Posted on 05/03/2009 6:17:31 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
WASHINGTON — For the first time in more than three decades, Social Security recipients will not get any increase in their benefits next year, federal forecasts show.
The absence of a cost-of-living adjustment, calculated under a formula set by law, will be a shock to older Americans already hit by plummeting home values, investment losses and rising health costs. More than 50 million people receive Social Security. “Most seniors have never been through a year in which there was no Social Security COLA,” said David M. Certner, legislative counsel at AARP, the lobby for older Americans. Beneficiaries have received automatic cost-of-living adjustments every year since 1975. The increase this year was 5.8 percent.
In theory, low inflation is good for people on fixed incomes. But it is creating political and policy problems for Congress, which is just learning of the implications for Social Security and Medicare.
The forecasts, by the Obama administration and the Congressional Budget Office, indicate that Social Security beneficiaries will not receive any cost-of-living increase in 2010 or in 2011.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Be prepared for the LSMs running stories about Seniors resorting to eating canned Dog Food just to survive.
Hey that’s right about when the hyperinflation should begin from printing trillions of non-existent dollars! Good timing!
“Be prepared for the LSMs running stories about Seniors resorting to eating canned Dog Food just to survive.”
Not when Democrats are in office, those stories would only run if the President was a Republican
Yeppers! Hmm - interesting! So maybe people will start realizing that they don’t OWN social security retirements, the GOVERNMENT DOES, and CAN take it away.
Why in the WORLD would anyone ever want to rely on that ponzi scheme I have no idea.
Oh they’ll be running it alongside a diatribe about rich, heartless conservatives not paying up their share and that the glorious Obama should make it fair for the seniors.
Are you kidding ? NOTHING is his fault.
I had no idea it was optional....I've been paying in for over 40 yrs.
Paying it is different from planning your retirement on it. Hopefully everyone here is not stupid enough to do the latter.
Unfortunately paying is not optional, but reliance on it is.
Excerpt...Remarks of Senator Barack Obama at the AARP Life@50+ National Expo
September 06, 2008
For generations, we have worked to keep a simple promise in this country - that those who have worked hard their entire lives have the right to retire with dignity and security.
Now, let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.
And since he’s not offering much change, that’s why you didn’t hear much about his plans for the future this week. You didn’t hear much about their health care plan that would actually tax your benefits for the first time ever, or about their plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement, or how they plan to fix the economy they’ve ruined or help you live comfortably in your later years. Because, in the words of John McCain’s campaign manager, this election “isn’t about the issues.”
Well I’m running for President because I believe this election is all about the issues. It’s not about me, or John McCain, it’s about you. It’s about your lives. It’s about your future.
And securing your future starts with protecting Social Security - today, tomorrow and forever. Now, John McCain said that the way Social Security works is, and I quote, “an absolute disgrace.” Wrong. For millions of Americans, it’s the very difference between a comfortable retirement and falling into poverty. More than half of seniors depend on it for more than half of their income. And as the first baby boomers become eligible for benefits this year, there are steps we can take to secure its future for generations to come.
That doesn’t mean embracing George Bush’s failed privatization scheme, as John McCain has. Privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George Bush proposed it, and it’s a bad idea today. It would take the one rock-solid, guaranteed part of your retirement income and gamble it on the stock market. That’s why I stood with AARP against this plan in the Senate, and that’s why I won’t stand for it as President.
But his campaign has gone even further, suggesting that the best answer to the growing pressures on Social Security might be to cut cost-of-living adjustments or raise the retirement age. I will not do either.
Right now, the Social Security payroll tax is capped. That means most middle-class families pay this tax on every dime they make, while millionaires and billionaires only pay it on a very small percentage of their income. That’s why I’ll work with members of Congress from both parties to ask people making more than $250,000 a year to contribute a little bit more to keep the system sound. It’s a change that would start a decade or more from now, and it won’t burden middle-class families. In fact, 99% of Americans will see absolutely no change in their taxes - 99%.
If you want change - if you want to restore that fundamental promise we’ve made from generation to generation, then I ask you to give me your vote on November 4th. And if you do, I promise you - we will change this country together.
Goose, meet gander. No increase for SS recipients, no increase for Congress, either!!!
Beneficiaries have received automatic cost-of-living adjustments every year since 1975. The increase this year was 5.8 percent.
___________________________________________
That is 5.8 percent larger then my pay increase this year.
Hope for Spare Change!!!!
but but but......
my congressman, Andre Carson (Muslim, IN) told us he was going to make social security “safe for seniors”
And he will.... Just because there is not any inflation and no rise in the CPI doesn't mean there will be no COLA. The Dims control Congress, they'll just pass a bill to make the COLA next year what every amount they want.
As a Soc Sec beneficiary, thanks to all you hard working Americans, I'm here to tell ya that dog food ain't that bad. Especially if you microwave it a little first. Tastes like chicken :)
Add a can of green beans or corn. Makes a nice stew.
FUBO. You are a lying piece of what someday will be odorless compost.
There is quite a few people that didn’t have nice company pension plans or earn enough to set aside a million dollars during their working years.
Like my parents.
“In theory, low inflation is good for people on fixed incomes. But it is creating political and policy problems for Congress, which is just learning of the implications for Social Security and Medicare.”
The author of this article is a freaking idiot. We heard for eight years that Social Security will be completely gone by 2041. The RATS ignored it. Well they now own it.
Yet they managed to invest in a child—You. I said nothing about company pension plans or savings. We’ve all seen enough stock market crashes and company closures to know that’s no more secure than social security. Family and community is the closest thing to a secure retirement plan available, though even that fails.
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