No cost-of-living raise for 59 million US elderly
12 October 2010

Cost-of-living adjustments are set based on a formula established by Congress in 1973. The inflation rate is measured by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the third quarter of each year, compared to the same period the year before. While the
official BLS report is not issued until Friday, October 16, it has already been widely reported that the inflation figure will be
below the level needed to trigger a raise in Social Security payments.

Because of the sharp run-up in gasoline prices in the summer of 2008, the cost-of-living adjustment calculated in October 2008
and paid in January 2009 was the largest in 27 years, 5.8 percent. But since then, gasoline prices have plunged from $4.00 a
gallon to a national average of $2.70, holding down the inflation index.

Since the elderly drive less than the general population, they benefit less from the decline in gas prices. On the other hand, they spend much more than the average on health care services and prescription drugs, whose prices continue to rise steadily. The CO PAY on all medical visits is so high, frequently seniors who are ill have to go without food.

The economic stimulus bill passed in March 2009 provided a $250 payment to Social Security recipients, incorporated in the
legislation because it was already anticipated that there would be no cost-of-living raise. The one-time payment was the
equivalent of a 2 percent rise in the average Social Security check of $1,072 a month.

The Obama administration proposed a second one-time payment to offset a second year without a cost-of-living raise, but this
was blocked in the Senate by an alliance of 40 out of 41 Republicans, 12 conservative Democrats, and right-wing Independent
Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

Millions of elderly people have seen the value of their homes and retirement savings collapse, and now will be told, barely two
weeks before the November 2 election, that their Social Security benefits will be frozen for a second consecutive year. Social
Security is the primary source of income for 64 percent of recipients. For one third of recipients, Social Security constitutes 90
percent or more of their annual income.

The freeze is only a foretaste of what is to come, under the austerity policies backed by both the Democrats and Republicans.
In December, one month after the election, a bipartisan commission on the federal budget deficit appointed by President
Obama is to present a report on the “reform”—i.e., drastic cutting—of entitlement programs like Social Security Medicare and
Medicaid.

Its recommendations are expected to include both restrictions on eligibility, such as raising the retirement age, and cuts in
benefits, including a new formula for calculating cost-of-living increases that will be based on wages, not prices, and will
therefore leave the elderly more vulnerable to inflation.

One of the top Democratic Party budget experts on the deficit commission, former Clinton budget director and Federal
Reserve governor Alice Rivlin, is openly advocating a combination of actual benefit cuts and raising the age of eligibility from 66
to 70.

Efforts by liberal Democrats in Congress to forestall a recommendation for cuts in Social Security have attracted notably little
support. Only 100 House Democrats, out of 255, co-signed a letter to Obama rejecting any benefit cuts or eligibility
restrictions in the program. A resolution along similar lines by independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders attracted only 12
of the 59 Senate Democrats.

In a joint appearance on Fox News Sunday, House Republican whip Eric Cantor and House Democratic deputy whip Debbie
Wasserman Schultz refused to rule out raising the retirement age for Social Security as part of a bipartisan deal after the
election. “We intend to deal with the real question of long-term fiscal sustainability of those programs and hence our economy,”
said Cantor.
 

POSTER'S NOTE: It might be a good idea to HELP SENIORS NEAR YOU by bringing food by occasionally or driving them to the market, see "HOW TO HELP A SENIOR SURVIVE THE RECESSION"

*     *   *     *      *   *     *     *     *      *   *     *     *     *      *   *     *     *     *

Our POSTER is ANITA SANDS HERNANDEZ, Los Angeles Writer, Futurist and Astrologer. Catch up with her websites  TRUTHS GOV WILL HIDE & NEVER TELL YOU, also The  FUTURE, WHAT'S COMIN' AT YA! FRUGAL LIFE STYLE TIPS,  HOW TO SURVIVE the COMING GREAT DEPRESSION, and Secrets of Nature, HOLISTIC, AFFORDABLE HEALING. Also ARTISANRY FOR EXPORT, EARN EUROS....* Anita is at astrology@earthlink.net ). Get a 15$ natal horoscope "my money/future life" reading now + copy horoscope as a Gif file graphic! No smarter, more accurate career reading out there!

