Happy 77th birthday, Social Security. As we celebrate Social Security's anniversary, let’s remember it has never missed a check. Despite Congressman (now vice presidential candidate) Paul Ryan's claim it’s “going broke,” Social Security has a $2.7 trillion surplus (going broke, really?) and is financially sound, despite the recession, high unemployment and stagnation of workers' income across the board. It has provided insurance against loss of wages for seniors and people with disabilities and pays out benefits in the form of survivor benefits to children who lose a working parent. 

This is a cross-post from Huffington Post by Harold Schaitberger, general president of  the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). 

There's an oft repeated myth being fed by many that claims the defined benefit pension plans available to most public employees are going bankrupt.

While a new report by the Pew Center for the States feeds those myths, Pew's research paints a false picture of pensions. Here are five oft-peddled myths about public pensions followed by the facts.

Laura Markwardt, senior communications associate at the Alliance for Retired Americans, sends us this.

Hundreds of Florida seniors and others turned out for a rally in Tampa Friday against voter suppression. The rally was followed by a hearing inside the courthouse about the new law chaired by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who came to investigate whether the state law denies voters their constitutional rights. Durbin is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights.

Republican presidential campaign pyrotechnics can’t hide the record of a party that has turned its back on ordinary Americans. It’s worth remembering how, a year ago, the Republican-majority House of Representatives tried to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Alliance for Retired Americans Communications Director Michael Buckley sends us this report.

While presidential candidate Mitt Romney noshed at a recent Palm Beach fundraiser co-hosted by a sugar baron and a pro sports owner, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans members gathered nearby for a more simple meal: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

When the U.S. Census Bureau updated its model for calculating the nation’s poverty rate, it arrived at an unexpected result: nearly twice as many older Americans qualify as poor than had been previously thought. The new data suggest that 16 percent of those 65 and older are poor. Under the old formula, which failed to accurately reflect housing and medical costs, the poverty rate for older Americans stood at 9 percent.

If you’ve watched any of the Republican primary debates, it’s possible to mistake presidential wannabee Mitt Romney as the voice of reason in that group, most of whom long ago teetered off the edge of rational discourse.

Congressional Republicans slapped older Americans and working people in the face earlier this week by voting to keep billions in subsidies for oil companies while supporting a budget plan that would make it even harder for seniors to visit a doctor and fill a prescription.