Social Security Officials Tell Hill: No Cost-Of-Living Raise This Year For Seniors

[cal04]

Source: Huffington Post

Seniors and disabled Americans looking forward to the annual increase in their Social Security check will be disappointed this year. Officials with the Social Security Administration have informed aides in Congress that the decision will be announced on October 15, just two weeks before the election, according to staffers and people familiar with the SSA's plan.

The SSA is waiting for the September Consumer Price Index to be reported, which is why they must wait until next Friday to make the announcement, the day that the Labor Department releases its CPI numbers. The CPI would have to show a remarkable uptick in price to effect the SSA's decision not to provide the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) which, by statute, is based on the rate of inflation. (If there is no measurable increase in the cost of living, then there is no adjustment, a rationale that unsurprisingly placates roughly zero beneficiaries.)

Social Security recipients eagerly anticipate the annual increase. Touching a senior's COLA is a political third rail. Florida GOP challenger Dan Webster found that out the hard way when he suggested the federal government "take back some of the COLAs for the entitlement programs." Under withering fire from the elderly, he quickly backed off the suggestion, saying that he meant his comments to apply to federal workers -- who, of course, are not paid by "entitlement programs."

The backtracking largely got him out of the jam, but Democrats will be in their own fix when the announcement is made public. The COLA announcement will come as little surprise, since inflation has remained relatively low all year as a result of Federal Reserve efforts.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/social-security-officials_n_756066.html

[FiveGoodMen]

1. But we've got money for wars and outsourcing.

Fuck

[Recursion]

8. There's a formula for this

Have you noticed prices of things going up? I haven't.

[DesertFlower]

18. i have. not too much on food

unless it's health food, but it's gone up on household cleaning supplies, etc.

[No Elephants]

51. Food has gone up in Massachusetts.

[Recursion]

81. Really? I'm not seeing it

Though Boston is a different world from Westawistah.

[juajen]

22. Oh no, the prices haven't gone up. They just decrease the amount

of product in the package. Even ice cream is not a half gallon any more. A gallon of milk is still a gallon, but otherwise, no increase in price, just a decrease in product. My utility prices have also gone up, but they don't count those. Ditto for the price of gasoline.

[Joe Bacon]

73. Looks like the Shrink Ray has hit packages.

Oh the prices may be the same, but the packages shrunk! Everything from cold cuts, cheese, packaged foods even toothpaste and shampoo are smaller!

[No Elephants]

57. What does a formua have to do with Reply 1?

And regardless of what you've noticed, cost of living for those at subsistence level has gone up since three years ago. Read this thread.

[Honeycombe8]

70. Formulas are used to calculate cost of living and raises that are in line with COLA.

That is what that poster means.

I get raises at work, for example. I'm sure they use some formula to calculate the cost of living increases in the economy, and they take that and add a merit raise. My raise this year was merely adequate, maybe partly because there was no cost of living raise part to it.

There has been no cost of living increase in the U.S. this past year. That doesn't mean that some things haven't increased. But it's a standardized formula...the government looks at increases in some major areas, and averages that out.

No cost of living increase in the country = no cost of living raises for government automatic cost-of-living increases. It's cut and dried, standardized, and objective.

[Individualist]

84. The government's "standardized formula" is bullshit!

[Yupster]

96. The government inflation index

is 40 % housing, so it doesn't matter what anything else has done. As long as housing goes down, there won't be government reported inflation.

[karynnj]

10. Do you under stand COLA means "cost of living adjustment"?

If the cost of living is flat, there is no adjustment. Politically, the timing is bad - but it really means there is no appreciable inflation.

[FiveGoodMen]

17. See post #3

[toppertwot]

31. THE GOVERNMENT LIES

about inflation! The inflation rate is about 7.5% to maybe 8.5%. They fudge the numbers in order to steal our money!

[karynnj]

40. If th inflation rate was 7.5%, there would be absolutely no market for

any of the current bonds which get far less interest.

You can argue that a specific person's inflation is not the CPI. The CPI is based on an agreed upon "market basket's price". But, for instance, if you rent, your "inflation rate" is different than if you own a house and are paying off the mortgage. (In many cities, rents went DOWN.) You might say that medical costs are inadequately weighted for the ages receiving SS, but you would need to actually prove that. (This is one component that I think has higher inflation than others and I would hypothesize that it's portion of elderly people's expenditures is greater than for younger people.)

