What We Read Today 25 August 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• New definition of retirement = work until you die: Half of Americans have little to no savings for what will likely be a long and drawn out retirement. (My Budget 360) Hat tip to Ian R. Campbell, GEI Discussion Group, LinkedIn. Social Security was never designed to be the primary source of retirement income, yet that is all many Americans have. And it’s likely to only get worse for millennials.

• In 2013 British Police Fired Guns: 3 Times (Public Radio International, Reader Supported News) Hat tip to Rob Carter. In 2012, 409 people were shot and killed by American police in what were termed justifiable shootings. In that same year, British police officers fired their weapons just once. No one was killed. In December, PRI’s The World reported on Icelanders grieving after their police force killed a man – for the first time in the country’s history as a republic.

• Recent articles about Ferguson:

Timeline for a Body: 4 Hours in the Middle of a Ferguson Street (Julie Bosman and Joseph Goldstein, The New York Times)

Latecomers Bring Fresh Outrage To Weary Ferguson (Martin Kaste, NPR)

Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day (Motoko Rich and Mosi Secret, The New York Times)

• Articles about wars elsewhere in the world:

Gaza highrises flattened by Israel (Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian)

Gaza conflict: Erez crossing ‘attacked’ amid Israel raids (BBC News)

Bombings kill 42 in Iraq after Sunni mosque attack (Sinan Salaheddin, MSN News)

Republicans urge airstrikes in Syria to defeat ISIS (Leigh Ann Caldwell, CNN)

$1.5 Trillion and Counting: What New Involvement in Iraq Means for Federal Spending (Lindsay Koshgarian and Jasmine Tucker, National Priorities Project)

What Are Obama’s Options for Stomping Out ISIS in Iraq and Syria? (Erik Ortiz, NBC News)

Ukraine: Most of Russian convoy destroyed (CNN Video)

Rebels parade captured Ukrainian soldiers in east as Kiev holds military procession (Fox News)

Ukraine Says Army Spending Raised As Merkel Warns on Gas (Daryna Krasnolutska and Tony Czuczka, Bloomberg)

There are 13 articles discussed today ‘behind the wall’.

The first 6 articles today concern theories of money.

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