US WORLD REPORT

Retirement At 65 – Still Possible?

Are you ready or thinking of retiring?  Forget it! The act of leaving your job after decades of service is a traumatic transition, even for the best of us. Is it because of unfinished aspirations or an emotional sense of security and well-being? When we cease to earn money we question our own value. Who are we and what are we going to do? 25% of adults expect to retire by age 65 but 39% think otherwise.  We could be working up to age 74, before you know it’s 80 plus. In this week’s US World Report radio broadcast we meet a Walmart greeter who fits this description. The U.S. government wants us to take the initiative for retirement planning nowadays. Suddenly we find ourselves completely unprepared for this task.  What happened to our pensions? What’s going to happen to Social Security? Baby boomers are facing bankruptcy in growing numbers. Most Americans only have about a thousand dollars saved.  Don’t take anything for granted. Join anchorman Tom Osborne, political scientist/historian, Dr. David Kanervo, editorialist Mary Saliba and Moderator Ken McCaleb for an eye opening exploration of this future without guarantees.

‘Millennials & Marriage-Saying I Don’t!’

Millennials, are saying no to traditional marriage in record numbers…and that’s not all. In Western culture in the late 18th century, marriage transformed from an economic arrangement into a union based on love. Now it may again be heading toward radical change. Marriage rates are plummeting. The median age at first marriage is now 27 for women and 29 for men — up from 20 for women and 23 for men in 1960. The median age at first marriage is now 27 for women and 29 for men. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg… 

Today an unprecedented portion of millennials will remain unmarried through age 40, a recent Urban Institute report predicted. The marriage rate might drop to 70 percent -- a figure well below rates for boomers (91 percent), late boomers (87 percent) and Gen Xers (82 percent). In 2008 41% of all American babies were born to single mothers. Join Tom Osborne and the U.S. World Report radio team as they explore this unique and timely journey into unknown waters. Millennials, whether single or married, will they sink into debt or swim above the current economic waves together?

'The U.S. Debt – Does It Really Matter?’

21Trillion dollars!  What me Worry?

Debt or deficit, Who's responsible?  

When do they start docking your check?

Some say the economy is in great shape.  Who says?

Confusion reigns as those who are rich get richer.

When is the next recession?

Should we raise taxes or cut spending?

Tune into US World Report Radio to find out the answers

to these questions and more with Tom Osborne,

Dr. David Kanervo, Mary Saliba and Ken McCaleb.

Why are some 4 and 5 year-old children able to master a musical instrument? Some even can sing before they have learned to talk. Join Tom Osborne, Dr. David Kanervo, Mary Saliba & Ken McCaleb for a fascinating romp into the land of the metaphysical. This is not your usual US World Report radio broadcast but a sincere look at some very gifted children.

A 2011 study suggested parents of children with ADHD who label their children as "indigos" may perceive problematic behaviors emblematic of ADHD to be more positive and experience less frustration and disappointment, though they still experience more negative emotions and conflicts than parents of children without a diagnosis. Is this a relationship to autism or are these misunderstood children simply genius?

Crystal Kids is a concept related to indigo children and has been linked by autism researcher Mitzi Waltz to the autistic spectrum. Proponent’s re-categorize autistic symptoms as telepathic powers, and attempt to re-conceptualize the autistic traits associated with them as part of a positive identity. Waltz states that there may be inherent dangers to these beliefs, leading parents to deny the existence of impairments, avoid proven treatments and spend considerable money on unhelpful interventions. She added, "Parents may also transmit belief systems to the child that are self-aggrandizing, confusing, or potentially frightening".

World Wide Web – How Safe Is It?

Are children any safer now than they were 30 years ago on the Internet? Join Tom Osborne’s US World Report radio news team for this week’s broadcast.

Tech firms are finding themselves on the defensive these days. Critics accuse them of not doing enough to curb the spread of "fake news" which has helped polarize election campaigns around the world and of maximizing profits by harvesting data on consumers’ browsing habits.

British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who in 1989 invented the World Wide Web as a way to exchange information, said the Internet had deviated from the goals its founders had envisaged.

"All kinds of things have have gone wrong. We have fake news, we have problems with privacy, we have people being phished, profiled and manipulated," he said in a recent symposium.

