To misinformed who think Obama agreed to cut Soc Sec

[medeak]

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/07/omg-cola-cut-duck-everybody.html

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Well, *one* of us is misinformed

The current COLA formula already understates increases in the cost of living - witness the lack of COLA increases over the past two years, despite the price of food and energy going up and nothing else really getting cheaper.

Obama's revised formula cuts it that much more - something like 5% per decade. So from now until the time that I am statistically slated to die, my earned benefits will effectively be cut by 15%. Catfood for me!

Also, at least some of the plans start with a COLA cuts day one, and call for a binding commission to devise other ways to *really* slash the shit out of Social Security.

Obama and the rest of them are trying to steal my Social Security to give to the wealthiest Americans. It's as simple as that.

[Sheepshank]

11. Are you attempting to say that cola number are manufactured out of thin air or ignored...

.....and SS increases are granted or not based on a whim, rather than actual gathered data? Certainly sounds like what you are purporting. But I suppose it should have been expected from you.

[MannyGoldstein]

16. No. I'm saying that the formula is already rigged to produce

dishonestly-low numbers.

Here's a simple test: do you believe that the cost of living has not increased a whit in the last two years?

[mmonk]

15. Yep. In fact, those born after 1960 already have had theirs cut

to an effective 13% amount. At least mine won't be cut that much under current law but this new proposal will cut it quite a bit.

[DJ13]

2. bla bla bla

If you're on SS a reduction in COLA will be a cut.

This comes after TWO YEARS without any COLA, which is based on the existing (manipulated) CPI, imagine how many years of zero increases the chained CPI could result in.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. That is correct and the link is a disingenous and yellow thing.

nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

23. And the cost of living keeps going up and up and up and up.

:(

[RebelOne]

39. Have you been to the supermarket lately?

The prices on everything go up every week and up and up and up.

[Sheepshank]

3. Interesting article...well explained

but it would interfere too much with too many melodramatic and manufactured rants

[mdmc]

4. didn't he say that he agreed to do so, but the gop wouldn't allow him to?

VERBATIM?

I think the video is up here at DU..
perhaps I can post the link..

[Horse with no Name]

7. Don't believe your lying eyes

believe his link...really.

[Ed Suspicious]

9. OMG tell me that didn't happen. n/t

[sabrina 1]

13. It gets confusing after a while. However, under Obama SS

has already been cut as pointed out by Manny I believe, above. No COLA increases despite the rise in gas, food and other necessities.

[Scurrilous]

5. Thanks.

K & R :thumbsup:

[Tennessee Gal]

6. Thanks for posting something rational.

[Eric J in MN]

8. People would get smaller Social Security checks,

...but we shouldn't regard it as a cut, because it's a more accurate measure of inflation, according to that article.

If your job included automatic wage-adjustments for inflation, and you could choose how that was measured, would you pick the higher measure of inflation or the lower but supposedly more accurate measure of inflation?

[quaker bill]

35. somewhat less larger SS checks

if they are already above a minimum benefit threshold.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bluestate10]

14. Facts don't deter zealots. nt

[Number23]

17. But there are no zealots on DU!!one! I just saw a big old post denying it!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Scurrilous]

26. Yep.

And those threads calling for revolution and the overthrow of the capitalist system are merely advocating for traditional Democratic values. :P

[Number23]

29. And those threads that called for aligning with the Tea Party

and that the president was going to announce cuts to SS in the last SOTU, and called for supporting racist PUMAs who hate the president more than they will EVER care about this country, why, they're just trying to push the president "further left!"

:spray:

[EFerrari]

27. Apparently not. The OP is peddling false information and Dean Baker

shows how it is false in the statement in #25.

[Enrique]

18. that blogger is not reliable

[EFerrari]

19. LMAO! That's right, he was just going to PRESERVE Social Security!

LOL

[Wilms]

20. The pdf in that link wasn't attributed to anyone or any entity.

I found that odd. As I did the insult laden text in the article, and describing how you can buy chicken instead of beef when the chain whacks you across the back. How 'bout if you're already eating chicken? Wait for cold-cuts to go on sale?

I smell baloney.

[mmonk]

21. And what are the credentials of this author?

Does the author have a 30 year background in private pensions and Social Security as Nancy has? Here is her background:

http://www.thebattleforsocialsecurity.com/about.php

What expertise does this person offer that just dismisses Nancy as part of the "lefty" blogosphere instead of the accomplished expert and author on the subject she is?

