No cost of living raise...Social Security
By Kowgirl
@Kowgirl (3490)
United States
December 16, 2009 12:54pm CST
I don't know about you but I think the people in the Department of Labor have been asleep for the last 2 years, or they have been on vacation on some deserted island somewhere. They claim that based on the Consumer Price Index that there was no rise in the cost of living during the past year, therefore those of us who are struggling to live off their meager Social Security Checks will receive no increase in their checks this year. Well, I don't know about where you live but the cost of everything essential to life has went up in Florida. Food has increased so much older people have been forced to choose whether to eat or purchase their medication. Electricy has gone up per watt, Water which isn't fit to drink has increased in price, Gas is on the rise once again and the cost of a Drivers License has more than doubled, Vehicle tags have doubles in price, tax on property(homes) have gone up...Just where in the hel! have these people been? Don't they know we are in a recession? It's so bad that one of the richest men in the world (Warren Buffett)has been on TV talking about it. Does this branch of our stupid government even have any idea of what is going on in the real world? I bet if they were forced to(try to)live on what most of the elderly get in their meager SS checks, they wouldn't be able to make it through a week. While Obama is throwing out money to those who don't need it (his crooked croonies, Acorn, Banks, etc.)the elderly are getting left behind. It's time the government started to take care of those who have served this country, whether in military service or through paying taxes for years. What do you think about this "No cost of living raise"?
3 people like this
7 responses
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
17 Dec 09
Actually, this is rather old news since it was announced several months ago that there would be no cost of living raise for Social security recipients in 2010. Therefore, what things have cost the past few months doesn't have any bearing on next year's checks. Actually, as I understand it, one of the reasons for no increase for 2010 is because there had been a mistake in this year's rather generous increase of around 5%, if my memory serves me correctly. Don't get me wrong, as someone who depends entirely on Social Security Disability I'm not one bit happy about this but it's not something that can be blamed on the current Administration or Congress. There had been some talk a few months ago of giving Social Security recipients a one-time payment of $250 to help make up for the lack of an increase but I'm not sure if there's been any more said or done about this or not. Since most people don't end up getting more than $20 per month when there is an increase I think many will end up better off this way.
Annie
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Dec 09
hi anniepa I dont think so, but if we get that 250 it will of course help and I for one am grateful if we get it. but it will not make up for what we should have got. you can bet that this retirement place will probably raise the rent again just as they did last year too. so there goes some of the maybe 250 right there. You cannot win.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
17 Dec 09
I hate to tell you this, but they are 100% correct. If you look at core CPI you will see the facts speak for themselves. If the department of labor allowed for an increase then they would be violating their own rules. I find it funny how people want to bash our government when ever they get a chance, even when they are doing something correct.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
17 Dec 09
Debater, you and I both know that if Bush were still President or if McCain had won there would be some on the right arguing the exact point you just made! However, Obama is President now and the Democrats are in the majority in Congress so EVERYTHING is their fault, whether they had anything to do with it or not. (I'm certainly NOT saying there isn't anything they CAN be blamed for, by the way. This just isn't one of them!)
Annie
1 person likes this
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
18 Dec 09
Annie, you are 100% correct. The other thing that makes me laugh (and I know I am going to get bashed for this, but I am going to say it anyways) is all of these conservatives who bash welfare, but the minute you don't give them their social security raise they are all up in arms. Both are government programs, both are under funded, and fraud is rampant in both.
@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
6 Jan 10
Woah, wait just a damn minute...The Social Security we get is not coming from the government, nor is it in any form welfare. This is money we had TAKEN from us when we were working to be put aside for our "golden years". It is our money...The government used OUR money to make more money for them by keeping the interest it accumulated over the years. We would have been better off had we put the money in a savings account and got the money with the interest it made over the years, and not let the government have say over it. It's just another way for them to keep (steal) the money and the accumulated interest that never gets claimed by those who die before they even reach the age of which they can get their SS. And of those who only live a short period of time after they start receiving their SS checks. It's a known fact that only 20% or less of the money paid into SS will ever be claimed. So what did they do with OUR money? Or with the interest it made?
Ah, but ignorance is bliss when you don't know the truth. Look at your check stub and you will see that you too are having money taken from you for just this purpose.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
16 Dec 09
That's funny since congress just passed their stimulus 2 that gave all federal employees a cost of living increase. The Department of Labor is just following orders if you ask me and giving everyone an excuse not to give cost of living increases. I live in Florida as well and I know EXACTLY how much more I'm spending on food, electricity, gas, and my tag renewal compared to last year and it's a LOT more.
1 person likes this
@angelfantasy23 (561)
• United States
17 Dec 09
The recession is not over I often wonder what world these people live in. The cost of most things are up. Rent is going up. They increased minimum wage but it still hasn't made much of a difference. I like Obama, but I feel it doesn't matter who becomes president or gets into a high office nothing will change, with exceptiopn of one Alan Grayson who talked about the republican health care plan I think most politicians are full of crap.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
17 Dec 09
It's worse than that. Because Medicare premiums will go up and they are automatically debited from SS checks, the amount that seniors and the disabled will receive will be LESS than last year. It would be hard enough to try to make it without the COLA increase but trying to make ends meet with even less money is going to cause much hardship on many of the elderly and disabled who rely on this fixed and insufficient income.
You will be glad to know that salaries have been increasing in one area, the Federal government.
"Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector...
When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000."
Interestingly, it seems federal employees are also one of the largest groups of tax evaders, owing billions in unpaid income tax.
Nice work, if you can get it.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Dec 09
hi kowgirl I just got my notification that social security and my ssi check will not have a cost of living increase, and was so angry its still wadded up in my purse.gggggrrr. those fat cats in social security and in our government do not seem to live in our world but then they have fat salaries while we on social security and ssi have to live on this and whatever else we can make on the side which is not much. I am in this retirement center, oh I am safe so my son says but it takes most of my social security check and my ssi check to pay the rent and board each month. I get the queenly left over of one hundred twenty five dollars for my personal needs,whoopee aren't I rich? now I can bet a fat cat worker in Social security does not have to live on what I have so they are completely out of touch with the real world out here an how much food and everything else has gone up.So I think this
no cost of living raise stinks to high heaven. really stinks.[
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no cost of living raise stinks to high heaven. really stinks.[]1 person likes this
@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
9 Jan 10
The sad part is ...IT'S OUR MONEY! Most of us paid into this program without any hesitation because we thought it was the right way to save for our retirement. So why shouldn't we have the last word about getting a cost of living raise? You and I both know they gave themselves a raise. Wonder whose money they used to do that?
Just think how much we could have, if the money we paid in from every weekly check we earned then added the interest it made for all those years, we wouldn't have to worry about a thing... We are being cheated out of our own money. Our government is running the biggest SCAM in the world on the citizens and those who are paying into the SS now may never get a dime of it back...
How do you get SS and SSI? I thought we could only get one or the other, not both!??