But, the statisticians computing the index are doing it honestly and accurately - as it is defined.

[No Elephants]

59. LOL! Because buying bonds has a direct relation to living at subsistence level.

[karynnj]

75. That is not my claim

The fact though is that bond prices are related to the rate of inflation. When inflation was high, the interest rates on treasury bills and other bonds were mush higher than they are now. So, mock and laugh all you want, but it is more backup than someone on the internet saying inflation is at least 7.5% - with absolutely nothing to back it up.

There could be an intelligent discussion of whether the various CPI market baskets are good reflections of what people buy. That would make sense - but to just say - NO, the government is lying to us - inflation is over 7.5% doesn't. The fact is that the economists and career statisticians who compute the CPI are not just making up numbers.

[No Elephants]

50. The cost of living is not flat. Read this thread. As you know,

there are many cost of living indices, not only one. And there is nothing magical or sacred about any one index, including the one arbitrarily chosen for OASDI.

If anyone really gave a damn about the well-being of seniors and disabled people, they would create an index based upon the costs i what people actually need to survive. Shelter, supermarket type food (rather than meals at pricey restaurants), home heating fuel and utilities, medical costs (including things like copays), modest clothing. Especially food, fuel and utilities.

Maybe you can move to a cheaper neighborhood, dangerous for a senior or disabled person though it may be, but you cannot do much about the cost of things like heat, food and a means of cooking food. My utilities did not go up last year, but food and fuel sure did. And some sale prices of food have gone up more dramatically than have regular prices. That makes living on the same amount for food alone as last year impossible, let alone the same amount as three years ago,

Oh, and living in NYC and environs costs more than living in Georgia or Florida.

[Honeycombe8]

71. I don't think a lot of people understand that it's a cut and dried formulaic thing.

That literally there has not been an increase in the cost of living in the country this past year (using the governmental formula that the govt uses to calculate that).

I'm guessing that many people think the govt says, "well, we can save some money here by not giving those old people a raise this year." But that's not how it is at all. It's an automatic thing, tied to the COLA.

[karynnj]

80. True - and that mindset leads them away from addressing the problem constructively

To make up claims that the CPI is fake will get people saying that nowhere. Examining the market basket - and asking if it reflects the typical costs for people on SS (for ANY reason) are reflected fairly by it is a more sensible thing to do. The CPI is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. The current Secretary of Labor is Hilda Solis, one of the leftmost members of Obama's cabinet. The HELP committee, now chaired by Tom Harkin has oversight. In the House, the House committee on oversight and governmental reform seems to be the committee with jurisdiction. Edolphus “Ed” Towns of Brooklyn (http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2226&Itemid=7 ), replaced Waxman as chair in 2009, when Waxman moved to chair the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

This means there are three liberal/progressive people, who they could lobby to change the market basket, if they find it doesn't reflect the people it is used for here. The definition of the market basket determines the CPI.

[lovuian]

38. Corporations can steal lie and cheat and get bonuses on

our tax dollars but Americans screw you

We can't keep these Wars going on and on and on

[Amonester]

44. Seen nothing yet.

The bush lackeys at the Pentagon have their sights settled on Iran, and so are SOS Hilary's.

The President's, not so much. Thank goodness.

For now...

[suston96]

2. Informed seniors know this was coming. It was announced.....

....last year when that COLA was denied. Inflation, or lack of it, is a two edged sword.

[No Elephants]

52. And? Did knowing sooner make food or heating fuel more affordable for them?

And please see Reply 50. That the particular COL chosen for OASDI increases did not (supposedly) increase does NOT mean actual costs of survival for those living at subsistence level are the same as they were three years ago. I don't have a cat, but neither does everyone who buys cat food every week; and I bet even cat food has gone up over the last three years.

[wurzel]

3. HMO Medical supplements on Medicare have increased 50%.

And increases in co-payments. There is plenty of "inflation" in the medical "system".

[karynnj]

42. What portion of a person's expenditures are they?

I agree that medical costs have risen faster than other items in the index have. Now, it is POSSIBLE that you could make the case that elderly people spend a higher proportion of their money on medical items - but you would need to prove that. It might be that because they get Medicare that they might even spend less out of pocket than the average person. If their expenditures on that are close to the national average - those increases are included in the CPI.

