Mitri Shatara

Six weeks before the midterm elections, President Joe Biden will spotlight Medicare and Social Security, two hot-button issues that could have a big impact on upcoming elections.

His speech at the White House came a few days after the House Republicans unveiled their plan for if voters give them power in November.

In that plan, the popular programs got little to no attention.

Both Medicare and Social Security will have trouble paying for themselves in the long run.

Most of the solutions Democrats have come up with involve raising taxes on people with higher incomes while also expanding benefits.

Republicans say that Democrats’ recent efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs are putting more pressure on Medicare.

As part of a plan to keep Medicare and Social Security going without raising taxes, many Republicans have supported raising the age at which you can get Medicare and the age at which you can retire on Social Security.

Because the government spends more on Social Security benefits each month than it gets in taxes, it is expected to only be able to afford to pay for 80% of benefits by 2035.

After the year 2028, the Medicare trust fund, which pays for hospital stays, will only be able to pay 90% of scheduled benefits.

Biden was going to go to Florida, a popular place for retirees, to talk about Social Security and Medicare.

However, Hurricane Ian was headed toward Florida, so Biden spoke at the White House instead.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Monday that Biden will talk about how he is trying to strengthen Social Security and Medicare while Republicans want to “put these programs on the chopping block.”

Social Security and Medicare are always the most important things to older Americans, who vote more than younger Americans.

Republicans’ Stance on Social Security and Medicare

Last Week the “Commitment to America” House Republicans vowed to “save and strengthen Social Security and Medicare” without defining how.

Democrats quickly pointed to a budget plan that conservatives in the House had put forward earlier this year.

The plan says that raising payroll taxes to pay for Social Security’s shortfall is “fundamentally immoral.”

Instead, conservatives want to slowly raise the eligibility age because life expectancy has increased since the program started. Benefits would also go up for people who make less money and down for those who make more.

For Medicare, the age at which people could join would go up, and the program would be changed into subsidies for certain health plans based on income.

Democrats have also criticized Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s plan, as head of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, to require that all federal laws be rewritten every five years.

Democrats say that Republicans want to end Social Security and Medicare or “sunset” them. Scott has said that he wants to “fix” and “keep” these programs, but he hasn’t said how.

What Democrats have proposed

A bill backed by almost all Democrats in the House would raise Social Security benefits differently and put the payroll tax on wages over $400,000 for the first time.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research tank in Washington, D.C., the majority of the new benefits would be temporary, and the higher taxes would only provide the trust fund with an additional four years of solvency.

This summer, Senate Democrats made an unsuccessful attempt to increase taxes on some high earners in order to support Medicare.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by Biden, has a number of features that would lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries.

The act mandates that drug manufacturers pay rebates if their costs increase more quickly than inflation and that the government negotiates prices for popular medications.

Additionally, it caps Medicare enrollees’ out-of-pocket prescription expenses at $2,000 per year.

Republicans Are Pushing Back

Republicans have said that the Democrats’ plan to control the prices of prescription drugs, which they call the “Democrats’ drug takeover scheme,” will cause drug companies to spend less on research and development, leading to fewer new drugs.

Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, has said that repealing the provisions will probably be a top priority for Republicans if they gain power in November.

Republicans have also said that Democrats should fix Medicare’s finances with the nearly $300 billion that the government is expected to save by negotiating drug prices.

What Republicans Are Saying

• “They want Medicare to come to an end. “Republicans want to end Social Security,” Jean-Pierre said Monday.
• In March, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said, “We will not have on our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half of the American people and ends Social Security and Medicare within five years.”
• Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said, “We are way past the time for talking points and partisan entrenchment.”

Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys

Stay up to date with our recent news blog posts. Our personal injury law firm regularly posts news information to help readers stay informed on news that may affect them. If you or a loved one is dealing with social security disability benefits, our attorneys can help. Call today for a free consultation at 1-800-229-7989.

References:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/27/biden-social-security-medicare-republicans/8122879001/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-speak-social-security-medicare-070007350.html

As Amazon continues to develop its robot technology, it appears to be moving closer to achieving the dream of having robots perform tasks just as well as humans.

A recent video shows a robotic arm that can pick up objects weighing hundreds of pounds.

It might be able to replace some human warehouse workers someday or make their jobs easier.

With so many companies competing for customer attention, it makes sense that retailers would want to automate their operations as much as they possibly can.

According to internal research, if the company did not make a number of significant changes, such as boosting automation in its warehouses, it could not have enough workers to hire in the US by 2024.

At the same time, the company faces the prospect of its employees starting to organize and potentially strike, labor activists have long suspected that Amazon may be trying to increase its use of automated technology to prevent any potential strikes from disrupting operations.

The company’s director of Robotics AI, Siddhartha Srinivasa, said: “[W]e have an incredible opportunity to help advance the science of robotic manipulation in ways that meaningfully benefit our employees and our customers. Our investments in robotics and technology are helping make jobs in our facilities better, easier, and safer, as well as creating new career opportunities for our people.”

Amazon has announced a number of initiatives designed to improve the working conditions of employees within its warehouses.

These include the introduction of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to transport inventory around warehouses; and the development of robotic arms capable of picking, packing, and shipping orders.

The new device is capable of handling objects of varying sizes, including those that weigh up to 2lbs.

The machine is designed to work alongside human employees, who can also operate the device.

It can pick up items from shelves and place them into boxes, which can then be loaded onto trucks and sent off to customers.

On a bigger scale, the two-pound weight constraint would still allow the robot to grip a variety of things making up nearly half of Amazon’s complete product range.

The company is working on solutions to allow the robot to handle any product without weight constraints.

It’s difficult to estimate how long it will take Amazon to create a single robot that can handle the majority of items.

But once they do, we’ll have an idea of whether automated warehouses will improve the lives of humans who currently perform these tasks.

In June, Amazon launched a prototype of a robotic sorting machine named Cardinal that picks up and packs already-ordered goods and, the firm claims, “reduce[s] the risk of injury to employees” by doing so.

Amazon’s history in robotic technology goes back to when it bought Kiva for $775M.

Since then, it has deployed more than half a million robo-warehouses across its US warehouses.

Over the past ten years, it has also hired more than one million people and pointed to this fact to try and refute the idea that advances in automation are leading to job loss.

“From the early days of the Kiva acquisition, our vision was never tied to a binary decision of people or technology,” the company said in a recent blog post.

“Instead, it was about people and technology working safely and harmoniously together to deliver for our customers. That vision remains today.”

Some Amazon warehouse tasks were simplified by the Kiva robots. Robots now deliver shelves to employees in picker or stower duties at a fixed workplace, where they stand for 10 hours each day with padding under their feet.

Before Kiva, these employees of Amazon would walk 10 to 20 miles each day while retrieving inventory from aisle after aisle of shelves.

Kiva robotics also came with some drawbacks. Before the arrival of Kiva, a worker might have been able to complete 100 tasks per hour, but Amazon tripled those goals when the robot took over for human labor.

With the introduction of Kiva, injury rates rose because workers were forced to work at a faster pace to meet their new quota.

The task performed by the Amazon Robotics team could potentially have a more direct overlap between what they’re doing and what humans already do.

While the robotic arm in the video picks items off a shelf and moves them to another, it does so at a much faster pace than a human would.

However, while the robotic arm can move items from one spot to another, it doesn’t have to go through the same process of finding those items in the first place.

Humans in Amazon’s warehouse must retrieve items from racks, while the robots only have to find the right shelf where the item is stored.

In addition, while the robotic arm can move items from one shelf to another, it doesn’t have to climb any steps to get to the higher shelf.

Human pickers have to climb stairs to access items on high racks, while the robotic arm just needs to move from one shelf to another.

Finally, while the robotic arm picks items directly from the shelf, human pickers often have to grab items off the shelf before they can put them in boxes.

Even though there are no clear answers yet, we might see some improvements soon.

Once that happens, it’s hard to imagine that at least some warehouse jobs won’t be replaced by automation.

Robotics engineers say that someday soon, Amazon could have an actual choice between having humans or machines handle most of the tasks at its fulfillment centers.

Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys

President Joe Biden’s decision to eliminate student loan debt for millions of borrowers and postpone loan payments, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office, will cost the federal government $400 billion over the following 30 years.

Although the majority of the economic effects will be felt during the following decade, the analysis estimated the cost over a 30-year period.

The nonpartisan CBO says that Biden’s executive action in August, which erased up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other borrowers, will cost about $400 billion.

The CBO’s report says that Biden’s plan to put off student loan payments until the end of the year will cost an extra $20 billion.

Estimates are “highly uncertain,” the CBO warned.

Phillip Swagel, who is in charge of the CBO, said that it is not clear how much student loan borrowers would have to pay back if Biden’s action hadn’t been taken compared to how much they will have to pay back because of Biden’s action.

The numbers were released Monday after Republican lawmakers put in a request. One of the main reasons they don’t like Biden’s plan is because of the cost.

They were quick to use the estimates as proof that the plan would “bury” taxpayers by putting the costs on many Americans who never went to college.

To come up with the $400 billion number, officials looked at both the immediate cost of canceling and the long-term effects, such as lower monthly payments that would have been higher if the cancellation hadn’t happened.

The CBO said that the price tag might go up even more because Mr. Biden decided to delay federal student loan payments until the end of the year. This could cost about $20 billion.

Even though the office said the numbers were “uncertain,” they are mostly the same as what economists said after Mr. Biden announced the program in August.

The report will bring back the political debate over whether or not to forgive student loans just a few weeks before the midterm elections.

Critics say the plan is a costly handout that could worsen inflation. Still, the administration says it will help millions of low- and middle-income Americans get their feet on the ground in an unstable economy.

The White House’s estimate is also based on the idea that 75% of eligible Americans who have federal student loan debt will take part.

Most borrowers will have to fill out forms to show that they are eligible to have their debts forgiven.

The CBO thinks that the number of eligible borrowers who apply will go up to 90%, meaning that even less money would be paid back to the government.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said, “This might be the most costly executive action in history.”

“It’s unacceptable that the president would implement it without offsets and without congressional approval.”

Senior Biden administration officials talked to reporters about the CBO’s estimate on the condition of anonymity.

They didn’t disagree with the $400 billion number, but they did say that getting 90% participation would be more than usual for federal programs like this.

Biden has played down the cost of the cancellation plan, saying that it would be covered by other ways to cut the federal deficit, such as his famous Inflation Reduction Act.

On Monday, the White House defended the plan by saying that it will help people who are having trouble paying their bills or starting businesses.

“It’s a stark contrast to the Trump tax bill,” said White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan, “…which ballooned the deficit by nearly $2 trillion and provided the vast majority of benefits to big corporations and the wealthiest individuals.”

In the coming weeks, the administration will likely put out its detailed cost estimates.

Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys

References:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/26/biden-student-loan-cancellation-cost-over-400-billion/8121634001/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/cbo-estimates-bidens-student-debt-plan-could-cost-400-billion-over-30-years

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/us/politics/white-house-student-loan-forgiveness.html

Hurricane Ian is heading straight for the coast of Florida.

By Monday night, it is expected to be a Category 3 storm with winds of up to 129 miles per hour. 

Evacuations have already started.

But Ian isn’t just a threat because of the wind and rain.

Florida’s population has been growing over the past few years, and some of the biggest increases have been in cities like Tampa and Miami, which are close to the coast and vulnerable to storms.

Hurricane forecasters are getting better, but as these storms get stronger and more people to move to places where they are more likely to happen, they are upending more people and destroying more property.

What’s A Storm Surge?

Storm surge is when the winds of a hurricane raise the water level and push it inland, causing flooding.

This is the most dangerous part of a hurricane most of the time.

When combined with up to 10 inches of rain, Ian’s floodwaters could last for days.

Climate change is making these effects are getting worse.

