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Barack Obama already has had a tough time with seniors on the health-care reform initiative, and for good reasons. The latest news from Social Security won’t make them any happier about it. The Social Security administration has canceled cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for the next two years, which means the fixed income on which these seniors rely will freeze at current levels. However, their Medicare premiums will still increase, which means they will get less money over the next two years, the first declines in SSA in more than 30 years: Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next...

It’s funny. Some of the veteran teachers I work with indicated last November that the largest pay increases they ever received occurred during Reagan and Dubya’s time in office; that in fact when Dems are in the White House, raises were more like meager cost of living adjustments which ended up netting less than the rate of inflation. Anecdote, I know, but interesting. I digress. Social Security hasn’t missed a COLA (cost of living adjustment) increase since 1975, but is slated to stay flat for the next two years (outside those whopping stimulus checks, of course!). This amounts to a...

Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won’t be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn’t happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975. By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.

WASHINGTON – Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.

Sugar, rum and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life, which are become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation.” — Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations,” 1776 That quotation, from the great philosopher of capitalism, appeared at the start of an article that ran a few weeks ago in The New England Journal of Medicine. The article argued for taxing Coke, Pepsi, Gatorade, Red Bull and any other sugar-sweetened beverage, largely to combat obesity. The authors were Kelly Brownell, a longtime obesity researcher at Yale, and Thomas Frieden, the New...

Excessive cola consumption can lead to anything from mild weakness to profound muscle paralysis, doctors are warning. This is because the drink can cause blood potassium to drop dangerously low, they report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice. They tell of the curious case of an Australian ostrich farmer who needed emergency care for lung paralysis after drinking 4-10 litres of cola a day. He made a full recovery and was advised to curtail his cola drinking. We have every reason to think that it is not rare Dr Clifford Packer from the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Centre...

DALLAS – Poking through antiques stores while traveling through the Texas Panhandle, Bill Waters stumbled across a tattered old ledger book filled with formulas. He bought it for $200, suspecting he could resell it for five times that. Turns out, his inkling about the book's value was more spot on than he knew. The Tulsa, Okla., man eventually discovered the book came from the Waco, Texas, drugstore where Dr Pepper was invented and includes a recipe titled "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters."

WASHINGTON — For the first time in more than three decades, Social Security recipients will not get any increase in their benefits next year, federal forecasts show. The absence of a cost-of-living adjustment, calculated under a formula set by law, will be a shock to older Americans already hit by plummeting home values, investment losses and rising health costs. More than 50 million people receive Social Security. “Most seniors have never been through a year in which there was no Social Security COLA,” said David M. Certner, legislative counsel at AARP, the lobby for older Americans. Beneficiaries have received automatic...

Pepsi, Coke rivalry becomes physical Fri Oct 12, 9:46 PM ET The long-standing rivalry between Coke and Pepsi took a physical turn Friday when a Pepsi deliveryman allegedly punched his Coke counterpart in the face at a western Pennsylvania Wal-Mart, state police said. The two deliverymen were "apparently bickering back and forth" while unloading their wares at the Indiana County store, police said. When the Coke deliveryman left the store, his counterpart allegedly punched him in the face three times, breaking his nose and giving him a black eye, police said. No charges have been filed, but police characterized the...

Cola Raises Women's Osteoporosis Risk 10.06.06, 12:00 AM ET FRIDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Cola may not be so sweet for women's bones, according to new research that suggests the beverage boosts osteoporosis risk. "Among women, cola beverages were associated with lower bone mineral density," said lead researcher Katherine Tucker, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. There was a pretty clear dose-response, Tucker added. "Women who drink cola daily had lower bone mineral density than those who drink it only once a week,"...

An Indian state has banned the sale of soft drinks as the country's highest court told the US beverage giants Pepsico and Coca-Cola to reveal the ingredients of their products."The ban will be in force in all educational institutes, including medical and technical colleges and universities and offenders will be punished," a spokesman from the administration of northern Rajasthan state announced Friday.

Cola rocket goes Mento Fizzy fountain ... the conventional method      By PETE BELL Sun OnlineTHE latest internet craze to sweep the nation involves a packet of mints, a two-litre bottle of diet cola and a lot of stupidity.Drop the sweets into the drink and you can create an instant 20ft fizzy fountain.  Scientists are divided on the cause of the phenomenon. Some say it is a reaction between the surface of the mints (we found American brand Mentos worked the best) and the carbon dioxide in the drink.Others say an ingredient in the cola is agitated by something in...