By the way, Reid, Baucus and Kerry have asked federal regulators to look at medical supplements - http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007427&docId=l:1277234643&start=4 some of which have risen 40% (not 50%)

[No Elephants]

53. Shameful.

[karynnj]

76. Shameful to suggest that real back up is needed before claiming things backed by hot air?

Read what I wrote. I am not saying that it is impossible that the CPI index used could have problems in terms of how its market basket is defined, I am suggesting that actually making a case for that is needed.

What I think is shameful is your knee jerk reaction that the government is lying. There are times that they have, but it is necessary to at least make a case for the alternative. (Note I did not say proof, but just a case.)

[Honeycombe8]

72. That's odd. My dad's Medicare expenses have not gone up. nt

[monmouth]

4. Rumor has it a $250 shot to SS recipients instead....That would

be $20.83 per month. Yeah, that'll work.

[WCGreen]

13. To someone on Disability, that means a lot...

[DesertFlower]

19. i'll be happy with that.

even if we had a COLA it wouldn't be much.

[No Elephants]

55. You forgot the sarcasm emote. Anyway, supermarket cashiers don't accept rumors as payment.

[Cetacea]

5. That's two years in a row. No cost of living increase? lol

Right.

[Recursion]

6. Why do you need a COLA during a deflationary period?

Prices for things haven't been going up.

[freebrew]

12. Really?

Where do YOU live?

Groceries are higher here, fuel is higher(of course that doesn't affect the index), cars are higher, insurance for them costs more.

Taxes are higher.

So, again where do YOU live?

[Iowa]

29. Yes, food and fuel ARE included...

"Groceries are higher here, fuel is higher(of course that doesn't affect the index)..."

Actually, Social Security utilizes the CPI-W:

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/latestCOLA.html

This is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics site (note that food and fuel are both included):

"The CPI represents all goods and services purchased for consumption by the reference population (U or W) BLS has classified all expenditure items into more than 200 categories, arranged into eight major groups. Major groups and examples of categories in each are as follows:

* FOOD AND BEVERAGES (breakfast cereal, milk, coffee, chicken, wine, full service meals, snacks)
* HOUSING (rent of primary residence, owners' equivalent rent, fuel oil, bedroom furniture)
* APPAREL (men's shirts and sweaters, women's dresses, jewelry)
* TRANSPORTATION (new vehicles, airline fares, gasoline, motor vehicle insurance)
* MEDICAL CARE (prescription drugs and medical supplies, physicians' services, eyeglasses and eye care, hospital services)
* RECREATION (televisions, toys, pets and pet products, sports equipment, admissions);
* EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION (college tuition, postage, telephone services, computer software and accessories);
* OTHER GOODS AND SERVICES (tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services, funeral expenses).

Also included within these major groups are various government-charged user fees, such as water and sewerage charges, auto registration fees, and vehicle tolls. In addition, the CPI includes taxes (such as sales and excise taxes) that are directly associated with the prices of specific goods and services. However, the CPI excludes taxes (such as income and Social Security taxes) not directly associated with the purchase of consumer goods and services."

[No Elephants]

60. Please see Reply 50. People living at subsistence level are not

snapping up foreclosed on real estate, eating at restaurants, buying jewelry, buying airline or baseball tickets, or even driving cars or paying tolls in most cases. They are just trying to survive. So, what the OASDI index includes is a bigger problem than what it does not include. Anyone who says prices of food and heating oil have not gone up in 3 years is lying or uninformed, period.

Maybe we should just make OASDI needs based and be done. It should not be one person's petty cash and another's fast track to death. That's not the purpose of a government safety net, which however wrongfully, is what Social has become.

[Iowa]

83. You have a habit of swooping in to discussions after everyone has moved on...

... and leaving a long string of comments referring back to some earlier comment (See reply number ___ "), as if people are going to take the time to dig through a a pile of comments to seek out your words. You also tend to "shoot from the hip" in the sense that you don't take the time to actually examine the comments you are replying to before posting a condescending reply based upon your misconception of others' comments. It's annoying, to say the least.

So... let's go back and examine my comment. It is a factual comment designed to address a common misconception; that's all. My post is composed almost entirely of the words of the BLS and the SSA. There is no value judgment either stated or implied. You have no idea what I think about the COLA.

