Olympic flame

The Olympic Flame links the old and new Olympic Games. In ancient Olympia, a fire burned for the god Zeus during the Olympic sports competition. Now, runners bring a torch carrying the flame from Olympia, Greece to every new Olympics.

The torch was lit on November nineteenth in Olympia. It first traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, where the last Olympic Games in the United States were held. Then it began a twenty-two-thousand kilometer trip across forty-six states to Salt Lake City.

Many kinds of vehicles are carrying the Olympic torch. They include cars, airplanes, trains, ships, dogsleds, sleighs, and even a snow mobile. Runners in many cities across the country are also carrying the torch.

The flame lights a torch each morning to start the run that day. Each runner then lights the next runner’s torch. Officials say the flame travels about three-hundred-thirty kilometers each day.

The Salt Lake City Olympic Committee chose the runners who are carrying the torch. People in their towns and cities nominated the runners for the honor. Some of the runners are famous. Others are not. Last week in Los Angeles, for example, one-hundred people carried the torch. They included Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a teenaged girl who helps young students.

Olympic officials say more than eleven-thousand runners will have carried the flame by the time it reaches Salt Lake City on February eighth. The name of the last person to carry the flame is kept a secret. He or she will enter the sports center to light the torch that will officially start the Winter Olympic Games.

Pensions

A pension is the money that a worker or his or her family receives after a worker retires, is unable to work or dies. People have pension plans from working in private industry, in the armed forces or in government. People can also establish their own pension plans. Many of those who create their own plans work for themselves or for a company that does not provide a pension plan.

Reports say most American workers have some kind of pension plan. Most pensions of people who worked for the government are paid for with money that came jointly from workers and their agencies. Most private pension plans are paid for by the employer.

A federal government program called Social Security provides money to most American workers after they retire. Social Security is the largest retirement program in the United States. Workers pay into the program a percent of what they earn each month. Their employers do the same.

Most self-employed people also pay into Social Security. These people then will receive money each month after they retire for as long as they live.

The Social Security program was established in Nineteen-Thirty-Five. It was never meant to fully support someone who has no other money. Especially today, money received from Social Security is not enough to provide for most people’s needs.

Many companies have their own retirement plans for their workers. Federal law requires companies to give pension rights to all people who have worked for the company for a set number of years. People can also establish individual pension plans through banks or insurance companies. They put in so much money each month, then receive payments after they reach about sixty-five years of age.

Most Americans say they cannot live as they would like on money provided by only one pension plan. So they have more than one. For example, a man who retires after twenty years of military service receives pension money each month from the federal government. He may also collect money from the Social Security system, and from other private investments he has made.