Statistics show an unsettling trend in bankruptcy filings: While the numbers have fallen for those under 55, it has soared for older Americans. A new analysis from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project showed that between 1991 and 2007, the older the age group, the worse it got. People 65 and up became more than twice as likely to file during that period, and the filing rate for those 75 and older more than quadrupled.

Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor and a study co-author explained, 'Older Americans are hit by a one-two punch of jobs and medical problems and the two are often intertwined. They discover that they must work to keep some form of economic balance and when they can't, they're lost.'

The majority of bankruptcies are still filed by those under 55, but that demographic saw double-digit percentage drops in their bankruptcy filing rates over the survey period. The filing rate per thousand people ages 55-64 was up 40 percent; among 65- to 74-year-olds it increased 125 percent; and among the 75-to-84-year-old set, it was up 433 percent.

A number of factors are contributing to the increase, including higher prices for daily consumer goods squeezing fixed budgets; economic setbacks such as medical problems; and scams that target seniors and cripple their finances. In addition, increasing numbers of Americans are entering their retirement years with significant debt and are still paying off mortgages, often due to refinancing or equity loans. Said Warren, it's not that seniors are indulging in luxury items, they're incurring debts to meet daily needs, including medical treatment.

Home Prices Drop At Record Speed

It feels like a race to the finish… but where’s it going to end? Home prices in June fell a record annual 15.9 percent, according to Standard & Poor's. However, they also mark that the monthly rate of decline slowed from May, suggesting the housing sector may be stabilizing.

What's happening in your neighborhood? Single-family home prices reportedly plunged a record 15.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, topping the steep drop seen in the first quarter. In fact, not one regional market has showed a positive return over the past 12 months and seven of the metro areas are reporting declines of more than 20 percent.

Where's the worst? Las Vegas. It has the dubious honor of being the most dismal housing market, with a 28.6 percent annual decline in June, followed by Miami (28.3 percent) and Phoenix (27.9 percent). These three cities are known for their influx of retirees, now all facing a huge drop in nest egg value.

Healthy Warning with Misleading Shock Value

The Associated Press has done a reveal on an new TV commercial, featuring a little boy's disturbing confessionl: 'I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer.'

Linked to hot dogs.

The horror! Hot dogs are as American as, well, hot dogs at a ball game. So, while the declaration is startling, is it for real? Not really, it's been revealed.

The commercial's pro-vegetarian sponsors, The Cancer Project, admit it's a dramatization, but they stand behind the facts that link processed meats, including hot dogs, with higher odds of getting colon cancer. Their report last November said eating 50 grams a day of processed meats for several years increases colorectal cancer risk by 21 percent. That equals about one hot dog a day or two deli slices of bologna or five slices of bacon. But those studies were based on adults, not children, and the increased risk is slight, even if you ate a hot dog a day.

So, what's the truth? Is the ad a misleading scare tactic?

Dr. Neal Barnard, head of The Cancer Project and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, called the ad "... a way to raise appropriate concern about a deadly concern."

But moderation is the day, argues Colleen Doyle, the American Cancer Society's nutrition director."My concern about this campaign is it's giving the indication that the occasional hot dog in the school lunch is going to increase cancer risk. An occasional hot dog isn't going to increase that risk." But Americans revere the dog, and "occasional" is open to interpretation: According to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, U.S. consumers spent more than $4 billion on hot dogs and sausages last year.

Health experts raise their objections about hot dog's high fat and salt content. Fat accounts for about 80 percent of total calories, more than double what's often advised. Plus saturated fat and trans fat -- the fats most strongly linked with artery-clogging -- are common ingredients, often providing at least half the fat content. Next on the hit list are the additives and color enhancers sodium nitrate and nitrite. Nitrate-related substances have been reported to cause cancer in animals, but there's no proof they effect humans the same way.

An "occasional" hot dog won't kill. But a diet heavy in high fats and preservatives can.

You be the judge.

"Stealth Browser?

Here's a thought for web users who like to keep their paths private: The next version of Microsoft Corp.'s Web browser makes it easier for people to surf the Internet without leaving a trace.

That's good news for people who want to side step internet advertising companies, that can electronically gather information about Web surfers' habits and then used that information to target ads to that computer. But in the newest prototype of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, an option called "InPrivateBrowsing" lets users surf with stealth, without allowing a the list of sites visited to be stored on their computers. This covers "histories," temporary Internet files and cookies, which are small data files that Web sites put on visitors' computers to track their activities.

Both Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's current browser, and Mozilla's recently released Firefox 3, already allow users to block cookies. The top two browsers also let users delete private information such as temporary files and browsing history after the fact. But they can't turn off that collection entirely.

There are other features included in this "beta" version that may help users protect themselves from certain kinds of advertising. We're curious to see how well the system tests, and user response to the features.

Printer Helps You Print Less

We're all looking for ways to save money and eliminate waste, and here at fightback.com, we can point to our printers as a heavy consumer of paper and toner.

Printing articles off the Web often means several pages of waste, including ads, links, boxes for entering text, or other wasted space. Now, Lexmark International has developed a Web toolbar that gives the user more ways to block such images from coming out of the printer, saving ink both and paper.

While many websites offer a "printer format" without much of the graphics or space-wasters, the new software extends that control, allowing you to eliminate more of the wasted space still imbedded on those pages.

It's a known fact that printer companies make much of their money from ink cartridges and other products that consumers constantly have to replace. But by helping consumers save ink and toner, Lexmark's strategy is to work on customer satisfaction and build loyalty. Most of the features will work on any major brand printer, including, of course Lexmark, as well as and other rivals.