Furthermore, your post is a straw-man. I didn't say that prices of food and energy did not increase. And neither did the BLS. Furthermore, there was absolutely nothing in the comment that either stated or implied that "People living at subsistence level are snapping up foreclosed on real estate, eating at restaurants, buying jewelry, buying airline or baseball tickets, or even driving cars or paying tolls...". You just pulled that crap out of thin air.

And regarding your comment that, "Maybe we should just make OASDI needs based and be done". Wow. That's the kind of shit the right has been spewing for years. Making SS a needs based program is the surest way to kill it. I can't believe anyone on a liberal site would spout such nonsense. And regarding your comment that OASDI is a "fast track to death"... as liberal I find that comment offensive and just plain dumb.

I think you need to think this through a little more. Your post is off the rails.

[pnwmom]

131. Are you comparing to 2008 prices, or last year?

The problem is that the current SS payments were based on the 2008 CPI. After that, the CPI went down -- but SS payments remained at the 2008 level. Even though prices have been increasing lately, they still haven't caught up to 2008 levels. Until they exceed 2008 levels, there won't be another increase.

[monmouth]

15. Publix didn't get the memo...n/t

[DesertFlower]

21. neither did Kroger, albertson's and safeway.

[Individualist]

85. Prices have been going up continuously in all the grocery stores in my town.

[DesertFlower]

20. then you have not been out shopping.

[awoke_in_2003]

23. have you ever gone to a grocery store?

If so, I want to know where you are going because prices are going up. And as someone else said, the products that aren't going up are being reduced in size.

[MilesColtrane]

24. Average inflation over the past 12 months is at 1.4%.

http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/

[No Elephants]

62. "Average" being key--and no help to someone eating cat food in a slum. See Replies 50 and 60.

Oh, and OASDI recipients are not even getting the 1.4% anyway--nor did they get an increase last year--and they're always a year behind. So, they will collec in 2011 at the alleged cost of living (for a field mouse?) in 2008.

[MilesColtrane]

78. In case you can't tell, I was making the case that there should...

have been a 1.4% increase in SS this year, at the very minimum.

The poster I was replying to thought no increase was justified because we have been in a deflationary period (which we have not).

[Recursion]

91. Are SS recipients eating cat foods in slums? NT

[emilyg]

25. Love your humor. Now

get real.

[Recursion]

92. OK, the price of what has gone up in the past year?

Gas is maybe up a little from last year, I'm not sure.

[No Elephants]

56. Baloney.

[itsrobert]

74. Baloney has gone Up? Switch to Turkey Bologna

It's cheaper.

[Recursion]

93. Baloney is cheaper in my local supermarket than last year

1.29 for a pack rather than 1.49

[No Elephants]

61. Self Delete.

[Occulus]

87. "Prices for things haven't been going up."

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Oh.... my GOD......... can't.... breathe... for laughter........

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Recursion]

90. Well, once you're done laughing, you can tell me what prices have gone up

Because I can't really think of anything.

[Skittles]

130. ????

what bizarro world do YOU live in?

[Nite Owl]

7. Now if they would have capped

medical expenses too it would make sense but this is just punishment for seniors.
CPI should have been applied to all health insurance plans to contain costs (for us!). Seems like the only cost savings that they were talking about were for the government and insurance industry.

[boppers]

34. See #29

Health costs are included.... *but* as people get older, they tend to increase use of the system, so even if the costs stayed flat, it would be more expensive for people as they age.

[No Elephants]

66. No. Increase in health costs for the whole population is theoretically included.

Very different statement. Health costs for the elderly and disabled are very different, and you cannot pay a hospital or druggist with averages. Please see Replies3, 50, 60 and 62.

[No Elephants]

68. See Replies 50, 60 and 62. And, remember, OASDI is for disabled folk, too.

[fascisthunter]

9. sick

[Lindsay]

11. Food costs are up.

My electric utility company increased rates by 50% in July.

But of course, food and energy costs are not included in inflation numbers because they're too volatile.

[Mimosa]

46. Thanks for mentioning electric and energy costs being up

Sometimes I wonder when so-called Dems on a democratic board try to defend the indefensible when our party is in the majority. If Mccain were president we'd all be in agreement.

[Paper Roses]

14. Yes, I knew there would be no COLA but I'll be darned if I accept

the 'there has been no increase in the cost of living'. Baloney.

