and is now the nation's third-most expensive after California and New Jersey. Just last month, the Palm Beach Post reported that one family had received approval to turn its five-decade-old tomato farm into a patch of 'large estate homes.' A few years ago, another family sold its 332-acre tomato, squash and pepper farm to residential builder GL Homes for $215 million. While Florida has lost millions of acres of farmland, the decline actually happened at a much faster clip prior to the enactment of NAFTA, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The most abrupt declines happened between 1970 and 1990, coincident with Florida's emergence as a retirement haven. Since 1990, the retreat has basically mirrored the broader national trend. Evidently, Florida's Ricardian comparative advantage is not fresh produce but residential real estate, hotels and theme parks. While the state has lost agricultural jobs, they tend to be the sorts of positions that Floridians shy away from anyway (farms are staffed by temporary workers on H-2A agricultural visas). At the same time, the economy has gained opportunities for construction workers, not to mention the myriad service-industry professions catering to the booming population. If there's an obvious downside, it's environmental. A report from the University of Florida last year showed that the loss of rural land and the unfettered march of residential development makes the area much more susceptible to the effects of climate change. But that's an issue better managed through specific land-preservation initiatives rather than tomato tariffs. And while farms may be better than McMansions, Florida's industrial agriculture business — with its reliance on powerful pesticides — has hardly been kind to the environment. All this said, the tomato trade has survived many prior protectionist pushes, including the Supreme Court's Nix v. Hedden decision of 1893, which unanimously held that tomatoes were vegetables (despite what the dictionary says) and were therefore not eligible for the fruit exemption under the Tariff of 1883. Since 1996, the Mexico-US tomato trade has operated under several so-called suspension agreements, under which the US agrees to put off anti-dumping cases partially in exchange for commitments by Mexican producers to sell above an often-renegotiated reference price. Like clockwork, every half-decade or so the US has gone to the brink of restarting anti-dumping investigations, only to reach an 11th-hour deal that broadly maintains the status quo. Americans who love fresh tomatoes with their pasta can still hold out hope that this spat will get resolved in a similar fashion. And all Americans, even those misguided few who don't like tomatoes, should hope that the Trump administration soon comes to its senses and realises that trade leaves both parties better off.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Harvard receives support from Yale, Stanford
Harvard University received support from Stanford University and Yale University as its legal battle with the Trump administration continues to draw national attention. Representatives from both schools supported Harvard's decision to reject the government's demands to rid the institution of diversity, equity and inclusion policies amid other directives. 'Universities need to address legitimate criticisms with humility and openness. But the way to bring about constructive change is not by destroying the nation's capacity for scientific research, or through the government taking command of a private institution,' Stanford President Jonathan Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez wrote in a Tuesday statement. 'Harvard's objections to the letter it received are rooted in the American tradition of liberty, a tradition essential to our country's universities, and worth defending,' the two added. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and its Cambridge campus chapter launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Saturday in an effort to block the removal of federal funds from Harvard over unfulfilled demands. The Department of Education said Monday it would freeze approximately $2.2 billion in multiyear grants and $60 million in multiyear contracts for the institution in response to the school's alleged failure to combat antisemitism. 'We stand together at a crossroads. American universities are facing extraordinary attacks that threaten the bedrock principles of a democratic society, including rights of free expression, association, and academic freedom,' the Yale AAUP chapter and corresponding faculty wrote in an open letter to the school's administrators. They urged leaders to defend free speech, promote university self-governance and proactively work with other colleges and universities in collective defense against political threats. Former President Obama also slammed the Trump administration for demanding changes to Harvard's campus structure. 'Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let's hope other institutions follow suit,' he wrote in a Monday post on the social platform X. Harvard interim President Alan Garber said the institution would continue to fight the government's attempts to influence higher education in America by repealing federal funds. 'The administration's prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard's First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government's authority under Title VI. And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge,' Garber wrote Monday. 'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' he added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Bloomberg
15-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
‘Drill Baby Drill' and Other Economic Delusions
Save I'm Jonathan Levin and this is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a luxurious collection of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. A few months back, the buzz was that Donald Trump's second presidency would generate boom-like conditions across the US economy. Booming consumption! Booming energy production! Booming financial markets! Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal
