By Sarah Thomas; Light Reading ~ Aug 12, 2015

AT&T has had its SDN-enabled Network On-Demand service live for less than a year, but it’s already yielding impressive results, including a reduction in provisioning cycle times of up to 95%, according to the carrier’s network boss.

Speaking at AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)’s analyst conference on Wednesday, John Donovan, senior executive vice president of technology and network operations, said that Network On-Demand is available in more than 100 markets and is “driving up to 95% improvement in our provisioning cycle times and getting rave reviews.”

By Elizabeth O’Brien; MarketWatch ~ Aug 12, 2015

Study: older households give lots to younger relatives

We hear a lot these days about the strains on the sandwich generation, those caught between the demands of their children and their aging parents. Yet a recent study suggests these intergenerational demands aren’t always equal: while children can strain middle-aged pocketbooks, aging parents generally don’t.

By Lehar Maan; Reuters ~ Aug 12, 2015

AT&T Inc (T.N), the No.2 U.S. telecom company, said it expected double-digit consolidated revenue growth in percentage terms for the rest of 2015, citing gains from the purchase of DirecTV.

AT&T, which closed the acquisition of DirecTV in July, forecast 2015 adjusted profit of $2.62–$2.68 per share.

By Dylan Scott; National Journal ~ Aug 11, 2015

For years, Republicans have openly pined for pushing Medicare further into the private sector. But they have been restrained by the practical realities of divided government and the political risks of a plan that Democrats have said would turn the popular insurance program into a voucher system.

Conservatives on Capitol Hill, however, have not surrendered the dream and now are planning to undertake the dirty work to make it a legislative reality. House Republicans will start working next year on drafting a Medicare “premium-support” bill, according to Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady.

By Stephen Ohlemacher; The Associated Press ~ Aug 09, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 11 million Americans who receive Social Security disability face steep benefit cuts next year – right in the middle of a presidential election – unless Congress acts.

Social Security’s trustees say the disability trust fund will run out of money in late 2016. That would trigger an automatic 19 percent cut in benefits.

There is an easy fix available, but Republicans in Congress are resisting.

By Stephen Ohlemacher; The Associated Press ~ Aug 09, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Social Security approaches its 80th birthday Friday, the federal government’s largest benefit program stands at a pivotal point in its history.

Relatively modest changes to taxes and benefits could still save it for generations of Americans to come, but Congress must act quickly, and even limited changes are politically difficult.

By “sgonzalez”; Wall Street Hedge ~ Aug 08, 2015

The Social Security Administration has recently launched a new blog aiming to keep in touch better with possible applicants.

The blog, named „Social Security Matters”, was inaugurated in July, and aims to become a platform for answering questions and unclarities which remains after official announcements are issued. It is also a more in-depth platform all news regarding the federal program.

By Paul Barbagallo & Michael J Moore; Bloomberg ~ Aug 08, 2015

AT&T Inc. and the Communications Workers of America continued talks on a new labor contract as the current agreements covering more than 24,000 employees in the southeast U.S. are set to expire.

Company and union officials are still negotiating ahead of the expiration of contracts at 11:59 p.m. Saturday night, spokesmen for both sides said. Bargaining began in June, with the primary contract covering AT&T’s landline workers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

From John C. Goodman; Forbes ~ Aug 07, 2015

The Social Security/Medicare Trustees have issued their latest reports and they are not easy reading for the uninitiated. I suspect most of the Trustees hope you don’t read them at all. They prefer their own spin. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, these reports are invariably accompanied by a press release that completely ignores what is important and focuses instead on what is unimportant.

By Howard Gold; MarketWatch ~ Aug 06, 2015

A money grab by corporations turned pensions into largely ineffectual 401(k)s, but now there are some public- and private-sector breakthroughs

When Ed Beltram took early retirement in 2001 from what was then Lucent Technologies, he seemed to be in good financial shape.

The native Sooner and Oklahoma University grad had worked in communications for Lucent and its predecessor, Western Electric, since 1970. He had accrued three decades’ worth of pension benefits and a 401(k) defined-contribution plan that held a nice chunk of company stock.