BTW, Will our esteemed legislators get a raise this year? If so, Why?

[Travis_0004]

16. Congress will not be getting a pay raise

They have voted to skip the pay raise in 2009, and 2010. Its a good symbolic move, but damn near everybody (if not everybody) in congress is wealthy before they start in congress.

[No Elephants]

63. Bingo. No switch to a cheaper brand of cat food will result.

[Irishonly]

26. This sucks

Groceries and utilities are getting more expensive as well as everything else. This month medicare patients will get the opportunity to review their supplemental insurance plans. I hope copays don't go through the roof.

[grasswire]

49. do you have info on what you said about reviewing supplemental plans?

I know someone who gave up BCBS Medigap because it became too expensive. Is there an open enrollment period now or something like it?

[Irishonly]

88. Open enrollment starts sometime in October

and depending on the plan ends December through the first of March. Your friend can call other insurances and either talk to a rep, have information sent or go online. I have Kaiser and haven't had to pay a month premium for a long time. The testing and hospitalizations can kill you though. If I were your friend I would try to find one that fit my needs.

[MilesColtrane]

27. SS Commissioner Michael Astrue - Bush appointee

Used to work for Republican Senator Richard Schweiker. He was also Associate Counsel to the President under Reagan and Bush, Sr.

Announcing this two months before the election will help to insure the House goes Republican.

[bullwinkle428]

37. Is that "Astrue" or "TrueAss"?

[MilesColtrane]

48. You say "po-Tay-to", I say "po-Tah-to"...

[Amonester]

45. Oh, great... Banksters give themselves mega-bonuses...

and Seniors get jack sh*t. They'll vote for the republics so they can not just give them jack sh*t more, but slash the whole jackpot and pass it to the banksters on Wall Street to gamble with...

Wow. That would really help, not!

[No Elephants]

64. Why? Republicans don't have a rep for favoring OASDI increases.

[MilesColtrane]

79. Why what?

What is your question?

[JVS]

82. Why is he still in that position?

[MilesColtrane]

89. Social Security Commissioners serve 6 year terms.

We are all stuck with him until 2013.

[Bitwit1234]

28. That will be two years in a row seniors didn't get a $250 yearly

raise. But the members of congress got their 3K raise. So a senior getting about $10,000 if that much won't get a raise, but senators and representatives making about $140,000 will. I see the Democrats in the senate really look out for seniors.

[ensho]

33. 2 yrs. in a row is not FAIR - get the money from the pentagon

this is very depressing

we can afford to kill people in Afghanistan but not give seniors a cost of living raise for 2 yrs.

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. I said last year there would be no COLA this year, now I think there will not be any ever.

The change in the way inflation is measured was an excuse to avoid paying the COLAs, and will continue.
If high inflation hits, there will be more excuses.
The goal is reduce the number of workers, reduce the number of "un-needed" people, and so far it is working quite well.
We can't afford to buy houses, can't afford to buy health care, energy costs are climbing, commodities are climbing, and there are
fewer and fewer people who have any room to cut back to save on expenses.
Slowly it is sinking in that the whole face of the economy has been drastically and permanently changed, and the "way it used to be"
is, quite simply, gone.

[Mimosa]

47. Dixiegrrrrl, I see what you mean

It's almost like a war on the poor, not to mention the declining middle class.

[area51]

54. I fear you're right. n/t

[On the Road]

30. I Can Live With This,

inflation being under control and all, as long as they dont' raise the damn retirement age to 70.

[No Elephants]

65. Please see Replies 50 and 60.

[Scuba]

32. Yeah ! Those seniors have it too soft !!

[defendandprotect]

35. And what will Seniors say in reply? Individually, that is... 'cause they're not united in any way !

[lonestarnot]

39. And you know what that means.

No raise for vets either.

[24601]

41. Two weeks before the election - great timing! Of course the repugs

will get all the blame since they lost control of Congress just four years ago and the WH two years ago. This will instantly turn the electorate around and ensure many more years of dem dominance. :sarcasm:

[unkachuck]

43. "...a rationale that unsurprisingly placates roughly zero beneficiaries."

....that's because we know it's all bullshit and lies....everyone knows it's costing us more to live than a year ago....

....my rent, food, repairs, utilities, taxes, are all costing me more as I use less and less....

