Social Security: No 2011 increase expected

[CountAllVotes]

Source: CNNMoney.com

Chances are high that for the second year in a row Social Security beneficiaries will see no increase in their benefit checks.

The official word won't come until mid-October when the Social Security Administration announces whether there will be a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2011. But those who've crunched the numbers say there just hasn't been enough inflation to justify a bump in benefits.

Soon after, however, energy prices plummeted. Then the bottom fell out of the economy and by the third quarter of 2009 overall price levels had fallen 2.1% from the same period a year earlier. That meant no increase in 2010 Social Security benefit checks.

<snip>There's a bit of bright news for high-income earners still working for the Man: If there is no COLA for 2011, that also means there would be no increase in the amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax, which is currently assessed on the first $106,800 of a person's wages.



Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Social-Security-No-2011-cnnm-1715252567.html?x=0

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What a crock is all I can say. This will make 2 years in a row with no increases and according to this article, prices are lower than they were in 2009.

Tell the insurance companies this. Tell the grocery stores this. Tell every other place that gets monthly checks from people trying to live on a pittance this.

Not good with the elections right around the corner!!

[kas125]

1. I need to move to wherever these people who think prices are

lower live. I moved into my dad's house to take care of him several years ago, quit my job and everything. We live on his pension and social security. Two years ago there was money left at the end of the month. Now, I'm scrambling to find funds to buy the stuff he says he wants from the grocery store by about the end of the third week of each month.

[napi21]

2. Did you REALLY expect an increase? HA! We live in SS too,

and I sure didn't expect an increase. The only good side of this is that there is a law that states the medicare payments can't increase if here is no increase in ss payments.

[ThomCat]

3. The economy is in ruins, so of course the people who need help most

don't get a COLA. But I'm sure they gave themselves raises in DC this year, didn't they? Only Executives and politicians deserve raises, apparently. :grr:

They have already rigged the system so that official measure of the cost of living is so artificially low that it's below poverty. It's starvation level.

So now, while costs are going up in this fucked up economy, everything is getting more expensive, and nobody's family has any buffer left anymore to help a family member in a bad spot because of so much long term unemployment, they refuse to increase the COLA Again!

:wtf:

Families are STARVING out here! Don't they Care? Every year it becomes harder and harder to live on that monthly check because expenses go up, the check doesn't!

Now some families that used to be able to help are instead turning to their elderly relatives and disabled relatives for help because they are the only ones with guaranteed income, as little as it is.

And in Washington D.C. our politicians fiddle while America burns... :cry:

[DURHAM D]

4. Why is this news.? They announced in 2009 that there would not be a -

cost of living increase before 2013 at the earliest.

[Lugnut]

5. I'd love to know where prices are lower.

The price for a gallon of gas went up ten cents overnight and my grocery bills aren't getting lower. My Medicare premium didn't go up but the supplemental plan I have went up 30+ percent in January. Sewer and light bills went up, too. Those number crunchers are full of crap are not living in the same world I am.

[emilyg]

7. Right. They don't live in

our world.

[awoke_in_2003]

6. "been enough inflation to justify a bump in benefits"

yet, mysteriously, everything costs more. Asshats.

[madamesilverspurs]

8. Also going up

is the Medicare D premium and the cost of the meds under that program.


-

[golfguru]

9. Soc Sec Cola is NOT based on CPI or other inflation index

Instead it is based on some convoluted index of worker earnings.

[HoneychildMooseMoss]

11. According to the Social Security web site

"The Social Security Act specifies a formula for determining each COLA. In general, a COLA is equal to the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the next. If there is no increase, there is no COLA."

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/latestCOLA.html

[Iowa]

16. Nope...

After retirement it is based on the CPI. But while you are earning (before retirement) future benefits are tied to an index of wages. That's a good thing, or it least it has tended to be good historically. However, since most people don't understand it, it's one way the bastards might try to reduce future benefits without creating an uproar.

[JDPriestly]

10. Property taxes and other government charges rise every year

as do insurance costs.

What is more, seniors cannot supplement their income with income from interest on their savings -- because banks are not paying interest. And unless they are wealthy, seniors should not be "investing," i.e., playing roulette with the stock market.

Seniors are not spending. And that hurts the economy.

[CountAllVotes]

12. you've got that right

People on limited incomes and relying on Social Security are not spending. They are getting next to nothing for what savings accounts they might have left to supplement their incomes.

