NO INFLATION IS A LIE
The Governments inflation indicators are a joke and hurt seniors.
Once again the Social Security administration has sent out letters stating that there will be no COLA for 2016.
This is based upon flawed legislation that ties COLAs to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)
As determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015.
Those numbers are based on indicators that are slanted in a way to specifically target, and penalize, seniors.
Seniors are not Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Most are dependent on Social Security payment to make ends meet.
Common sense would dictate that there is inflation in a number of areas that are particularly onerous to seniors. Medical, housing and food, in that order, are the most worrisome and expensive for seniors.
Anyone who thinks these three items have gone down in price in the past year does not have insurance(as required by law), pay co-pays for that insurance, either rents or owns a home or buys groceries.
The excuse for over all flat pricing is based,for the most part, on lower gasoline prices. Fact of the matter is that, as seniors, we drive less and less as we grow older so that particular indicator is not relevant to COLAs. Additionally the grocery items that have stayed flat or gone down are, in general, the most unhealthy ones like whole milk that most seniors use less of.
If Congress and the President are really interested in the well being of the population as a whole and doing anything at all to help seniors they should endeavor to change the way COLAs are justified.
This is based upon flawed legislation that ties COLAs to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)
As determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015.
Those numbers are based on indicators that are slanted in a way to specifically target, and penalize, seniors.
Seniors are not Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Most are dependent on Social Security payment to make ends meet.
Common sense would dictate that there is inflation in a number of areas that are particularly onerous to seniors. Medical, housing and food, in that order, are the most worrisome and expensive for seniors.
Anyone who thinks these three items have gone down in price in the past year does not have insurance(as required by law), pay co-pays for that insurance, either rents or owns a home or buys groceries.
The excuse for over all flat pricing is based,for the most part, on lower gasoline prices. Fact of the matter is that, as seniors, we drive less and less as we grow older so that particular indicator is not relevant to COLAs. Additionally the grocery items that have stayed flat or gone down are, in general, the most unhealthy ones like whole milk that most seniors use less of.
If Congress and the President are really interested in the well being of the population as a whole and doing anything at all to help seniors they should endeavor to change the way COLAs are justified.
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