### WordPress - Web publishing software
Copyright 2011-2019 by the contributors
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
This program incorporates work covered by the following copyright and
permission notices:
b2 is (c) 2001, 2002 Michel Valdrighi - m@tidakada.com -
http://tidakada.com
Wherever third party code has been used, credit has been given in the code's
comments.
b2 is released under the GPL
and
WordPress - Web publishing software
Copyright 2003-2010 by the contributors
WordPress is released under the GPL
---
### GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
### Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom
to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if
you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
rights.
We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
(2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
distribute and/or modify the software.
Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on,
we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the
original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect
on the original authors' reputations.
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at
all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.
### TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
**0.** This License applies to any program or other work which
contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be
distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The
"Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work
based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work
under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or
a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or
translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is
included without limitation in the term "modification".) Each licensee
is addressed as "you".
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program
(independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that
is true depends on what the Program does.
**1.** You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty;
and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
along with the Program.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a
fee.
**2.** You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any
portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
**a)** You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
**b)** You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part
thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties
under the terms of this License.
**c)** If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
when run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive
use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement
including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is
no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that
users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling
the user how to view a copy of this License. (Exception: if the
Program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an
announcement, your work based on the Program is not required to print
an announcement.)
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote
it.
Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
collective works based on the Program.
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
the scope of this License.
**3.** You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
**a)** Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1
and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
**b)** Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of
physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable
copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the
terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for
software interchange; or,
**c)** Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed
only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the
program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in
accord with Subsection b above.)
The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
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operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
itself accompanies the executable.
If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
**4.** You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise
to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and
will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However,
parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this
License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
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**5.** You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
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Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
the Program or works based on it.
**6.** Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on
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You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
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**7.** If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of
patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent
issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
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License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License.
If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your
obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations,
then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For
example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free
redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly
or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it
and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the
Program.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
circumstances.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
impose that choice.
This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
be a consequence of the rest of this License.
**8.** If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
**9.** The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new
versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such new
versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and
"any later version", you have the option of following the terms and
conditions either of that version or of any later version published by
the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a
version number of this License, you may choose any version ever
published by the Free Software Foundation.
**10.** If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other
free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to
the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by
the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation;
we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by
the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our
free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software
generally.
**NO WARRANTY**
**11.** BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO
WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.
EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR
OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE
PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME
THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
**12.** IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY
AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU
FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING
RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A
FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF
SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES.
### END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
### How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to
attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
one line to give the program's name and an idea of what it does.
Copyright (C) yyyy name of author
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
mail.
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details
type `show w'. This is free software, and you are welcome
to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c'
for details.
The hypothetical commands \`show w' and \`show c' should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the
commands you use may be called something other than \`show w' and
\`show c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever
suits your program.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or
your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program,
if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright
interest in the program `Gnomovision'
(which makes passes at compilers) written
by James Hacker.
signature of Ty Coon, 1 April 1989
Ty Coon, President of Vice
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library,
you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the
[GNU Lesser General Public
License](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html) instead of this
License.
What Will You Do If Social Security Gets Cut? - sinth.info
By Edward Sota, Kiplinger Consumer News Service (TNS)
If you feel anxious about the future of your Social Security benefits, you’re not alone.
It’s a common concern—both for retirees already receiving Social Security payments and for workers who expect to rely on this important income stream someday.
In a 2022 survey of U.S. workers by Transamerica, 37% of respondents named the potential reduction or elimination of Social Security benefits as a top retirement fear. And those worries aren’t without merit. According to the 2023 Social Security trustees report, both Social Security and Medicare face long-term financing shortfalls.
What might that mean for you? Based on the trustees’ most recent “best estimates,” the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund expects to be able to pay scheduled retirement and survivor benefits on a timely basis until 2033. After that, the report states, “The fund’s reserves will become depleted, and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.”
In other words, it’s unlikely Social Security benefits would go away altogether. But if something isn’t done to fix the program’s funding problems in the next few years, future payments may need to be trimmed by 23%.
Even if your benefits will have only a small role in your retirement income plan, a payment reduction is (to put it mildly) an unpleasant possibility. But for those folks who rely heavily or almost entirely on their monthly Social Security benefits to make ends meet, it could be devastating.