Is this taken into account? HELL NO.

:dem:

[Socal31]

13. Really?

I underwrite mortgages here in CA, where the property taxes are the same since they purchased the home.

Although I am certain my anecdotal evidence cannot be applied to the whole, I can assume the same about yours as well.

[JDPriestly]

14. You are wrong about the property taxes in CA.

While the assessed value of the house does not change, the taxes rise every year. That is my understanding. We certainly pay a lot more for the taxes on our house than we did when we first bought it many years ago. It is still assessed at the value at which we bought it, but our taxes increase by a certain percent every year.

[golfguru]

22. Property tax is NOT directly proportional to property value

The tax you pay is based on the value of your property compared
to all the properties in your jurisdiction.

For example if EVERY piece of property in your jurisdiction falls
in value by exactly 10%, your taxes remain unchanged since your value
has the same proportion to all the other properties as before.

Actually even with the 10% fall, your taxes will go up because the
government in your jurisdiction (country & city) needs more revenue for
the each subsequent year.

[JDPriestly]

25. Are you talking about California?

I have been a homeowner here for over 20 years. My taxes are based on the original price we paid for our house plus a percentage increase each year. That's how it works in California.

The most significant portion of the act is the first paragraph, which capped the tax rate for real estate:
Section 1. (a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property shall not exceed one percent (1%) of the full cash value of such property. The one percent (1%) tax to be collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to the districts within the counties.
The proposition lowered property taxes by rolling back property values to their 1975 value and restricted annual increases in assessed value of real property to an inflation factor, not to exceed 2% per year. It also prohibited reassessment of a new base year value except upon (a) change in ownership or (b) completion of new construction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(1978)

As this quote explains, our properties are assessed upon a change of ownership and completion of new construction and cannot be increased by more than 2% per year. That's California law more or less.

[CountAllVotes]

19. Mine go up every year

and I live in a very small house in California. Since I have lived in this house, the taxes have gone up about 20% in the last 10 years. Part of the reason is because we have additional taxes that were added in by the local community services organization. The other reason is because taxes go up about 1% anyway. So much for the myth of Prop. 13 huh?

No major modifications have been done - just normal maintenance types of things have been dealt with.

[unkachuck]

24. you're absolutely right....

....our food, utilities and taxes keep rising, but

"...there just hasn't been enough inflation..."

....it sure feels like inflation to me....

[Downwinder]

15. Deflation on its way? n/t

[Hawkeye-X]

17. I kind of expected this

This blows.

Congress needs to end this gridlock and FIX the damn problem. COLA for SSDI is NOT being adjusted correctly, and we're maybe $1,500 or more behind than we should be MONTHLY thanks to rising costs.

[Downwinder]

18. Each year I give up one more meal a day. This year I just cut the remaining one in half. n/t

Next year I'll go to the SNAP center.

[defendandprotect]

20. Two year freeze on COLA's .... while Congress is getting automatic pay increases -- !!!

Time to get some control again over Congressional salaries and benefits!!

[defendandprotect]

21. "Not enough inflation" ... ?? Every dollar anyone had pre-Bush is worth 50 cents/60 cents tops!!

[alfredo]

23. That is the deal we signed up for. Government workers won't

get a COLA increase either.

Since I've gone on SS, I carry a balance in checking twice what I had when working. Working is expensive. I also don't need to eat as much because I'm not walking 10 miles a day. I eat at home, only have to put gas in the car once a month. Shoes last much longer. I'd go through a pair of service shoes once a year. The pair I have now are ten years old and have a few more years left in them.


Yeah the money was good, but my lifestyle has adjusted to the new reality SS has subjected me to.

BTW, A few years ago we got a very generous COLA. I think it was 5%. Later that year the recession hit.

[defendandprotect]

26. Interesting hearings today by Senators Tom Harkin and Bernie Sanders ....

With slight adjustments to Social Security it will be secure for next 70 years and more!!

BUT I'M AMAZED THAT SENIORS SEEM NOT TO BE BANGING ON WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS' DOORS

TO REMOVE THE FREEZE ON SOCIAL SECURITY COLA PAYMENTS!

Especially because every dollar anyone had pre-Bush is now worth 50 cents -- at most 60 cents!

:)

[bitchkitty]

27. Plenty of money for bombs, though.

Fuckers. I hate them all.