Rising average temperatures are causing sea levels to rise and major storms to drop more rain, which makes storm surges even more dangerous.

Extreme weather events are becoming more destructive, and climate change is worsening many of them.

This contributes to a rise in disasters that cause more than $1 billion in damage.

When Will Ian Impact Florida?

At least tropical-storm-force winds are expected to hit more than 15 million people in the US in cities like Tampa, Orlando, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville.

The latest advisory says that storm surge warnings have been added for parts of western Florida, where surges of 5 to 10 feet are possible.

Warnings for “life-threatening flooding” go from Anclote River in the north to Flamingo in the south, including Tampa Bay.

The latest report from the hurricane center says that the hurricane watch from Englewood to the Anclote River, which includes Tampa Bay, has been changed to a hurricane warning.

According to the center, “hurricane conditions are expected within the warning area, in this case within 24 to 36 hours.”

In a statement on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that winds strong enough to be called a tropical storm could start in the Florida Keys and south Florida as early as Monday night.

“Storm surge could affect most of Florida’s west coast, with the highest risk between Ft. Myers and Tampa Bay,” the statement said.

The storm is expected to hit the west coast of Florida or the Florida Panhandle around noon on Thursday.

However, the storm’s path and strength can still change. Increased wind shear could help weaken Ian before it hits land, but it is still too early to say how much.

Tampa Bay May Get The Storm Of A Lifetime

Although projection models indicate a wide variety of potential routes, one concern is obvious: the Tampa region on the western coast of Florida may experience its first direct hurricane impact since 1921.

And it might be disastrous.

“The last major hurricane that actually made a direct hit was 100 years ago,” said meteorologist Rick Davis of the National Weather Service’s Tampa office.

“So there’s a lot of people that have been brushed by hurricanes in the last five or 10 years in Florida.”

He added: “We tell people, even if they’re lifelong Floridians like myself, this is something that we haven’t seen in our lifetime… So we definitely need to take it seriously.”

But flooding can do a lot of damage to the area even without a direct hit.

Storm surges are very dangerous in Tampa Bay because the water that comes in has nowhere to go.

The way Hurricane Ian is expected to move right now puts all of the Tampa Bay area, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Bradenton, and others, on the storm’s right side.

This means that winds will push water north into the bay, worsening storm surge floods. Up to a 10-foot storm surge is expected in this area right now.

On Thursday, the storm’s core tracks within 10 miles of the St. Petersburg coastline in Pinellas County, close to Clearwater, while also slowing the storm to a walking speed between 3 and 4 mph.

Officials in Pinellas County say that the combination of huge storm surges and a slow-moving hurricane could be very bad.

“It could sit on us for 47 hours,” said Cathie Perkins, who is in charge of emergency management in Pinellas County. Perkins said that the government expects 10 to 15 inches of rain.

Monday, Jamie Rhome, the National Hurricane Center acting director, told CNN that Ian would be the storm of a lifetime for many people in Tampa Bay.

The Lasting Impact Of A Hurricane

Cities like Tampa will have to deal with storms that are even worse in the future.

Potential impacts in the future could include a category 5 hurricane with 160 mph sustained winds and a 26-foot storm surge that could directly hit the gulf coast and central Florida.

The damage from a storm due to strong winds and heavy rain doesn’t stop when the floodwaters go down, though. Many awful things can keep happening.

People who don’t have insurance or enough money to rebuild may have to move away for good or face long-term financial problems.

Recovery works best for people who already have resources. After a disaster, there is often a rise in inequality.

Puerto Rico is a good example of this. Since Hurricane Fiona hit the island last week, more than 600,000 customers are still without power as of Monday afternoon.

Without power, it’s hard for many people to get clean water to drink and run important medical devices, and bottled water is even harder to come by.

So the full damage from a storm depends not only on wind and water but also on how well people prepare and how quickly they can get back on their feet.

Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys

Hurricanes can cause serious property damage to homes and businesses. Our attorneys can help file a hurricane damage claim. For more information, call our attorneys today for a free consultation at 1-800-229-7989.

References:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/tropical-storm-ian-forms-forecast-hit-florida-hurricane/story?id=90427752

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23372996/hurricane-ian-tampa-florida-miami-storm-surge-flood

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/us/tropical-storm-ian-florida-hurricane-monday/index.html

On Monday, a lawyer for Johnson and Johnson was asked tough questions about the company’s use of a controversial bankruptcy maneuver that has put tens of thousands of lawsuits related to Johnson’s baby powder on hold.

During the hearing, a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia asked if J&J had used the legal maneuver to get “a litigation advantage” over the roughly 40,000 cancer patients who have sued the company.

Most of the cases were brought by women. They say that the asbestos in Johnson’s well-known iconic talc baby powder caused their mesothelioma or ovarian cancer.

Last month, J&J said it would halt talc baby powder sales worldwide. However, the company has denied doing anything wrong.

Attorney Neal Katyal, representing the company, said that the “Texas two-step” bankruptcy move would help victims by leading to a faster settlement that could be worth as much as $61 billion.

Katyal acknowledged the criticism that “a big company that makes a lot of money is trying to avoid liability in some way.”

But he said that letting the flood of thousands of lawsuits linked to the baby powder play out in civil courts would cause legal chaos in the law and reduce the amount of money available to claimants.

How J&J Took Advantage Of The Texas 2-Step

J&J, based in New Jersey, used a quirk in Texas state law to start a new subsidiary called LTL in October of last year.

The healthcare giant put all its talc baby powder-related liabilities on the new company’s books.

LTL moved from Texas to North Carolina and filed for bankruptcy, stopping the tsunami of baby powder lawsuits.

Ultimately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will decide if LTL’s bankruptcy was filed in good faith and if it should protect J&J from cancer lawsuits.

During Monday’s session, lawyers for women who have claims against J&J criticized the legal strategy of the healthcare giant.

Attorney Jeffrey Lamken said, “Talc victims are stuck in bankruptcy as they die.”

He said that while LTL was going through the bankruptcy process, Johnson and Johnson paid out billions of dollars to shareholders and bought back shares of stock, which is not allowed for companies that are actually bankrupt.

Meanwhile, women with claims against the corporation have to wait while their health decines and medical expenses mount. 

Lawyers for women with cancer say that the civil court system, not the bankruptcy court, is the proper venue to find out how responsible the company is.

This Case Could Reshape Civil Law In The United States

The U.S. Department of Justice has also taken issue with J&J’s move to file for bankruptcy.

On Monday, a lawyer for the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that if the courts uphold this legal strategy, it will let other wealthy companies that aren’t in bankruptcy and wealthy individuals use similar moves to avoid liability.

“If Johnson and Johnson can get away with this bankruptcy, what’s to stop any other American company from doing the same thing?” asked Sean Janda, a lawyer for the U.S. Trustee, which is a part of the Department of Justice that handles bankruptcy cases.

Some members of Congress have also said bad things about J&J’s strategy, and there has been public outrage against Johnson & Johnson.

Hanna Wilt, sick with mesothelioma and spoke at the end of last year, was angry that her baby powder lawsuit against the company took so long.

Wilt told NPR, “I look at who can play the game the best.” “It’s not new for big companies to try to work the system, so they don’t have to take full responsibility.”

Wilt died at age 27 in February of this year.

It’s unclear how soon the Third Circuit will decide, but judges usually move quickly in bankruptcy cases.

Experts in the law say that no matter the decision, an appeal will likely be made to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Alexander Shunnarah Trial Attorneys

For more information about Talcum Powder Lawsuits, contact our personal injury lawyers today at 1-800-229-7989.

References:

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123567606/johnson-baby-powder-bankruptcy-lawsuits

https://www.wliw.org/radio/news/jj-tried-to-block-lawsuits-from-40000-cancer-patients-a-court-wants-answers/

https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/1123567606/j-amp-j-tried-to-block-lawsuits-from-40-000-cancer-patients-a-court-wants-answers