Does the author have any observable expertise other than insults? The fact Social Security is on the table concerning deficits it did not add to and currently is in the black while there a discussion about deficits is crazy.

[TheKentuckian]

22. No, he PROPOSED cuts to Social Security and yes the chained CPI is a cut.

Telling me to swap to hot dogs because hamburger is high and hot dogs now cost what hamburger did is a fucking cut.

It might be erosion rather than slashing but the decrease in buying power is obvious.

I hate how that box of rocks Turd Wayer and his echo chamber are trying to paint a destruction of buying power as a positive.

[Eric J in MN]

24. Yes, the argument for changing how the Cost of Living is calculated

...takes the concept of "Cost of Living" so literally, that as long as a person doesn't die on account of higher prices, there is supposedly no inflation.

The person kept "Living" without buying things the person used to be able to afford, so no inflation.

A less-literal interpretation of "Cost of Living" is how much does it cost to maintain one's current standard of living.

[EFerrari]

25. Center for Economic Policy Research on Chained CPI

Statement on Using the Chained CPI for Social Security Cost of Living Adjustments

Switch to Chained CPI would lead to benefit cuts for current and future retirees

For Immediate Release: July 8, 2011
Contact: Alan Barber, 202-293-5380 x115

Washington, D.C.- Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), released the following statement on using the Chained Consumer Price Index to determine Social Security Cost of Living Adjustments:

"There has been considerable discussion of basing the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) as a “painless” way of generating large budget savings. This view reflects serious confusion about what the switch to the C-CPI-U involves. (The switch would also lead to higher tax revenue by slowing the rise in the bracket cutoffs.)

"While it is often claimed that this switch will make the COLA more accurate, this is not clear. What is certain is that the switch would lower benefits. The research on the C-CPI-U shows that the switch would reduce benefits by roughly 0.3 percentage points a year compared with the baseline. This means that after someone has been retired for 10 years, their benefits would be 3 percent lower. After 20 years of retirement, their benefits would be 6 percent lower and people living into their 90s and collecting benefits for more than 30 years would see a drop in benefits of more than 9 percent. This might be especially difficult since the oldest of the elderly also tend to be the poorest.

"This is a benefit cut that would hit current retirees, most of whom are not especially affluent. More than 90 percent of beneficiaries have non-Social Security incomes of less than $40,000. In addition, the Joint Committee on Taxation recently estimated that by 2021, 69 percent of the higher tax revenue gained from switching to the C-CPI-U would come from taxpayers making less than $100,000. By contrast, President Obama has set a $250,000 floor on the households whom he would subject to tax increases.

"Near retirees are not likely to fare better. Among older baby boomers (ages 55-64) median wealth is just $170,000, including home equity. Given that this crisis stems from the failings of the financial sector, it seems peculiar that Congress and President Obama may arrive at a budget deal that imposes a considerable burden on retired workers, but asks nothing from Wall Street.

"It is also worth noting that there is no basis for the claim that the C-CPI-U would provide a more accurate COLA for Social Security beneficiaries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Experimental Price Index for the Elderly has consistently shown a somewhat higher rate of inflation for the elderly population.

"If the concern is accuracy, then the route should be to have the BLS construct a full elderly index that could take account of actual purchase substitution patterns among elderly consumers. Simply switching to the C-CPI-U without undertaking this research is consistent with a desire to cut Social Security, not make the COLA more accurate."

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/statement-on-using-the-chained-cpi-for-social-security-cost-of-living-adjustments

mods: this press release has no copyright issue

[TreasonousBastard]

28. STOP IT! My mind is made up-- don't confuse me with facts.

[EFerrari]

33. The information in the OP is flat out wrong

and the rebuttal is in the thread.

[TreasonousBastard]

34. Bullshit-- Dean Baker only talks about Cola not the other points in the OP, and...

there is plenty of room for doubt even in Baker's assessment of the new COLA formula.

Baker is usually reliable but, as with any economist, just because he says so doesn't make it so.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fearless]

31. Changing the COLA is a CUT. Period.

[quaker bill]

36. It is a slightly decreased increase. Period.

accuracy in wording is good.

[Fearless]

37. In REAL DOLLARS it is a cut.

If everything you buy goes up by 4% and your SS stays the same. You've LOST money.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jtown1123]

38. Wow what a professional site you have there...all kidding aside, Chained CPI is a massive cut