tick..tick...tick...BOOM(er)

Kathleen Casey-Kirschling was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 1, 1946, at 12:00:01 a.m. Her birth undoubtedly caused a stir among her family members and perhaps some friends. But last month Kathleen caused a much bigger stir when she became the first baby boomer to sign up for Social Security benefits.

If Ms. Casey-Kirschling was an only child (she may be, but give us some license here) the guardians of Social Security and Medicare could sleep easy. But as the class leader for the baby boom generation she is certainly not an only child. She has nearly 80 million "brothers and sisters" who will follow her into retirement age. In 2008, 3.2 million of her pseudo-siblings turn age 62. That's 365 potential Social Security early retirees per hour!