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Older people might feel they are falling behind because they haven't had a raise since 2009, but many are benefiting, said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration who is now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Consumer prices dropped, but Social Security benefits didn't drop, Biggs said. At the same time, health care costs went up, but Part B premiums stayed the same for most beneficiaries.
"They are better off because of that," Biggs said. "Somebody else is paying for a greater share of their health care. This will get me hate mail, obviously. But it is what it is."
Next year, the trustees who oversee the Social Security project a 1.2 percent COLA. President Barack Obama, in his spending proposal for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, projects a COLA of
0.9 percent. The average monthly payment is $1,077, so either way, the typical increase is projected to be between $10 and $13.
The current spike in energy prices could boost next year's COLA, if it lasts through September, when the increase for 2012 will be calculated. The COLA will be announced in mid-October.
Consumer prices dropped? I find that absurd. I find nothing has become less expensive, and food is priced very high. It's just a trick of manipulating Consumer Price Index numbers.
What fabricated nonsense and double-talk by the former Social Security commissioner.
And trying to say that a Soc Sec recepient is well off because Part B premiums stayed the same is also absurd. Not to mention that millions of Soc Sec recepients are under 65 and not yet on Medicare.
No cola 09, no cola 10, SS says inflation will only be 1% in 11 [which means $11 for me but part B is going up $13] Inflation only 1%? They lie!!!! Yes, I know they don't include food and fuel in the inflation index.[why not?] But what about the increases in- home owner insurance, vehicle insurance [ever wonder why your uninsured motorist portion has gone up so high in the last few years?], cable/satellite increases[$3 Feb 10, $3 Mar 11], phone service increases, property taxes. How about replacing an old analog tube TV with a digital flat screen TV.
Consumer prices dropped? I find that absurd. I find nothing has become less expensive, and food is priced very high. It's just a trick of manipulating Consumer Price Index numbers.
Ummm, gas is still less expensive than it was in the summer of 2008 when oil hit $145/barrel. (Oil currently is at $105.) That's why the COLA the following January was 5.8% and why there hasn't been one since.
But you just keep on believing that there is some kind of government conspiracy to manipulate the numbers.
All while the U.S. spends billions upon billions of dollars every day and every week on two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now a third war front in Libya.
No cola 09, no cola 10, SS says inflation will only be 1% in 11 [which means $11 for me but part B is going up $13] Inflation only 1%? They lie!!!! Yes, I know they don't include food and fuel in the inflation index.[why not?]
Ah yes, yet another misinformed individual expressing outrage based on that misinformation.
FYI - Food and fuel are included in the CPI that is used to determine the SS COLA.
This has been discussed many, many times by me and others in this forum, but it doesn't seem to do any good. We still get posts such as the above.
A short-lived spike in fuel prices in the summer of 2008 caused third quarter CPI that year to come in 5.8% higher than the previous summer. So seniors got a 5.8% raise in 2009, even as consumer prices that year actually went down overall. To put it another way, SocialSecurity beneficiaries had no COLAs in 2010 and will have none in 2011 because they got too big a COLA in 2009
By law, Social Security's cost of living adjustment is based on the rate of inflation between the last cost of living adjustment and the most recent thirdquarter. There has been no increase in the CPI since the thirdquarter of 2008, the Social Security Administration said.
The last increase came in 2009, when Social Security payments went up 5.8%, largest increase in 27 years. The big increase was caused by a sharp but short-livedspike in energy prices in 2008.
Gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon in the summer of 2008, jolting the inflation rate and resulting in the high COLA for 2009.
By law, the next increase won't come until consumer prices rise above the level measured in 2008
If you have interest, patience, or time to read why the CPI does not reflect the true amount of inflation, read this article from an authorized source:
Core CPI
The core CPI index excludes goods with high price volatility, such as food and energy. This measure of core inflation systematically excludes food and energy prices because, historically, they have been highly volatile and non-systemic. More specifically, food and energy prices are widely thought to be subject to large changes that often fail to persist and do not represent relative price changes.
But COLA's for Soc Sec recepients are based supposed;y not on the core CPI, but instead on the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which supposedly includes food and fuel.
There is dissension over the formulas used to calculate.
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