While it might seem strange scientists would think to develop dipsticks to measure caffeine, how they're making them is even weirder. How about three llamas and two camels. The animals, both called camelids by scientists, are among the few whose immune systems produce antibodies that are not destroyed by hot coffee. We did not look into who figured that out or why. Anyway, the researchers injected proteins linked to caffeine into the five beasts to elicit an immune response. The animals produced antibodies in their blood that were reactive to caffeine. Then in the lab, these antibodies were found to...

Pepsi emerges Wall Street's favourite beverage stock after 112 years. PepsiCo has overtaken Coca-Cola in market capitalisation for the first time in 112 years of fierce competition. The milestone reached yesterday highlighted the contrasting fortunes of the two cola giants over recent years, as PepsiCo has replaced Coca-Cola as Wall Street’s favourite beverage stock. PepsiCo shares have risen 14 per cent this year, pushing the company’s stock value to a record high of $98.4bn yesterday. Coca-Cola shares have declined 1.2 per cent, depressing the company’s worth to $97.9bn. PepsiCo’s surging value reflects its successful diversification beyond sugary soft drinks as...

While some people express anti-U.S. sentiment through terrorist attacks or noisy demonstrations, a Tunisian-born French businessman has created a soft-drink company whose aim is to protest America's foreign policy. Tawfiq Mathlouti launched his company, the Mecca Cola Beverage Company, last November in Paris. He touts his soft drink as an alternative to Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola and says it's primarily a "political product." To date, Mathlouti has sold 14 million 1.5-liter bottles in supermarkets and grocery stores in Europe, the Middle East and even some African nations, and he said he has orders for 600 million liters through the...

Muslims throughout the Islamic world are now being advised not to consume Pepsi Cola because it contains the parts of pigs used it it's production ~ Begin my translation ~ Al-Irsyad – the Islamic Agency for Research in Egypt has now recommended that Muslims are not to consume Pepsi Cola because it is being suspected of containing material that has been made from the intestines of pigs. Dr. Mustofa Asyak'ah an agency member has asked for the other members of the agency to gather to discuss this problem, so that the Muslim community can receive clarity as to whether the...

A message from PepsiCo’s President & CFO, Indra Nooyi I recently had the privilege of speaking to the 2005 graduating class of Columbia University’s Business School in New York City. Recognizing that these talented new leaders will influence both America and the world, I tried to provide some advice as they embark on their careers. I chose to speak about the powerful role that America, and we as Americans, hold in the world today. I hoped to encourage these graduates to be sure they make a positive and personal difference as representatives of our great country. In my comments, I...

Maureen Spillane, an executive at a shoe and handbag maker in New York, always thought a $100,000 salary equaled serious success. Like many professional people, however, when she finally broke the barrier, she was a bit deflated to learn that it was hardly salvation. It still took her several years of "hoarding away" and avoiding standard Manhattan indulgences - fancy food, fancy clothing - in order to afford a down payment on a one-bedroom fixer-upper on the Upper West Side. "It's not the big shiny number that you think about when you first get out of college," said Ms. Spillane,...

Low-cal Coke in testing stageBeverage would be a diet version of Coke Classic, targeting those who shun Diet Coke. By SCOTT LEITHThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 02/19/05You might think Diet Coke is an artificially sweetened cousin of Coke Classic.Fact is, Diet Coke has always had a whole different formula. A BEVERAGE SCORECARD This year, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are fighting to grab U.S. consumers with a flurry of new drinks. Some highlights:Already out: • Full Throttle energy drink (from Coca-Cola) • Flavored Dasani bottled water (from Coca-Cola)* • Coca-Cola with Lime** On the way: • Pepsi Lime • Pepsi One (reformulated with Splenda) • Diet Coke Sweetened...

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R.-Fla.) introduced the Deficit Accountability Act of 2005 (H.R. 223) “To provide that NO AUTOMATIC automatic pay adjustment for Members of Congress shall be made in the year following a fiscal year in which there is a Federal budget deficit.” Write to your representative to cosponsor and vote for H.R. 223. Deficit Accountability Act of 2005 (Introduced in House) HR 223 IH 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 223 To provide that no automatic pay adjustment for Members of Congress shall be made in the year following a fiscal year in which there is a Federal budget...