Saturday, October 16, 2010
No Political Security For Democrats
WASHINGTON — As if voters don’t have enough to be angry about this election year, the government is expected to announce this week that more than 58 million Social Security recipients will go through another year without an increase in their monthly benefits.
Unless you are a bank, war-profiteer, or Israel you get nothing from this government now.
It would mark only the second year without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first year was this year.
“If you’re the ruling party, this is not the sort of thing you want to have happening two weeks before an election,’’ said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
“It’s not the congressional Democrats’ fault, but that’s the way politics works,’’ Biggs said. “A lot of people will feel hostile about it.’’
We are BOILING OVER with that stuff when it comes to the LOOTERS in Washington!
The cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, are automatically set each year by an inflation measure that Congress adopted back in the 1970s. Based on inflation so far this year, the trustees who oversee Social Security project there will be no COLA for 2011.
Bankrupt government wants to hold onto every scrap of taxes unless they are to go for lavish lifestyles of politicians and the aforementioned interests above.
The projection will be made official Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases inflation estimates for September.
When governments release bad news so you may miss it in the news cycle, what with the weekend and all.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Democrats as they approach an election in which they are in danger of losing their House majority, and possibly their Senate majority as well.
This past Friday, the same bureau delivered another painful blow to Democrats: The United States lost 95,000 jobs in September, and unemployment remained stuck at 9.6 percent.
There never was a recovery, and the government is lying about unemployment. Needs to keep it under 10 percent because that looks bad.
Democrats have been working hard to make Social Security an election-year issue, running political ads and holding news conferences to accuse Republicans of plotting to privatize the national retirement program.
OOOOOOPS!! Another campaign theme that has backfired!
First immigration, then taxes, and now this! Big, big losses ahead for Democrats.
And why worry about privatization when Democrats are sure to have a filibuster card in the Senate even if they lose it with a president behind it.
They would CERTAINLY PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY, right?
This week’s announcement about Social Security benefits will raise more immediate concerns for older Americans whose savings and home values still haven’t recovered from the financial collapse: Many haven’t had a raise since January 2009, and they won’t be getting one until at least January 2012.
But WALL STREET and BANKS HAVE and are GIVING out RECORD BONUSES -- after being BAILED OUT by TAXPAYERS who now have to take a CUT!
“While people aren’t getting COLAs they certainly feel like they’re falling further and further behind, particularly in this economy,’’ said David Certner, AARP’s legislative policy director. “People are very reliant on Social Security as a major portion of their income, and, quite frankly, they have counted on the COLA over the years.’’
It FEELS THAT WAY because WE ARE!
Social Security was the primary source of income for 64 percent of retirees who got benefits in 2008, according to the Social Security Administration. A third relied on Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income.
A little more than 58.7 million people receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income. The average Social Security benefit is about $1,072 a month.
That's it?
That is CHUMP CHANGE compared to what BANKS, WARS, and ISRAEL get!!!!!
Social Security recipients got a one-time bonus payment of $250 in the spring of 2009 as part of the government’s massive economic recovery package....
That is what we call a BRIBE -- and a poor one at that!
As long as that monthly benefit that would be calculated for inflation doesn't go up!
And look who is ON YOUR SIDE, seniors:
Congress took up the issue, but a proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders died when 12 Democrats and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, joined Senate Republicans to block it....
And yet Democrats won't dethrone him from any committees.
What could they possibly be afraid of, huh?
That Joe will switch to Republican? He votes that way now.
Or is it some other reason, readers?
Sanders, a Vermont independent, said he expects older voters to be angry when they learn there will be no increase for the second straight year.
As they should be!
“I do think there’s going to be political fallout,’’ Sanders said. “Many seniors who are spending a lot of money on health care and prescription drugs really are going to find it hard to believe that there has been no inflationary costs to their purchasing needs.’’
Especially when FOOD and GAS KEEP GOING UP!!
It is NOT INFLATION, though; it is the fact that the STIMULOOT by the Federal Reserve resulted in the printing of TOO MANY DOLLARS -- making them WORTH LESS!
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"Seniors braced for benefits freeze; Social Security increase delayed till at least 2012" by Matt Sedensky, Associated Press | October 12, 2010
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Seniors prepared to cut back on everything from food to charitable donations to whiskey as the news spread yesterday that they will have to wait until at least 2012 to see their Social Security checks increase....
Yup, SENIORS will STARVE so BANKS can GET PAID!
“I think it’s disgusting,’’ said Paul McNeil, 69, a retired state worker from Warwick, R.I., who said his food and utility costs have gone up but his income has not....
Current politicians are not really to blame because cost-of-living adjustments are automatically set by a measure adopted by Congress in the 1970s that orders raises based on the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation.
Stop shilling for them, PoS press.
