Retired people like me are getting clobbered by the EXISTING CPI used for Social Security COLA.

[Elwood P Dowd]

The Chained CPI would be devastating.

I live on less than $2,000 a month counting my SS and a small check for some rental property. The existing CPI doesn't include increases in the costs of food and energy, plus there are all sorts of substitution tricks in the current formula. Since I first started receiving my check in 2009, my costs for food and energy have gone up by an average of over $100.00 a month. The COLA has increased my monthly check by less than $50.00. To make matters even worse my prescriptions are going up almost $60.00 a month starting in January.

There are millions of Americans just like me about to get the royal shaft if Obama does in fact agree to this Chained CPI crap. It's bad enough with the existing CPI formula.

[MADem]

1. Damn right.

The CPI doesn't have things in the "basket" that older Americans want/need/use.

It's a bullshit number that does not compute.

[Mona]

2. everytime my folks get a COLA

Their healthcare increase takes up abou 98% of it

I wish there were a way to make this stop, way too many people hurting nowadays to be making these kinds of deals.

[Cleita]

13. Exactly and with Medicare Part D, the insurance companies are taking more and more of it. n/t

[savannah43]

39. Check the prices for your meds. You might find that paying cash is cheaper.

For example, Hannaford Market Pharmacies have 400 commonly used drugs for low prices, like $4.00 for a 30 day supply and $9.99 for a ninety day supply. With Medicare Part D, aka private insurance, the government collects the premiums for it out of your SS check. Same with the "advantage" plans. Who gets the advantage from them, I wonder? This nonsense was and still is a sneaky way that BushCo implemented to get people used to not having Medicare the way it was intended to be, and instead, for the recipient to pay for private insurance.
That the Dems allow this to continue is just wrong.

[shanti]

17. same thing with my state pension

two steps up, one step back (or more). get the COLA in May, then my Kaiser medical goes up. it's bullshit, if you ask me!

[glinda]

24. Not just that but almost every utility company as well as the health/drug industry

raises rates when they see there is even a chance of more money anywhere within the population. Started to notice this two years ago. We get a break....someone takes it away.

[Turbineguy]

3. The repubs want us dead.

ASAP.

[durablend]

5. Hate to inform you...

But many on our side want the same.

[marew]

8. True! So very true!

[femrap]

18. Over 60?

All political parties believe you are an "Useless Eater."

I'd rather go out with some dignity....if older citizens are going to be treated in this cruel manner, then we should demand Assisted Suicide. I'm in no mood to go begging for decent food and affordable utility rates.

We give our pets better treatment at the end of their lives.

If someone doesn't want to live in this culture, I don't think we should force him/her to do so.

[proReality]

31. I agree with you. n/t

[roguevalley]

47. but if you say so you get slaughtered.

the only revenge I will ever get is that they will get old too.

[woo me with science]

4. Real human beings. Thank you.

So fucking sick of corporate ethics in this country.

[xchrom]

9. +1

[Poll_Blind]

6. I'm not going to pretty it up: It's a cull.

People can try to hide it under calculations or alternative names but it's simply a cull. Chained CPI is an outright theft from people who can least afford it.

PB

[eShirl]

7. That's exactly how I see Republicans' entire policy for the last couple decades.

Shrinking the government is simply the means.

[kath]

19. uh, not just Republicans - a so-called "Democrat" may be the President to actually

cut SS.

Corporate One Party Rule, where two parts of the Party play the ancient game of "Good Cop, Bad Cop"

[savannah43]

40. Exactly. There isn't one member of the House or Senate who isn't rich, is there?

How can they possibly relate to poor people and the elderly who have no one who will hire them? It is a cull.

[marew]

12. Exactly!

And people were so rude this AM when I brought this up!

[leftstreet]

22. +1

[limpyhobbler]

23. +1

yep

[Cleita]

10. Me too. I'm a widow. I'm willing to work. No one is willing to hire me.

Where do we go from here?

[grasswire]

11. my cousin gets $748 per month social security

....and has no other income. Some food stamps allow her that bit of relief.

How will people who are truly on the edge adapt to less??

If $1200 is the average SS check, lotta lotta people are way below that amount.