<=== BACK TO TRACKING THE ECONOMY, an INDEX PAGE

<===BACK TO MONEY SECRETS ONLY THE EXPERTS KNOW

<=== BACK TO SECRETS THE GOV DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW

<===BACK TO THE SECRETS OF THE OLIGARCHS, THE EMPIRE INDEX PAGE

<=== SHOW ME THE FIX INDEX PAGE.

 <==  SHOW ME THE HAPPY R)EVOLUTION PAGE

<===  BACK TO "GUERILLA CAPITALISM" -- THE SOLUTION!

<==== BACK TO THE "VITAL SIGNS OF A DYING ECONOMY" the "FUTURE" WEBPAGE

<==== BACK TO THE WALL STREET MELTDOWN WEBSITE,  with "WHAT TO DO TO SURVIVE" TIPS

<=== BACK TO ENRON PLANET, the DOOMSDAY SCENARIO!

<====BACK TO THE HOLISTIC GOURMET, BON MARCHE

<=== BACK TO THE FRUGAL ARTISAN IMPORT/ EXPORT TYCOON AND HIS "STUFF"

<===  BACK TO THE GLEENERS PAGE

<==  BACK TO THE FUTURE INDEX PAGE

<=== BACK TO THE GENTLEMAN FARMER'S GARDEN INDEX

<=== INVESTIGATE DOING DRIP IRRIGATE- LINES in PUBLIC GARDENS as a CHARITY

<=== BACK TO "DONE WELL,  ACTIVISM IS A DELIGHT  and IT CREATES CAREERS for YOU as well as PLANETARY EVOLUTION"

<=== BACK TO THE MALTHUSIAN INDEX PAGE

<===BACK TO THE PHILOSOPHY INDEX PAGE

<=== BACK TO THE LUCK IN LOVE WEBSITE

<== BACK TO THE PROPAGANDA STUDIES WEBSITE, HOW GOV LIES TO YOU

<=== BACK TO ALL POINTS OF THE COMPASS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY TUTORIAL

<=== BACK TO JERRY'S REFRIGERATOR & the Tin Foil Hat Collection of CONSPIRACY THEORIES!

<====BACK TO THE FREE MONEY WEBSITE

<==== BACK TO THE HARD TIMES WEBSITE

<===== BACK TO THE POVERTY INDEX PAGE

<==== BACK TO THE "TIPS to SURVIVE THE FUTURE" INDEX PAGE
BACK TO THE "FIX YOUR FLAGGING AMBITION" SEMINAR

<== BACK TO THE  SNOOKERED INDEX PAGE

<===BACK TO THE REALITY 101 SEMINAR FOR TEENS

<==== BACK TO THE SHOW BUSINESS PAGE, ARCHIVE, SEMINAR, WHATEVER YA WANNA CALL IT

<====HOW TO TINKER WITH OTHER PEOPLE's BRAINS

<====BACK TO THE NEW AGE EMPOWERING INDEX

<===BACK TO "HOW TO MERCHANDISE YOURSELF" INDEX

<===BACK TO THE ALL ABOUT TAXES INDEX PAGE

         <=== BACK TO THE FRUGAL TIPS and CHEAPO  LIFESTYLE WEBPAGE

         <=== MEET ANITA SANDS WHO WRITES ALL THESE ARTICLES

        <=== TAKE ME TO THE HOLISTIC PET, HOW NEVER TO NEED a VET

       <=== BACK TO THE TRUTHS ABOUT DENTISTRY THAT WILL SAVE YOU 100 THOUSAND!

        <=== BACK TO THE SNOOKERED WEBPAGE, HOAXES WE HAVE ALL KNOWN

        <===BACK TO EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEB STUFF (for dummies)