Posted on 10/11/2010 2:22:11 AM PDT by Scanian
WASHINGTON — As if voters don't have enough to be angry about this election year, the government is expected to announce this week that more than 58 million Social Security recipients will go through another year without an increase in their monthly benefits.
It would mark only the second year without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first year was this year.
"If you're the ruling party, this is not the sort of thing you want to have happening two weeks before an election," said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
"It's not the congressional Democrats' fault, but that's the way politics works," Biggs said. "A lot of people will feel hostile about it."
The cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, are automatically set each year by an inflation measure that was adopted by Congress back in the 1970s. Based on inflation so far this year, the trustees who oversee Social Security project there will be no COLA for 2011.
The projection will be made official on Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases inflation estimates for September. The timing couldn't be worse for Democrats as they approach an election in which they are in danger of losing their House majority, and possibly their Senate majority as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Don’t worry, Seniors. Obama is planning on inflating our way out of debt, anyway. Your COLA will come soon enough, but it unfortunately won’t be enough.
Thank you God.
Our county commission is making noises about more taxes and the sheriff just gave all the deputies a thousand bucks each. The school board wants more money too.
There isn't any recession at the government level!
Don’t worry Seniors, if you had gotten a COLA increase, Obama would have taxed it away from you anyhow.
I thought they announced last year that there wouldn’t be a SS increase for 3 years? So why is this news? It’s only a confirmation of what we already knew.
Why, none other than a "one time" $250 payout to each SSI beneficiary.
Wonder what the mean $:vote ratio the Dems will get achieve of a second 'buy a friend' program?
Don’t worry, congress didn’t forget itself, they approved a raise for themselves.
Yeah, but the only place you will never see the inflation is in the official CPI numbers, on which the COLAs are based.
It doesn't feel like 1.10%. Some things like utilities that have to be paid have gone up around here.
no cola, because they are padding their own pockets, don’t give a care about seniors
soon enough, if you can’t work, they don’t want you around, death panels.
Did you buy any gas in 2009?
Oh, how ridiculous of me-—gasoline is not included in the inflation calculation.
When it goes up it hits everybody hard. Could it be that since oil is traded in dollars, that excessively printing money directly contributes to oil and gas inflation?
Example: in the spring of 2009, the Fed injected $900 billion into the money supply. Oil traders, not being fools, drove up crude prices 40% overnight. And that increase was passed along to the gas pump.
You know, you are right - the inflation rate for 2010 is higher than 1.1%. You have to scroll down on the page for a month by month analysis of 2010. The statement about 2010 inflation at the top of the page is misleading. For August only, it is reported at 1.1%. My apologies.
Just because the gub'mint says there hasn't been any inflation, doesn't keep people on fixed incomes from being pinched until they bruise.
Really - they don’t include gas prices in the inflation calc? Ludicrous.
Regarding gas and utilities, I am recently retired, so don’t buy much gas anymore and as far as the utilities go, I also had the furnace converted from oil to natural gas. What a huge, huge savings. I am one of the lucky ones.
I didn’t mean to come off sounding like I was defending the Dems - but it is only right and fair that seniors acknowledge that a COLA is for inflation and there was none in 2009, so no adjustment. The rest of the country is missing raises and losing their jobs, so we SS recipients should not be asking for what is not owed.
The cost of living in the U.S. climbed in August for a second month as energy and food prices increased, while other goods and services showed little change.
The consumer-price index rose 0.3 percent for a second month, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. Excluding volatile food and fuel costs, the so- called core rate was unchanged.
Surprise..The Government Lies.
“There isn’t any recession at the government level!”
There never is when Communists are the ruling power.
In the meantime, we taxpayers are paying to have the zer0 fly his dog on private jets and spend ‘stimulus’ Fiat money to teach African males how to wash their penis.
0bama and his gang have to go before he completes his mission to destroy America at every level.
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