Know the FACTS: Simpson-Bowles only calls for tiny cuts to Social Security

[Samantha]

162. Here are some bullet points from a thread I wrote here in July 2011

"The Senior Citizens League calculates that such a change would reduce Social Security benefits by an estimated 7 percent over a 25-year retirement. For a senior who retires in 2011 and receives the average Social Security benefit -- about $1,100 per month -- this would reduce benefits over 25 years by $18,634. The cuts would be very small in the beginning but escalate as recipients age." (emphasis added)(see http://www.tscl.org/action/emergencycola.a... .)

Additionally, the Senior Citizens League issued a emergency petition, the first three bullet points of which are:

"• The Social Security COLA should not be calculated from the consumer price index (CPI), since the CPI is based on the purchases of young urban workers and does not reflect the actual expenses of senior citizens.

• Even when CPI-based inflation is very low, the expenses that form the backbone of senior citizens’ budgets – medical insurance, prescription drugs, fuel – continue to rise alarmingly.

• The federal government itself recognizes the inequity of a CPI-based COLA by calculating a senior-specific CPI formula, which it never uses, that shows our cost of living rises faster than that of most young people."

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Samantha/57

$18,634 is a lot of money to me, and I am sure it is to you as well.

At the time I gathered the research on this issue, I sent it all to Bernie Sanders, and he has been great about refusing to support the implementation of a chained COLA.

Sam