It seems that the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment will elude senior citizens for the first time in 3 decades. Stagnant prices which are the basis for the COLA associated with Social Security will prevent the increase.
President Obama has suggested a one time payment of $250 to offset the annual raise which usually comes in January each year. In a good year the cola is about 5%. Disabled Americans would be eligible for the same $250. The cost of this one time payout is estimated to be at least $13 billion dollars.
The Washington Post reports:
An increase in benefit checks each January has been a yearly ritual since the mid-1970s, when the government moved to ensure that its subsidies to retirees, pension recipients and others who receive Social Security benefits kept pace with inflation. Thursday’s announcement by the Labor Department will mark the first time that the federal formula used since then, which is tied to the consumer price index, will translate into no increase at all. That is because consumer prices have remained stagnant in the weak economy — a sharp reversal from this past year, when Social Security checks grew by 5.8 percent, an unusually large amount.
Congress and President Obama seem to be scrambling to make this all happen and to at least make it look like they haven’t forgotten the seniors. To me, it seems $250 is like pissing in the ocean.
Will Congress get a raise this year? What is their raise based on? Performance? (Bwwaaahahahahahaha) Is there some formula that determines what their raise will be? How about benefits? Do you suppose they pay as much for their health care as say a senior citizen living on social security does? Just Medicare Plan B costs about $100 a month now. They just snip that right out of the social security check as a courtesy, to save the seniors from buying stamps. Then there are the bridge policies and the rx policies. People I have talked to pay at least $300 a month. That’s getting pretty steep. I am willing to bet Congressmen and Senators don’t pay this much. I wonder how one would find out?
If people thought there were pissed off seniors before, they ain’t seen nothing yet.
