Social Security benefits to go up by 1.7 percent
Source: ap - excite
WASHINGTON (AP) Millions of older Americans who rely on federal benefits will get a 1.7 percent increase in their monthly payments next year, the government announced Wednesday.
It's the third year in a row the increase will be less than 2 percent.
The annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, affects payments to more than 70 million Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees. That's more than a fifth of the country.
The increase amounts to about $20 a month for the typical Social Security recipient.
"The COLA helps beneficiaries of all ages maintain their standard of living, keeping many from falling into poverty by providing partial protection against inflation," said Jo Ann Jenkins, who heads AARP.
The government announced the benefit increase Wednesday, when it released the latest measure of consumer prices. By law, the increase is based on inflation, which is well below historical averages so far this year.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141022/us--social_security-cola-66bc8fc79d.html
everybody that thinks that the thingys that old poor folk use has only gone up 1.7% this last year...... please contact me ,,,I have some good bridges for sale.....cheap!
The the assault on the old poor folks continues!
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)$20 a month will just offset the rise in Medicare part D.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)At least the Part B expenses will not increase. For younger DUers who are not familiar with the ins and outs of Medicare, Part D refers to prescription drug coverage.
And from a government website:
http://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/costs-at-a-glance/costs-at-glance.html
Medicare 2014 & 2015 costs at a glance
2014 & 2015 Costs at a Glance
Part B premium Most people pay $104.90 each month.(This amount won't change in 2015.)
Part B deductible $147 per year. (This amount won't change in 2015.)
Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance)
expand icon Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance)
expand icon Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage)
expand icon Medicare Part D (Medicare prescription drug coverage)
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)age, who worked enough quarters, and who applies. It's also for people who became disabled after working enough quarters. And, it is for the widows and widowers and minor children of people who worked enough quarters, but passed on.
But, the poorest old and disabled people who are eligible for Social Security are indeed the ones who suffer most from "cost of living" adjustments that bear little relation to the increases in cost of living and factor out food entirely.
It's the third year in a row the increase will be less than 2 percent.
Weren't there also a couple of years in the not too distant past when there was no increase at all?
sounds good to me. now if Bush were in control I'd be f**ked
merrily
(45,251 posts)Social Security is OASDI, which stands for Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance. That is the federal program for people who have worked the required number of quarters to be eligible.
SSI is the corresponding state welfare program.
I am not sure the identity of the President affects OASDI or SSI, given that the law, the regulations and the bureaucracy does not change that much from administration to administration.
I don't know what SSD is.
meow2u3
(24,771 posts)eom
merrily
(45,251 posts)oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)Not enough to cover the increase in my wi fi, but hey. It all counts, smile.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)That will buy me a couple loaves of bread and a couple cartons of milk. Big deal!!! I wonder if the people who set the COLA raise have been to the supermarket lately.
merrily
(45,251 posts)So, food prices could quadruple in a year and it would not matter at all in terms of increasing the OASDI benefit.
Sgent
(5,857 posts)The CPI-U (which is what the raise is based on) includes food and energy:
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpifaq.htm
Most news reports and the financial sectors take out food and energy prices when looking a month to month changes as they are so volatile on a monthly or quarterly basis.
The reason for the smaller increases is the much lower housing costs and energy prices.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)that determines the increases.
I'm not sure I heard complaints about it during the eight years of the Bush administration, but all of a sudden, we have an "assault" on the elderly. The calculations are identical, but inflation (calculated the same way it has been for the past 40 years) has been low. We keep saying we need to let inflation rise a bit, but nobody anywhere seems to want to let that happen.
But don't tell me there's an assault on the elderly poor suddenly when the law and the means of calculating COLAs has not changed one iota. Change the law if need be, or change the inflation rate (by raising interest rates?), but don't pretend something "new" is going on.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)the Old Folks are in such good hands...... seems you read what you want to read,,,, nobody said there was any new method of calculating, the point is that the algorithm used for calculating the cola is weighted against poor people now and then. They do not consume the wide spectrum of goods like the wealthy, most of which keep the rate low. And yes this has been a wrong that has been exposed for over 40 years, and it has been ignored by the politicians and people like you for that same time frame.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)What did you do to try to get the formula changed over the past 40 years? Did you write to or meet with your Congress members during the Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush administrations about it? Did you write letters to the editor? Did you contribute money to a think tank researching possible changes to the formula? Answer truthfully.
Ratty
(2,100 posts)Any trip to the supermarket will tell you how much food prices have risen in the last few years. Low inflation my ass. Something is going on.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the trend of lowering the amount of food in a package while keeping the prices relatively low. A can of tuna, see how tiny that shit is nowdays? I haven't bought a candy bar in ages because those prices HAVE gone up while the size keeps shrinking.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/04/04/u-s-companies-shrink-packages-as-food-prices-rise
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)formula not changing but untruthful about implying that the outcome has not changed.
While the formula may not have changed, how the components of the formula are calculated has changed dramatically. You should know this if you are as knowledgeable about the subject as you imply you are.
Just the changing of one food item in the food basket could and has made a dramatic difference.
Do you want to talk about the exclusion of total energy costs in the calculation?
frazzled
(18,402 posts)but that hasn't happened. It remains CPI-W, as it has been.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Try pricing, oh...say... a tomato,
840high
(17,196 posts)at the price and don't get it.
merrily
(45,251 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)Now my kitty won't have to eat beans.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)If you can't make it on your own efforts just get fucked and die.
FDR was a commie anyway. He penned up the Japanese Americans during WWII. Only a commie would do that.