Berners-Lee, 63, called on governments, companies and citizens to iron out a "complete contract" for the web that will make the internet "safe and accessible" for all by May 2019, the date by which 50 percent of the world will be online for the first time. That’s only 2 weeks from now… Can they do it?

‘The New Music Business (Part 2) Production Vs. Content’

This is not your mother’s, grandmothers or great grandparents music business.  But what is it? When did everything start sounding the same? We’ve gone from ‘Singing In The Rain’ to ‘Purple Rain’ without a missing a beat. What happened to the melody along the way and when was the last time you whistled a happy tune? Find out in this week’s US World Report radio broadcast how little you actually know about this evolving industry. It may be a bridge over troubled water. Lyrics laced with obvious profanity have been adopted by our children and sung in our school halls. But there’s hope for the future as we explore 19-year old singing sensation Taliana from Los Angeles. Guided by Grammy nominee Lou Stallman and his writing partner Jerry Potente we follow this trio thru the pitfalls of modern music production. From a songwriting workshop to a radio debut, you the listener get a front row seat.  

The New Music Business (Part 1 of 2)

 A disturbing new music industry statistic claims that artists will only get 12 percent of the $43 billion the industry generates annually. According to the report, the industry's $43 billion year of 2017 was its most profitable since 2006. Listeners are spending more money than ever before, largely on streaming and live music, with consumer spending totaling more than $20 billion last year. Companies like Pandora & Spotify are financially hitting songwriters hard.

Why? As middlemen including labels, radio companies and streaming services step in to sell and distribute music, they each take cuts of the profits, siphoning revenue away from both the songwriters and their recording artists. 

Yet it's not all bad news. The report points out that the piece of the revenue pie that artists receive has actually grown over the past few decades, rising to 12 percent from just 7 percent in 2000 as artists explore routes like self-releasing their music. Artists' cut will likely continue to rise as the industry continues to adapt to the streaming age. 

Much like the 1950’s record business where compensation was always an issue, todays music industry and it’s rewards appear difficult to predict. US World Report radio begins a two part series this week to explore some of the challenges confronting newbies to the industry. Meet the hit makers who have inherited the issues! Learn past and current recording techniques. Now that everyone has a home studio, what’s next and who’s in the charge of ‘The New Music Business?’

Time Travel – Is It Possible?

Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically using a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a widely-recognized concept in philosophy and fiction. Imagine the reaction by readers of H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine. The book was of course was ahead of its time…

It is uncertain if time travel to the past is physically possible. Forward time travel, outside the usual sense of the perception of time, is an extensively-observed phenomenon and well-understood within the framework of special relativity and general relativity. However, making one body advance or delay more than a few milliseconds compared to another body is not feasible with current technology. As for backwards time travel, it is possible to find solutions in general relativity that allow for it, but the solutions require conditions that may not be physically possible. Join Tom Osborne and his US World Report radio news team on this fantastic journey traveling to an arbitrary point in space and time. Ask yourself, have we already been there?

RT – Exposing Russian Television

RT (formerly Russia Today) is a Russian international television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as providing Internet content in English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic and Russian.  RT has been frequently described as a propaganda outlet for the Russian government and its foreign policy.  RT has also been accused of spreading disinformation by news reporters, including some former RT reporters. The United Kingdom media regulator, Ofcom, has repeatedly found RT to have breached its rules on impartiality and of broadcasting "materially misleading" content. Is this the Putin Propaganda Channel? Join Tom Osborne and his news team of US World Report Radio as they expose this Networks long-term disturbing intentions. It’s a broadcast you won’t want to miss!

Brexit –What’s Up?

Have Aliens taken over the minds of those calling the shots in the United Kingdom?  At a perilous time in National and Domestic affairs, U.S. alliances are shaken. Britain’s uncertain future raises questions about one of our most important allies when we need it the most. What is Putin to make of all this chaos and how will he take advantage of it? Will this threaten the carefully laid Good Friday peace between Northern Ireland and the South? Will this re-ignite ‘The Troubles’ in which 3500 lives were lost. Where is Prime Minister May trying to take the UK in the weeks to come with a deadline looming on March 29th? Should the United States become a subject of her majesty? Join Tom Osborne and his news team for this week’s installment of US World Report Radio & we’ve nicknamed it ‘Brexit For Dummies!’