Social Security gets no Cola but Congress does(The leaders diss public but reward themselves)

Canada Free Press ^ | 10/08/09 | Aaron Cantor

[OneWingedShark]

>Can you F’ing believe this? Our government pays almost a grand a month for drug addicts to stay high, and alcoholics to stay drunk. No wonder we are bankrupt.

Hm, I live a block away from a brewery so at $1000/mo I could buy about 50 gallons of beer a month.... WOW. That’s in excess of a gallon a day.

[TexasRepublic]

Let the proles eat tree bark.

[Viking2002]

'Well, the way they’re acting I’m surprised there HASN’T been a ‘firing’... and I don’t mean employment.'

Ah got the tines on mah pitchfork all sharpened up for the party, you betcha.

[bluray]

This is a huge story. Seniors are livid. And it’s because of Obama’s weak economy.

Here’s a story from May which spells out the upcoming crisis for our Social Security recipients. Their checks are going to decrease for the first time in 30 years.

No Social Security COLA increase for 2010

However, both the Obama administration and the Congressional Budget Office (pdf) are forecasting that Social Security beneficiaries will not receive any cost of living adjustments in fiscal 2010 or 2011. The reason? The pronounced recession in the United States, which has created pricing pressure — not pricing power — for businesses. Pricing power is so weak for firms that the Federal Reserve believes the nation is more likely to experience a bout of deflation — not inflation — at least through mid-2010, and perhaps for a longer period.

Deflation — a protracted, systematic decline in prices and wages — occurs in pronounced recessions and in other conditions during which demand is nonexistent, and it robs companies of the ability to increase revenue and hurts the economy’s ability to grow. If it takes hold, that’s another hurdle policymakers will have to grapple with as they attempt to end the U.S. and global recessions.

The lack of a COLA adjustment would represent a net-gain in revenue for the Social Security operation, although there will be some subtractions to revenue, due to the fact that Medicare Part B premium increases are linked to Social Security’s COLA and cannot rise more than the COLA. Hence, if there is no COLA, the Part B premium can not increase.

However, the lack of a benefit would also feed fewer dollars into the U.S. economy at a time when it needs all the demand pressure it can get, due to a smaller workforce stemming from layoffs and belt-tightening across the nation, senior citizens included.

Economic Analysis: The net result of no 2010 COLA is that millions of Social Security recipients will see their monthly benefit check reduced for the first time. Though the amount would be small, it represents another incremental reduction in income — like a small increase in an electric utility rate or a small property tax increase — that reduces the amount of money Americans have to spend, save, or invest. When combined, these incremental cuts place a substantial drag on the economy and are one major factor cause of the declines in retail sales and discretionary purchases.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/no-social-security-cola-in-2010/1540465/