I can't wait till we get Hillary in there so she can do away with these nancy programs like Medicare and Social Security.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)He thought Social Security was a "scam" and talked about his 83 year old granny
still working as a hairdresser.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)At least he is fighting for our freedom(s).
Anyone that thinks Social Security is a scam is sadly misinformed. SS is not a ponzi scheme and it isn't a scam. Administered properly it is the only solvent part of the entire fucking government.
Think about it. Social Security has paid out nearly 3 trillion less than it has taken in. Sounds to me like it is working far better than advertised. That is 3 trillion. Every other aspect of government spending far outstrips available revenue.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)kind of an asshole, even though I DO appreciate his exposing the NSA, at LEAST
to America...I haven't followed all that closely, but it seems he linked
a LOT of information, some to the Chinese as well, so I don't know how
that all of his endeavors were so positive.
He's a mixed bag -- Like Ratty said, I don't think I'd like having a beer with him.
Ratty
(2,100 posts)Assange, Greenwald, assholes all. But often it's the assholes who manage to get great things done. I'm still very grateful for the huge risk Snowden took to bring out the truth. It took guts to leave his secure life behind. And courage. And assholeness. He has my thanks but I wouldn't want to sit down with him for a beer.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)He did some good things, but I don't like him as an individual.
stage left
(2,965 posts)I don't know how we'll manage to spend it all. I really can't believe that they've actually looked at the rise in food prices, including the hidden rise--Where items stay the same price, but the packages are smaller.
merrily
(45,251 posts)The rich people who collect Social Security won't even notice a sum like $20 a month and it won't be anywhere near enough for those trying to live on Social Security.
stage left
(2,965 posts)And how the hell can they not count food and the rise in food costs?
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)switch to a new method based on a "chained CPI" when they get control. This method will be even more unfair to the Poor!
merrily
(45,251 posts)According to Pelosi, "chained CPI" is not a decrease in Social Security. At least, that was her opinion when the Obama administration was talking about it.
stage left
(2,965 posts)We're more unfair to the poor. Vote for us.
merrily
(45,251 posts)was calculated in 2013, based on how much certain prices had risen in 2012. And, again, food is excluded from the calculation entirely.
The increase takes into account increases in things that few poor disabled or elderly are spending money on, like cars and plane tickets, but excludes increases in food prices, which they must spend on to survive.
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)The COLA is figured out according to a formula. We went a couple of years with no increase at all. More is better, even if it's only a little more.
riversedge
(70,288 posts)malthaussen
(17,216 posts)"At least they didn't reduce it."
-- Mal
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)But they have some catching up to do. I hope to get a raise this year. It's been a dry couple of years.
sunnystarr
(2,638 posts)covers the increase in my Supplemental which seems to go up every year.
silvershadow
(10,336 posts)madamesilverspurs
(15,806 posts)the increase has been insufficient counterweight to the cuts in other benefits that usually happen at the same time. And the landlord always seems to have an urgent need to raise rents accordingly. The last two increases have actually left me with less money at the end of each month. To those for whom the COLA is a boon, I'm genuinely happy for you. For myself, a bit of breathing room would be a godsend.
1.7%? I say tie the rate of increase for Social Security to the yearly compensation of top executives. That only seems fair.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)onecent
(6,096 posts)a month now....until gas goes back UP.
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)outrageously expensive - $6.00 a pound at my local market. My 91-year-old mother has been buying a lot of hot dogs and mac and cheese. I doubt a big 1.7% SS raise is going to change that. It's criminal that so many SS recipients are barely scraping by while the fatcats are dining on steak and lobster and laughing all the way to the bank.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)that keeps meat down to $2/lb. I give quite a bit to folks who need it because of their crappy pay. I don't buy beef at the super anymore.
undergroundpanther
(11,925 posts)I spend most my ssi on food because food stamps cover half a month. Why the fuck do disabled and the old are made to live BELOW the poverty line while selfish hedge fund managers(guys who make bets with other peoples money)get obscene cash and nobody in the news or in politics dares too see let alone Ask,why do the disabled and old deserve abuse via poverty for?
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)almost doubled recently when my late father's company screwed retirees by abandoning their insurance plan. Costs keep going up and up while modest retirement income barely changes. It's criminal.
onecent
(6,096 posts)stopped my medical, eye care, dental in exchange for $150 a month. What a deal.
I was not Union, I was in the office, but they are treating the union guys even worse than me now.
gerogie2
(450 posts)My medicare part D monthly premuim went up $20 this year. I'm looking for a cheaper plan that will cover all my prescriptions, but it doesn't look good.
Hatchling
(2,323 posts)If we get SSA and SSI. when we get the raise in SSA they always decrease the amount of SSI we get. Stagnation.
llmart
(15,552 posts)unless my Medicare plan increases which it probably will. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how people make ends meet. I have always been pretty frugal and I can live without a lot, but even then I wonder about down the road when I am older and can no longer get a part time job. Some people like to wonder why boomers won't leave the work force - well, here it is. We don't have pensions like our parents did and we all know how well 401k's worked for us. Then there's the fact that some of us have to pay taxes on the measly Social Security we get (both state and federal taxes) as if somehow we're not doing our "fair share" of paying our taxes. Then you hear about how the 1%'ers can keep a tax attorney on retainer to figure out how they can get out of paying any taxes at all. It's a miracle the seniors haven't revolted yet! Guess we're all too tired of fighting.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)I guess that's money my pols won't get from me. If they had a brain they would change the COLA formula to reflect reality and then maybe seniors could afford to give them something for their campaigns.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)according to local news, more SSA means decrease in food stamps.
raccoon
(31,119 posts)and if they do, it isn't very much.
The assault on the 99% continues.