[marew]

16. http://www.thenation.com/article/171830/proposed-social-security-bargain-makes-no-sense-elderly#

While some people have tried to foster a myth of the elderly as a population living large, the facts don’t fit this story. The median income of people over age 65 is less than $20,000 a year. Nearly 70 percent of the elderly rely on Social Security benefits for more than half of their income and nearly 40 percent rely on Social Security for more than 90 percent of their income. These benefits average less than $15,000 a year.

The reason that seniors are so dependent on Social Security is that the other pillars of the retirement stool, employer pensions and individual savings, have largely collapsed. Defined benefit pensions are rapidly disappearing. Defined contribution plans, like 401(k)s have also proved grossly inadequate. Only around half of the work force even has a defined contribution plan available to them at their workplace. In a period of stagnant wages and limited employer contributions, workers have generally been unable to accumulate much wealth in these plans.

For most workers the vast majority of their wealth was in their homes. The collapse of the housing bubble destroyed much of this equity. Counting all forms of wealth, including equity in a home, the median household approaching retirement had just $170,000 in wealth in 2011.

The proposed cut in the annual cost of living adjustment will be a substantial hit to a population that for the most part is ill-prepared to see a cut in its income. The effect of this cut on the income of the typical beneficiary will be larger, measured as a share of income, than the return to Clinton era tax rates on the richest 2 percent will be to the people affected. It is also worth noting that this cut to benefits will affect current retirees, not just people who will be collecting benefits 10 or 15 years in the future, who might have some opportunity to adjust to a cut.

[RC]

42. Don't forget the interest rates on saving accounts and CD's

used to be 10% or more. Now we are lucky to get a whole digit of a percent.

[madrchsod]

14. yup...i get about 125 a week on ss...

i can`t afford another penny in cuts.

[annabanana]

15. I remember when they STARTED screwing with the CPI.

I remember thinking

"this is wrong...they can't just change the stuff they count.... they have to stick with the stuff everyone NEEDS..like food, heat, healthcare"

I do not remember what year it was, or who was president, or who in Congress thought it was a good idea, or who was lobbying for it..

I'll bet someone HERE remembers.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. There were zero COLAs from the time Social Security began and July 1975.

http://www.ssa.gov/cola/automatic-cola.htm

Many millions of working people do not receive raises nor cost of living increases for years in private employment.

[jtuck004]

41. Somebody seems to be getting raises...

[modestybl]

21. Guys... don't just bitch HERE, notify WH, Senate, Congress...

... email, call, write... let all of your Congressional reps and Senators know, RIGHT NOW, how you feel. Call and e-mail the WH. Force these guys to do the right thing, don't leave it just to them...

[leftstreet]

27. People just notified them by voting Obama back in

FFS!

[mrmpa]

25. My 82 year old mother's Social Security increase for 2013 is $1 per month...........eom

[Kaleva]

26. I live on $1103 a month plus $16 a month for SNAP (foodstamps)

I don't own a car and rely on walking public transportation or catching a ride with someone to get places.

I keep the thermostat at 55 most of the time to save on gas heat. I'm wearing a jacket as I write this.

To save on the water bill, I scoop the water out of the tub after taking a shower and put it in a 13 gallon container to use for flushing the toilet.

I save the rinse water from washing clothes to use as wash water the next time I do laundry.

I don't use the electric dryer and put up clothes lines down in the basement to hang clothes to dry.

For tv shows and movies I stream Netflix for $7.99 a month.

The gas water heater is on pilot only and that still produces enough hot water for me.

My food budget is a $120.00 a month but I usually spend less then that.

My newest shoes cost me $1.50 which I bought at a local thrift store.

I smoke and the cigarettes I buy go for $1.41 a pack. They are actually cigars the size of cigarettes and with filters.


This leaves me with $300 a month discretionary spending money after I pay the utilities, a couple of other bills and set aside money for food and other budgeted monthly expenses.

[CreekDog]

34. I want people like you to have better benefits, not worse

it's a hell of a way to save money, by increasing the poverty of the most vulnerable in society.

and i hate it when the wealthy and connected pundits on tv (like Chuck Todd and Joe Scarborough this morning on MSNBC) get insistent that cutting your benefits is the only way to be responsible --easy to say for people making 6 or 7 figures (maybe 6 figures for the job, 7 figures with the various book deals and honoraria).

good luck to you.

