The federal government's definition of poverty dates back more than 45 years.  Reflecting the limited statistical data of that time, it was built on government nutritional criteria.  A game first effort, it's been indexed for inflation but has never evolved.

Given the human and societal costs of poverty, we need a better measure than we currently have to identify who needs assistance and what kind of assistance.  The National Academy of Sciences, for instance, has a proposed approach.  The NAS approach would posit far more poor persons than "official" measurements.

Another subjective approach to an objective goal is the Self-Sufficiency Standard.  Unlike the federal standard, this guideline accounts for the costs of living and working as they vary by family size and composition and by geographic location.  A possible drawback is that the Standard assumes that all adults (whether single or married) work full-time.  Self-Suffiency Standards have been developed for a number of states, including Missouri.

So while nobody's too happy about where we are, there's not a lot of movement and consensus about where we should be in terms of quantifying this important issue.

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• Travel by train consumes 18% less energy per passenger mile than flying and 17% less than driving.
• The Amtrak train from Winona, MN has become a cheaper option than driving or flying for college students heading home to Chicago.
• The Amtrak run from Chicago to San Antonio (making stops in Poplar Bluff, St. Louis, and Little Rock) had 27% more passengers in May and 19% more in June, based in large part on higher gasoline prices.
• Amtrak and the various local and regional rail services are using all the servicable passenger cars they have at this time.

Are we ready for a passenger rail revival?  Ponder these top ten reasons to travel by train and decide for yourself.

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Nearly 20% of Americans now worry that they will never be able to stop working.  Rather than the baby boomer retirement tsunami so recently expected, a trend is developing that has people delaying their retirement.  On average, many federal employees already work for another four years after they become eligible for retirement.

This trend is likely to have negative consequences for already beleaguered financial institutions, many of which have invested tidy sums in building retirement services components.  Sharing the gloom will be retirement community developers, leisure and travel service providers, RV and golf equipment manufacturers, etc.  On the other hand, Social Security and (to some extent) Medicare should see slower-than-anticipated draw-down.

Financial think-tanks are now emphasizing that even one extra year of work can raise your standard of living throughout your retirement and that, while it may not be a good thing emotionally, delaying retirement is always a good thing financially.  Given today's poor market performance, meager investment returns during the first five years of retirement can significantly raise the chance that you'll outlive your money.  And if a single market downturn is highly disruptive to your retirement plans, then you probably weren't financially ready to retire in the first place.

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