Wednesday Notes

BROTHER ROGER, the beloved founder of Taizé, an ecumenical Christian community dedicated to peace and reconciliation, was attacked and knifed to death by a woman during the evening prayer service last night. About 2,500 people were in attendance.

Times (London) story

Additional information about funeral plans can be found here

MY BROTHER GARY should arrive in Cookeville, Tennessee today. He's moving his family there from Arizona. It looks like International Paper is going to relocate to Tennessee, too. Must be some kind of big magnet getting charged up back there.

AMAZING! SCARY! Social Security was never intended to be the primary source of income for retirees but the reality is that it has become the sole source for 10.6 million people -- 22% of the 48 million who receive SS live on the average payout of $955 a month ($11,460 annually). Link

I seriously doubt that President Bush's plan to very partially privatize Social Security will affect the people on the bottom rung of the ladder either negatively or positively. Social Security will never be adequate in and of itself.

"SINGLE-ADULT HOUSEHOLDS have displaced two-parent families with children as the most common kind of U.S. household, the Census Bureau reported yesterday." Link

This is related to the Social Security issue, suggesting that there is a growing senior sector which is trying to make a life by themselves. A Social Security check goes a lot further in an extended family situation. The good news is that multi-generational households are actually on the rise.