If inflation is negative, as it was in 2009 and 2010, payments remain unchanged.
They are TRYING to TELL US prices went DOWN!!
Un-f***ing-believable!
What a LYING, PoS government we have over here!
The frozen checks will be made official Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases inflation estimates for September.
Still, seniors like McNeil said they will be thinking about the issue when they go to vote, and analysts said the news comes at a bad time for Democrats already facing potentially big losses on Election Day.
Yup.
Seniors are the most loyal of voters, and their support is especially important during midterm elections, when turnout is generally lower.
“If you’re the ruling party, this is not the sort of thing you want to have happening two weeks before an election,’’ said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Yeah, I saw that quote somewhere before.
At St. Andrews Estates North, a Boca Raton retirement community, seniors largely took the news in stride, saying they don’t blame Washington for the lack of an increase. Most are also collecting pensions or other income, but even so, they prepared to tighten their belts.
The agenda-pushing really has to stop, newspaper.
Bette Baldwin won’t be able to travel or help her children as much. Dorcas Eppright will give less to charity. Jack Dawson will buy cheap whiskey instead of his beloved Canadian Club.
But BANKERS and WAR-PROFITEERS will PARTY DOWN!
“For people who have worked their whole life and tried to scrimp and save and try to provide for themselves, it’s difficult to see that support system might not sustain you,’’ said Baldwin, a 63-year-old retired teacher.
Baldwin and her husband mapped out their retirements, carefully calculating their income based on their pensions and Social Security checks. The trouble is, they expected an annual cost-of-living increase.
“When we cut back, we’re cutting back on niceties,’’ Baldwin said. “But there are other people that don’t have anything to cut back on. They’re cutting back on food and shelter.’’
An ABSOLUTE SHAME and DISGRACE to America!!
Many at St. Andrews said the cost-of-living decision won’t affect whom they vote for next month. But seniors tied the Social Security issue to what they see as a larger societal problem with debt, entitlements and hopefulness for the future.
“I’m kind of glad in a way,’’ Stella Wehrly, an 86-year-old retired secretary, said of the freeze. “One thing depends on the other and when people aren’t working there’s not enough people feeding into the Social Security system.’’
Then you are getting what you deserve, America -- and I have had it with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wehrly and her husband, Hank, said curtailing government spending is necessary to maintain the Social Security system.
“We have a generation now that we’re not going to leave a very good legacy for,’’ she said.
Yeah, because of the wars and bank bailouts as well as the alleged surplus having been stolen all these years.
Related:
"The trust fund, which exists in paper form in a filing cabinet in Parkersburg, W.Va., are bonds backed by the government’s “full faith and credit’’ but not by any actual assets. That trust fund, currently at $2.5 trillion, has been spent over the years to fund other parts of government"
Like I said, stolen.
Jack Dawson, 77, said the freeze is the right move considering the state of the government and the American economy.
The kid on the Titanic?
“Who would be surprised what’s happened?’’ he asked. “I feel this is the right decision in light of the malaise.’’
(Blog editor just shaking his head)
More than 58.7 million people rely on Social Security checks that average $1,072 monthly. It was the primary source of income for 64 percent of retirees who got benefits in 2008; one-third relied on Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income....
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Don't worry. Nancy Pelosi going to cut you a check to be canceled by the Senate.
"Pelosi promises a vote to boost Social Security
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will vote next month to provide $250 payments to Social Security recipients to make up for the lack of a cost-of-living increase for next year.
It doesn't make up for it. This is just an ELECTION-YEAR BRIBE and GIMMICK to MAKE YOU FORGET how WOEFULLY Democrats have treated you!
The Social Security Administration is expected to announce today that more than 58 million retirees and disabled Americans will go a second straight year without an increase in benefits.
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Related: First Female Speaker Failed
WASHINGTON — For the second year in a row, the nearly 54 million retirees and other Americans who receive Social Security benefits will not get any cost-of-living increase in 2011, US officials announced yesterday.
The lack of an increase for consecutive years is unprecedented in the roughly 35 years that payments have been automatically adjusted according to the nation’s inflation rate. The Social Security Administration made the announcement moments after the Labor Department released the latest figures for the consumer price index. They show that prices for the third quarter of this year rose by 1.5 percent compared with 2009, but fell by 0.6 percent compared with the same period in 2008.
In a symptom of the weak economy, last year marked the first time since the automatic formula has existed that consumer prices fell, so Social Security recipients were given no increase in their checks.
Yeah, WHERE exactly WAS THAT because it WAS NOT AROUND HERE!
This year, the slight rise in prices makes the picture more complicated — and is likely to produce louder complaints over the lack of an increase.
A paragraph ago they told us prices dropped -- and they wonder why there are complaints (or don't care).
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Also see: Social Security a Savior
Not anymore.