[No Elephants]

67. You mean 3 years ago. Please see Reply 62.

[TexasObserver]

58. While almost everything has gone up in costs.

[ensho]

69. if they really do this to seniors I will hate . . . . . .

Obama and his team, Pelosi, Hillary, etc.

for ever

and not life a finger or say a word to help our country again

the criminal, murderous pentagon brass get all the money they want to do their dirty deeds.

seniors get the shaft.

if this goes thru I'm done with them all and will withdraw into my own small world.

(which will surely please the DU trolls that follow me about)

[alfredo]

77. The cola has nothing to do with them. They don't get a raise either.

I've been on SS for nearly a decade. I've never gotten more than a 5% COLA, and that is because of the spike in the price of fuel trickling down through the economy. Most often it is around 2%. It's a standardized formula that has been used for years. I like getting raises in My COLA, but if under the rules that I agreed to when accepting SS I don't qualify for a COLA that's it. I haven't been hurt by not getting a COLA, and I'd rather not see much in the way of inflation, even if it means more money in my monthly checks. All the COLA does is allow us to tread water. If there is inflation, your buying power drops as the year progresses.

The closing the donut hole will do more than the pittance we get in COLAs.

I don't want something I am not entitled to.

[defendandprotect]

98. This is a FREEZE ... not a question of whether it should be paid or not ---

Every dollar you had pre-Bush is worth more like 50 cents now --

60 cents if you're lucky!

Congress' automatic pay raises haven't stopped -- and we continue to fund their

benefits -- why not COLA's for Seniors?

Rather a mystery to me as to your willingness to dismiss this -- especially given

taxpayer bailouts of corporations by Obama -- pretty much put ALL corporations on WELFARE!!

Wow!

[Recursion]

123. Congress's automatic pay raises have stopped

As several posts have pointed out, Congress did not get a COLA this year either.

[24601]

86. I'm a disabled vet - and I believe that the same formula is used,

meaning no raise in disability benefits again. Oh well, cooked right, dog food isn't that bad. And the dry kibble is like chips & pretzels. :sarcasm:

[activa8tr]

94. I'll just tell my town that the real estate tax on my condo is not getting

a COLA either. (It has gone up $400 in two years).

I will also tell my condo association that the condo fee I pay isn't getting a COLA either, (Gone up $500 in two years).

I will also tell the gas company, the water company, the sewer and trash disposal services I pay for that they CANNOT increase their rates since I'm not getting a COLA. My water bill of $74 a year DOUBLED this year to $155. My sewer and disposal services rate increased 10% over the previous year. The heating and cooking gas rate in my area increased 4% over last winter..

I used to buy 16oz of coffee beans for $5. Now I buy 11.5 oz of coffee beans for $4.50. There is no increase in the cost of living for people on Social Security. It's all a mirage!!!!

:sarcasm:

[JohnWxy]

95. do Congressmen get a COLA in 2011??

[tammywammy]

99. No, they already voted against it last May. n/t

[defendandprotect]

97. Weren't Social Security COLAS always PAID during Bush years ... ????

[Recursion]

103. There was inflation during the Bush years

Look, people, this isn't some political decision. There's a math wiz who sits at a desk in BLS and calculates how much inflation over the past year was. That turns into the COLA.

[defendandprotect]

105. Baloney ... any dollar you had pre-Bush is now worth 50 cents/60 cents at most!!

What a crock --

GOP has been gimmicking the inflation statistics for decades --

PLUS, all government employees have increases based on COLA's -- that's what makes

so clear the great stagnation in private salaries!!

Government salaries are about 40% higher than private salaries!!

[Recursion]

108. That's what I said: there was inflation during the Bush years

So a dollar buys less now than it did 10 years ago (maybe not 60 cents, but it's some number).

Currently, there isn't much inflation. A dollar in 2010 buys roughly what a dollar in 2009 bought. So there's no COLA. Government employees aren't getting a raise either.

[defendandprotect]

109. The FREEZE is political ... not based on any inflationary index ....

and to suggest that we have had no inflation under Obama is bizarre!!

Simply look at recent increases in health care premiums!

And I would suggest to Seniors that this FREEZE may be an effort to see

how Seniors will react -- if at all -- to even more severe cuts in Social Security.

Or, are you in denial of the "Cat Food Commission," as well?




.

[Recursion]

110. Where are you getting that fantasy?

Do you understand how the CPI-W is calculated and how it determines the US government COLA for a year?

