The Dream...*

Despite a deluge of warnings many Americans are still woefully unprepared to leave the workforce. A little more than a third don't have a savings strategy.
Half of households are not putting away enough to maintain their current lifestyle after retirement, according to the latest National Retirement Risk Index.

Deep down, we know we should be putting something in our 401(k)s, but the benefits are just so far out there, that it's not real to people."

People are living longer, so they need more. Rates of returns have fallen, so they need a bigger pile." The rise of self-directed plans such as 401(k)s, and worries about the future of Social Security, have also put more of the burden of saving on the consumer.

Cutting back gives you more room to save now, and can mean you'll need less income in retirement. Strategies might be big, such as downsizing to a smaller house, switching vehicles or right-sizing a smartphone plan.     Just a thought.

Resist...

Can we resist starting a new....

Journey...

As the special United States envoy for Afghanistan, Mr. James Dobbins was responsible for finding and installing a successor to the Taliban after they were toppled in 2001. During the 1990's, Mr. Dobbins hop-scotched from one trouble spot to another as he served as special envoy to Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia. 

But the Bush administration has such disdain for anything associated with former President Bill Clinton that it largely ignored useful lessons from recent United States peacekeeping operations.  

"Iraq in 2003 looks more like Yugoslavia in 1996 than Germany and Japan in 1945," Mr. Dobbins says. "What they have not done is look to the models worked out in the 1990's for sharing the burden and allowing others to participate in the management of the enterprise."

Bush, to his credit, admits as much in his memoir. 
“The task turned out to be even more daunting than I anticipated,” he writes.  Part of the difficulty lay simply in the massive complexity of the task. 

“Democracy is a journey that requires a nation to build governing institutions such as courts of law, security forces, an education system, a free press, and a vibrant civil society.” 

It is tempting to say that this should not have been a surprise to an Administration whose National Security Advisor had a PhD in Political Science, but the truth is that academics and practitioners have been captivated by a simplistic and naïve notion of how poor, oppressive countries become rich, free ones for decades-from the “modernization theory” of the 1950s to the “Washington Consensus” of the 1990s.
In addition to ignorance, there may also be disdain for poor people's desire.

Happened...

A court in Finland has named the suspect in a stabbing rampage that killed two and wounded eight as 18-year-old Moroccan,... who is being treated in hospital after police shot him in the leg.....

According to court documents released, regional police have requested the detention of the suspect, a Moroccan asylum-seeker, on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, and terrorism crimes.

The regional court in Turku also said that four other Moroccans "are suspected of participation in the murders and attempted murders committed with a terrorist intent."

Police investigators said they are exploring possible links to last week's extremist attacks in Spain, where the main suspect at large is Moroccan, as were most of his known accomplices.

Hostility...

The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, which will run through Aug. 31, will be the first large-scale military exercise between the allies since North Korea successfully flight-tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July and threatened to bracket Guam with intermediate range ballistic missile fire earlier this month.

Despite some calls to postpone or drastically modify drills to ease the hostility on the Korean Peninsula, the long-scheduled exercises will go ahead as planned.

The drills, which began in the 1970s and will involve 17,500 American troops and 50,000 South Korean soldiers this year, consist mainly of computer simulations aimed at honing joint-decision making and planning and improving command operations.

The United States and South Korea also hold larger war games in the spring, called Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, which involve live-fire exercises and training with tanks, aircraft and warships.

Let us plan for Non Hostile exercises.... Just a worthy thought.

Eclipse...

Ostentatious...*

The burkini has been banned in a number of cities in Switzerland, France and Austria.
Germany's ruling party introduced a bill to ban women from wearing full-face coverings in public places. 

The German Interior Minister announced that a series of measures are being considered in the wake of terror attacks committed in the country by refugees. Germany may soon ban full face veils worn by some women in certain circumstances.

“We agree that we reject the full body covering, we agree that we want to introduce a legal requirement to show one’s face in places where it is necessary for our society’s coexistence, at the wheel, at public offices, at the registry office, in schools, universities, in the civil service, in court,” he said, according to AFP.

In France, the mayor of Leucate on the southern French coast, which includes a Nude beach resort at Port-Leucate announced a ban on burkinis this week.

“It is about respecting the principle of secularism,”   “This is the public domain and (the burkini) is an ostentatious religious sign” ,  that is the naked truth..    Just a thought.

Poverty-Ridden...

Economic Security...

Splitsville...