[Kaleva]

37. I actually look at it as a challenge and a fun one at that.

To try to get the most out of the money I do get. But that is just me and I know there are others who rely entirely on SS and SSDI who are really hurting and every month is a major struggle for them.

A chained CPI won't bother me much but again, that's just me.

[aquart]

28. Shoving Granny off the cliff so billionaires can have more car elevators.

[eridani]

29. So tell these stories to Obama and your representatives at least once a day

Even the Repukes.

[zwyziec]

30. From a retired Zwyziec to a retired Elwood.....

Totally agree with you and am experiencing the same plight since going on SS 8 years ago.

I understand that Obama has to give the GOP some concession, but SS is self funded and does not contribute to the debt. This was not a negotiation but a capitulation and we're pissed!

[forestpath]

32. I am also retired. Had a part time job and lost it recently. Don't know what I'll do now.

I do know that I'll never vote for any Democrat who votes to screw me, though.

And to those who claim SS isn't being cut:

FUCK YOU.

[amborin]

33. it's cruel and sadistic and so lacking in empathy as to be sociopathic eom

[forestpath]

35. +1

[Samantha]

36. Seniors' COLA should currently be based on a CPI-E (for the elderly) but it is not

In your list of things not covered by the CPI formula, I believe it also does not take into account prescriptions. The older Americans have entirely different needs and thus different spending habits. Older Americans should be covered by a CPI-E, but they are not. And under the chained COLA, matters will simply worsen. I am not sure the CPI-E has continued to be developed, but if there were any fairness, it should be updated and applied to seniors today. The definitions that follow are from an older article but you can discern the differences in the three different CPI's. Once you do, then the question becomes why are seniors not under this type of formula which comports to spending habits of those over 62?

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.br12396.a06.htm

"The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measures the average change in prices over time for a fixed marketbasket of goods and services for two population groups. The CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) represents the spending habits of about 80 percent of the population of the United States. The CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) is a subset of the CPI-U population, and represents about 32 percent of the total U.S. population.

In addition to the official CPI's for the CPI-U and CPI-W populations, the CPI calculates an experimental price index for Americans 62 years of age or older. The Older Americans Act of 1987 directed the BLS to develop this experimental index.

***

BLS plans the periodic release of updated estimates of the Experimental Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) in this publication, the Consumer Price Index Detailed Report.1 This article extends the time period of the published estimates of the experimental CPI-E index through December, 1995 (see table 1) and it repeats the description of the methods, sources of data, and limitations of the experimental index contained in the earlier article. Over the 5-year period from December 1990 through December 1995, the experimental price index has risen 15.9 percent. This compares to increases of 14.7 and 14.1 percent for the CPI-U and CPI-W, respectively."

I am sure if you are interested, you can find more information on this subject, but as far as I know, it is not being discussed in public discourse today. Why is that?

Sam

[tclambert]

38. Do they call it "chained CPI" because you'll end up in chains?

Just one more step toward letting the super-rich own everybody else.

[Poll_Blind]

43. DU REC +1 nt

PB

[KoKo]

44. Recommend....!

[Paulie]

45. My 81yo parent SS went up $12/mo

But her rent went up $20/mo. Sigh

Chained CPI is bullshit.

[llmart]

46. I received my letter from Soc. Sec. yesterday.....

telling me that next year my monthly payment will go up $16. I could hardly contain myself and immediately went out looking at Cadillacs

Seriously though, I receive $986 a month plus a small public pension - less than $200 - and for the first time in my life, food has become a discretionary item in my budget. Try finding a job when you're in your 60's or older. If I see one more talking head saying "seniors will just have to keep working longer" I'll throw a shoe through the TV. Keep? Are they assuming we have any say in keeping our jobs? We were the first ones let go in the collapse caused by the 1%ers. Now we're just supposed to get out there and find another job. Ageism is rampant.

Utilities and health insurance eat up most of my SS check. But of course the talking heads keep telling us to "just turn your thermostat down to 50o to save money." Many seniors suffer from arthritis and sitting in a cold house is just the ticket for them.

All the while, the politicians are dining on lobster and steak.