Or, are you in denial of the "Cat Food Commission," as well?

I think that's a stupid name for a commission tasked with writing a recommendation to reduce the long-term deficit rate.

[defendandprotect]

111. Your "fantasy" is based on believing that the GOP hasn't "cooked the books" over decades???

Really?

Unfortunately, the GOP has been working to destroy the government statistics --

to gimmick and fix them -- and they have!

Did your electric bill go up this year by any chance?

Are your health care costs rising?

Paying more for your medicines?

Paying more for anything?

Food? Fruits? Vegetables?

Rent? Keep in mind rent control has now been destroyed all over the nation!


AND, again -- government employees and Congress have automatic pay increases - COLA's --

That's why government salaries are more in keeping with costs -- whereas private salaries

have been depleted by stagnation -- and the absence of COLA's.

Government salaries show us where our private salaries should be -- approximately 40% higher

than what they are.

And, same is true of Social Security -- checks should be 40% higher, at least!

[Recursion]

112. How precisely did they "cook the books"?

How did they get a political appointee into that room?

Did your electric bill go up this year by any chance?

Down slightly.

Are your health care costs rising?

My premium is the same as last year.

Paying more for your medicines?

I fortunately don't need any medicines. Maybe medicine prices are going up. I don't know.

Food? Fruits? Vegetables?

Slightly less compared to last year at the local Stop & Shop

Rent? Keep in mind rent control has now been destroyed all over the nation!

And yet my landlord lowered my rent by $25 per month this year.

[defendandprotect]

113. Do you recall the GOP being in control of Congress over decades...???

"Aren't you special ... " -- sorry, couldn't resist --

however, perhaps in Alaska cooling costs didn't go up this year, but certainly

across most of America -- and especially East Coast, they did!

Meanwhile, for most of us all of these expenses have gone up!


Don't really want to say you're disingenuous -- not yet, anyway --

but anyone this naive really needs their BS-meter turned waaaaaaaaaaaaay up!!

[Recursion]

114. I remember them controlling Congress for most of 12 years

What I don't remember is their being able to "cook the books" about the CPI. How did they do that?

[defendandprotect]

115. Try watching C-span -- and listen to the debates and the ways things are done ....

GOP in very sickening ways argued this issue often over decades --

and would reduce the guidelines as severely as possible.



And, just a PS on what Bush actually paid ... as I recall it -- during the Bush

years the inflation was so rampant that they balked at paying what the TRUE COLA

increases should have been -- and lessened them.

[Recursion]

117. I was a Congressional staffer for a few of those years

I'm kind of familiar with the ways things are done.

I'm curious what you think the GOP actually did to influence the calculation CPI.

inflation was so rampant that they balked at paying what the TRUE COLA

In the 2000's the preposterous increase in housing prices was driving the notional inflation rate to equally preposterous levels, even as prices of staples held steady. The SSA is an independent agency whose director reports directly to the President. Those directors have 6 year terms, kind of like the Federal Reserve governors. But they're career bureaucrats, not politicians. I think in 2004 there was an administrative ruling that housing prices would be given less weight so that it wouldn't put the COLA up in double digits. Is that what you're talking about?

[defendandprotect]

118. Okay ... I think we're

up to "disingenuous" at this point --

next step is "ignore."

AGAIN, the changed the formula for poverty and Social Security increases -

lessening them. And, it's reflected in many of our other poverty statistics, as well --

which you might have noticed here over the past week or so of posting on those issues.


Evidently, you trust and esteem the Federal Reserve?

The Social Security Administration finally has to do what it's told --

and when the GOP is in charge, that's destructive!

Glad to see you agree that one way or another, the true inflation rates were NOT reflected

in Social Security COLA payments during that time!!


ALL private salaries -- including Social Security payments -- should be at a minimu 40%

higher than they currently are.

[Recursion]

120. WHO and WHEN

the changed the formula for poverty and Social Security increases -

lessening them

Who are you saying did that, when? Was it an act of Congress? An executive order? An administrative ruling by the SSA director?

You seem to be mixing in the definition of poverty and the CPI -- what do they have to do with each other? (And yes, I'll definitely agree with you that the definition of poverty has been fiddled with for political reasons for decades.)

