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No Social Security raises for two years

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
No Social Security raises for two years

By Stephen Ohlemacher
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.

The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won’t be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn’t happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.

By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.

“I will promise you, they count on that COLA,” said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut who now heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “To some people, it might not be a big deal. But to seniors, especially with their health care costs, it is a big deal.”

Cost of living adjustments are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year, largely because energy prices are below 2008 levels.

Advocates say older people still face higher prices because they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on health care, where costs rise faster than inflation. Many also have suffered from declining home values and shrinking stock portfolios just as they are relying on those assets for income.

“For many elderly, they don’t feel that inflation is low because their expenses are still going up,” said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP. “Anyone who has savings and investments has seen some serious losses.”

About 50 million retired and disabled Americans receive Social Security benefits. The average monthly benefit for retirees is $1,153 this year. All beneficiaries received a 5.8 percent increase in January, the largest since 1982.

More than 32 million people are in the Medicare prescription drug program. Average monthly premiums are set to go from $28 this year to $30 next year, though they vary by plan. About 6 million people in the program have premiums deducted from their monthly Social Security payments, according to the Social Security Administration.

Millions of people with Medicare Part B coverage for doctors’ visits also have their premiums deducted from Social Security payments. Part B premiums are expected to rise as well. But under the law, the increase cannot be larger than the increase in Social Security benefits for most recipients.

There is no such hold-harmless provision for drug premiums.

Kennelly’s group wants Congress to increase Social Security benefits next year, even though the formula doesn’t call for it. She would like to see either a 1 percent increase in monthly payments or a one-time payment of $150.

The cost of a one-time payment, a little less than $8 billion, could be covered by increasing the amount of income subjected to Social Security taxes, Kennelly said. Workers only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,800 of income, a limit that rises each year with the average national wage.

But the limit only increases if monthly benefits increase.

Critics argue that Social Security recipients shouldn’t get an increase when inflation is negative. They note that recipients got a big increase in January, after energy prices had started to fall. They also note that Social Security recipients received one-time $250 payments in the spring as part of the government’s economic stimulus package.

Consumer prices are down from 2008 levels, giving Social Security recipients more purchasing power, even if their benefits stay the same, said Andrew Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

“Seniors may perceive that they are being hurt because there is no COLA, but they are in fact not getting hurt,” Biggs said. “Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want.”

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090824/NEWS02/708249922/1042/LIVING02
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
This is unbelievable, even if there was no inflation then lets view it as a stimulus for the elderly! Problem is inflation has hit elderly, sure inflation is down in some sectors but not all. And many of the sectors that do have inflation affect the elderly.

This is the most unbelievable cut that Obama could ever due, he is cutting Medicare and SS benefits, Obama has it out for the elderly! No wonder the elderly are coming to Town Hall meetings in record numbers.

Another point is once we do see inflation it will come in a very large jump for a few years and once Social Security unfreezes their raises they will not catch up with inflation they will for ever be behind it.

Obama should be impeached for this!
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
aplusmnt said:
This is the most unbelievable cut that Obama could ever due, he is cutting Medicare and SS benefits, Obama has it out for the elderly! No wonder the elderly are coming to Town Hall meetings in record numbers.

He's just spreading the wealth a bit more. People are getting filthy rich off of social security checks. :roll: :roll: :roll:
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
backhoeboogie said:
aplusmnt said:
This is the most unbelievable cut that Obama could ever due, he is cutting Medicare and SS benefits, Obama has it out for the elderly! No wonder the elderly are coming to Town Hall meetings in record numbers.

He's just spreading the wealth a bit more. People are getting filthy rich off of social security checks. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Yea he wants to screw over the Top of the Food Chain and then the Bottom of it hitting the Rich and Social Security people.

Obama can spend money to research why Drunk gay men have one night stands, he can spend money to study why College Drunks have sex but he can not spend money to give the elderly on Social Security their deserved cost of living bump!

Obama is Evil and this proves it! He better hope and pray some elderly person with not long to live doesn't decide he has nothing to live for and comes after him in a violent way!

To Screw the elderly while spending money on such stupid things is plum Evil!
 

Tam

Well-known member
I heard that SS recipients got a large COLA in Jan 2009 that was announced it Oct 2008. Then they got a One time Stimulus Check for $250 in May. But has anyone of you heard about a second SS increase in May and if you have where did the money come from as I can't seem to find any announcements about the increase but heard there was one.


BTW did you heard that 1700 inmates got stimulus checks for $250 per. That's $425,000 more that Mr. Biden didn't keep track of. :wink:
 
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