Although Social Security was designed to provide the average retiree with about 40% of the income he or she earned before retiring, for many, the percentage is much higher. Among elderly beneficiaries, 37% of men and 42% of women receive half or more of their income from Social Security, according to the most recent data from the Social Security Administration (SSA). And 12% of men and 15% of women rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income.
What’s being done to fix the shortfall?
The concerns raised in the 2023 report aren’t new. The trustees have been warning that a shortfall could occur in the early or mid-2030s for over a decade. And proposed fixes have floated around for years.
But, as you can imagine, Social Security’s insolvency is a tough topic for politicians to tackle without risking a backlash from voters. Remedying the program’s money woes would likely require one or more of the following actions:
Increasing the revenue that goes to the program (by raising the payroll tax rate, for example).
Decreasing the amount of benefits the program pays out (by once again raising the retirement age for future recipients, for instance, and/or cutting benefits).
Raising the cap on how much of someone’s income is subject to Social Security taxes. Right now, that cap is set at $160,200.
Increasing the taxation on Social Security benefits. Right now, depending on your income, up to 85% of your Social Security could be taxed. The government could change the minimum income that triggers the tax or increase the percentage taxed.
Making Social Security subject to means testing. In other words, stop sending Social Security benefits to people in higher income brackets. Of course, that could result in debates about just how much income is too much to receive Social Security.
None of these options is an easy sell, which probably explains why the last major bipartisan Social Security reform took place in 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. At that time, the law raised both the payroll tax rate and Social Security’s full retirement age, albeit slowly, from 65 to 67. It also made 50% of Social Security benefits taxable for recipients who exceed a predetermined income threshold. Today, that threshold is $25,000 for an individual and $32,000 for married couples filing jointly.
A decade later, President Bill Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which included a provision that allowed up to 85% of Social Security benefits to be taxable when income was above a certain threshold. Today, that threshold is $34,000 for individuals and $44,000 for married couples filing jointly.
Currently, both Republican and Democratic party leaders are saying that cutting Social Security benefits is off the table. And it seems doubtful that any change would affect the benefit amount or claiming age for current or soon-to-be retirees (55 and up). So there’s no need to panic about your payment amount at this point.
Letting your emotions get the better of you can lead to sleepless nights and knee-jerk reaction—which probably isn’t good for you or your nest egg.
What can you do in the meantime to help yourself?
If you’re worried, there may be positive changes you can make now to shore up your retirement income—no matter what comes down from D.C. in the future.
If you’re already retired, these moves might include:
Cutting costs. I know this isn’t an easy thing to ask, especially with inflation driving up the price of everything from groceries to health care. But if you revisit your budget, you may be able to be more frugal with what you spend on food, reduce some of your recurring expenses, downsize some vacation plans or hold off on big financial gifts to the kids until you’re sure you’re OK yourself.
Getting a part-time job or side gig. If you’d like to give your income a boost, you may want to consider getting a part-time or seasonal job. Just be aware that if you haven’t yet reached your full retirement age, there are limits on how much you can earn annually before the SSA will reduce your monthly Social Security benefit amount. (The limit for 2023 is $21,240—unless you’re in the calendar year in which you’ll attain full retirement age. Then the limit is $56,520.)
Taking another look at (or create) your overall retirement plan. If you don’t have a comprehensive, written retirement plan, you should. And if you have one, you may want to review your investment and income plans to be sure you’re still comfortable with what’s in place.
If you’re a few years away from retirement (55-plus), you also may want to consider:
Rethinking your Social Security claiming age. You can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62. But if you take your benefits before your full retirement age (which is based on your birth date), your payments will be permanently reduced. You may want to wait until you can get your full benefit amount — or, if you can manage it, you could delay claiming until after your full retirement age (up to age 70) and increase your monthly payments.
Working longer. Keeping your job for a little longer than you planned can help you build your nest egg in a couple of ways. First, you’ll have more time to contribute to your workplace retirement plan (and get your employer’s matching contributions). And if you have a steady income, it’s less likely you’ll need to touch your savings, which means instead of depleting your nest egg, it can continue to grow.
Contacting a retirement professional. If you haven’t already, this is the time to start working with a financial advisor or tax professional who can help you focus on retirement planning. An experienced retirement professional can help you transition from building your nest egg to protecting what you’ve saved. They also can help you navigate the many decisions involved with Social Security and Medicare and create an income plan that can help you weather the many changes ahead.