[defendandprotect]

126. CONGRESS .....

has changed the definitions and means of collecting statistics which impact

COLA's --

Now, name a year since Eisenhower where we've had less than 3.2% inflation ....



Did you miss, btw, the statistics posted here in the last two weeks on poverty?

Did you agree with them or find them shocking?

[defendandprotect]

119. Btw ....

WHO were you a "Congressional staffer" for a few years?

[Recursion]

121. No thanks, been stalked here once already

And it was actually for a committee, not a specific Congresscritter. Fun, underpaid times right after college...

[defendandprotect]

122. Right ... clearly ....

"disingenuous" --

you're close to "ignore" --

[Recursion]

124. I asked "who and when?"

I'd still like to know who you think modified the CPI, and when?

[defendandprotect]

127. CONGRESS ....

and, again, tell me one year since Ike when inflation has been less than

3.2% ...

[Mefistofeles]

100. Great way to get out the vote

Not.

[fasttense]

102. And the Democratic leadership wonders why the RepubliCONS

are ahead in the polls. A conservative is as a conservative does. Making sure Seniors DO NOT get a COLA increase and announcing it, or rubbing salt in the wound, 2 weeks before an elections is just plain dumb.

[Lance_Boyle]

101. I fear this foreshadows a third year of no COLA from my employer as well.

They sent out an email last week reporting on progress with their belt-tightening that included an ominous "but we're not out of the woods just yet."

[defendandprotect]

106. ALL salaries have to be tied to COLA's as government salaries are ....

and any time thee is a FREEZE on COLA's, Congress has to enjoy that with the

rest of us --

I'd also recommending that we stop paying for their health care until we get

MEDICARE FOR ALL!!

:evilgrin:

[Zavulon]

104. That's where some of that fucking "stimulus" money should have gone. (NT)

[defendandprotect]

107. Obama and Rahm were busy making sure that the "stimulus" benefitted business ... see here...

Here's Rahm "crowing" about having saved the PRIVATIZED health care system ...

and opening PRIVATIZATION of public education --

Overall ....

"the fact that billions in the stimulus package benefited business with lucrative new contracts"

Here is the quote: ”In a Thursday interview, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel argued that rather than recoiling against Obama, business leaders should be grateful for his support on at least a half-dozen counts: his advocacy of greater international trade and education reform open markets despite union skepticism; his rejection of calls from some quarters to nationalize banks during the financial meltdown; the rescue of the automobile industry; the fact that the overhaul of health care preserved the private delivery system; the fact that billions in the stimulus package benefited business with lucrative new contracts, and that financial regulation reform will take away the uncertainty that existed with a broken, pre-crash regulatory apparatus.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B2F85DDF-18...


If that doesn't make you ill, nothing will --



PS: This was posted here originally by another poster on 8/12/10--

[Zavulon]

125. Thank you for this. This is exactly why although

I will go vote in November, the only thing keeping me from staying home and saying "fuck every politician on the Hill, I'm done with this shit" is that the alternative to what we have now is so much worse.

My parents relay on those cost-of-living increases, and I can't help them because I'm unemployed and have been told that although it was supposed to be a temporary layoff, the passage of the "go enrich the insurance companies or we'll fine you heavily" health care "reform" made the layoff permanent.

Yeah, I'm ecstatic. I only wish I knew if my taxes were going up at the beginning of the year, because if they do I'm definitely done giving a shit about politics.

[defendandprotect]

128. We're all disgusted with Obama and his pro-corporate agenda ....

As I said a few weeks ago, I plan to hold my nose and vote against Republicans --

that's the only way I can look at a vote for a Democrat!

After we knock out more Repugs, we can double back and get rid of corporate-Democrats

and replace them with liberal/progressive Democrats!

I'd also be looking forward to putting up a real liberal/progressive Democrat in 2012!!

Someone NOT like Obama!!








"Politics is the shadow cast over government by corporations"

[Zavulon]

132. Amen to everything you said.

I'm glad to know I'm not alone. Thanks :hi:

[lovuian]

116. I don't think the Seniors are going to believe Social Security

and I don't blame them

the government LIES LIES LIES

they have NO CREDIBILITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and yet they given TRILLIONS to the BANKSTERS

[defendandprotect]

129. But what's the Seniors' response on all of this .... ??? I don't see any response ...!!!

Seniors have never been organized to my knowledge -- except thru AARP which is

AN INSURANCE COMPANY!!