Where We Stand
By Bill Novelli, CEO
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLICATIONS Catherine Ventura-Merkel
EDITOR IN CHIEF & SENIOR VP, PUBLICATIONS Hugh Delehanty
GROUP PUBLISHER & VICE PRESIDENT Jim Fishman
VICE PRESIDENT, MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION Traci L. Lucien
We’ll Get Through This
Bulletin™
VICE PRESIDEN T, CON TEN T IN TEGRATION Bernard Ohanian
GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR Carl Lehmann-Haupt
We enter 2009 facing a world much differ- ent from a year—or even six months—ago.
Our economy is in turmoil. Many financial institutions and other businesses are on life support.
Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, their
health insurance and the pensions and savings
they’ve worked a lifetime to attain. Consumer
confidence is very low. People need help.
As we work our way out of this economic mess,
it’s clear that the decisions the Obama administration and Congress make in the next few
months will have an impact on us for decades.
Our government has already committed more than a trillion dollars of taxpayer money to shore up failing institutions, provide relief to workers and
get the economy moving. Still, the tab is likely to get bigger.
In addressing these challenges, we have a great opportunity to build a strong
economy, an affordable health care system and sound pension programs. If
we pass up this opportunity, we will spend massive amounts of public funds
in the hope of short-term gain instead of investing in the future.
We need to make some tough choices. Should we, for example, let some of our
industries and companies go under, taking with them the men and women who
helped build them as well as many others who depend on them for business?
Or should we use taxpayer funds to help them survive and hopefully rebuild?
Neither option is perfect, but making bad decisions could be very costly.
We can’t fix the economy without an overhaul of our broken health care
system. As health costs soar, many people are missing out on care or are left
with staggering medical bills they can’t afford. Without reining in costs,
health care for workers and retirees will become less accessible.
As for retirement security, it’s critical that workers get the pensions they’re
working for or have already achieved. Congress must ensure that the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corp. is financially sound. And we have to make it easier for
people to save, and take action to strengthen Social Security. Imagine where
we’d be now if we had allowed Social Security privatization.
I am an optimist, as are most Americans. I believe we’ll move from this crisis
toward a better America. My parents and their generation came through the
Great Depression, and we’ll come through this economic mess, too. Our new
leaders, starting with our president, know that people are willing to do what
it takes to get the country on track. And I have personally told the leadership
that 40 million AARP members want to be part of solutions that will serve all
generations. As we go through this difficult period, AARP will be there:
; Informing and listening to our members, so we can all better understand
the choices we face as a nation and our own financial and health options.
; Advocating, to offer potential solutions and a public policy agenda that
will steer us through the current crisis and into a more secure future.
; Engaging members and volunteers in activities to help their neighbors.
We’re working in Washington and in states to reach commonsense solutions to these problems. We don’t yet know what all of those solutions will
be, but you can count on AARP helping to build a better America for our
children and grandchildren. Please join us in this effort. ;
Out of Work
Average 3rd quarter
unemployment rates,
2005 - 2008
Age Total
55+ population
2005
3.4 5.0%
2006
3.0 4.7%
2007
3.2 4.7%
2008
4.0 6.0%
Questions about your membership, change of address,
member services? Call AARP’s Member Contact Center
at 1-888-687-2277 (TTY [877] 434-7589)
or e-mail member@aarp.org
SOURCE: BUREAU OF LABOR S TATIS TICS
EDI TOR AND VICE PRESIDEN T James S. Toedtman
DEPU T Y EDI TOR Teo Furtado
DESIGN DIREC TOR Eric Seidman
EXECU TIVE EDI TORS Susan L. Crowley, Kim Keister, Carol Simons
MANAGING EDITOR Cathy Ginther
FEATURES EDI TOR Barbranda Lumpkins Walls
SENIOR EDI TORS Patricia Barry, Barbara Basler,
Carole Fleck, Trish Nicholson
MANAGER, EDITORIAL COPY Brian Miller
COPY EDI TOR Don Beaulieu
SENIOR EDITORIAL RESEARCHER Roberta Yared
EDI TORIAL RESEARCHER Corinne Hayward
EDI TORIAL PRODUC TION MANAGER Cathy L. Hall
ASSOCIATE ART DIREC TOR Cathy Kelley
ASSISTAN T AR T DIREC TOR Anne Masters
PHOTO EDITOR Michael Wichita
ASSISTAN T EDI TOR Victoria Lemley
SENIOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Nicole Williams
IN TERN Rebecca Kern
ONLINE DAILY NE WS EDI TOR Tina Johnson-Marcel
ONLNE MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Nicole Shea
ONLINE CON TEN T PRODUCERS Elizabeth N. Brown, Douglas Van Sant
ONLINE COPY EDI TOR Elizabeth Whitehouse
PRODUCTION MANAGER Brian S. Horting
PRODUCTION COORDINATORS Roland A. Bland,
Sherry Coleman, Judy Skilling
QUALI T Y MANAGER Mel Baughman
QUALITY ASSOCIATE Tabitha Brackens
ADVER TISING POLICIES MANAGER Pamela Byrd Berard
ADVER TISING POLICIES ANALYS TS Brenda Allen, Mireya G. Donahue
ADVER TISING POLICIES SPECIALIS T Michele Greco Reilly
DIR. OF PUBLICATIONS PLANNING & PROMO TION David Singleton
PLANNING & PROMOTIONS MANAGER Heather Nawrocki
ONLINE MANAGING EDI TOR Jane Ryan
EDI TORIAL CON TRAC TS MANAGER Amelia Jones
SENIOR MANAGER, MEDIA RELATIONS Michelle Alvarez
SENIOR RESEARCH ADVISER Earnestine Hargrove
I T SUPPOR T Consuela Allen, William Coulter, Matthew Haines,
Nono Kusuma, Bonnie Russell, Josh Singer
GROUP ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Patricia A. Mondello
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, ADVER TISING Shelagh Daly Miller
DIREC TOR, SPECIAL ACCOUN TS Ina Nordstrom
NE W YORK SALES MANAGER Peter Zeuschner
TRAVEL CATEGORY MANAGER Patricia Slattery
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PROMO TIONS MANAGER Lisa Van Dyne
ADVER TISING BILLING ADMINISTRATOR Surfina Adams
ADVER TISING BILLING ASSOCIATE Tracey Fanuele
ADVER TISING SERVICES ADMINISTRATOR Christine Merklinger
ADVER TISING SERVICES COORDINATOR Lori Orser
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