Obama Proposes Chain CPI-Hurt SS Recipients

[usmcstinger]

President Barack Obama has proposed adopting what is known as a “chained” Consumer Price Index, or CPI, as part of his plan to reduce the nation’s deficit and raise revenue through an income tax hike on wealthy Americans.In general, people who would be negatively affected by the use of the chained-CPI would be retirees and other beneficiaries who receive most of their income from Social Security and who aren’t in a position to switch to other goods and services when prices rise.
The bottom line: The elderly poor, singles, widows, widowers, and non-whites will be most negatively affected by shifting to a chained-CPI approach to calculating Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. If you count just those retirees whose Social Security benefits represent 90 percent of their total income, that’s over 13 million Americans.
“Chaining” Inflation Gauge Would Hurt Social Security Recipients | XFINITY Finance Blog by Comcast

If you are in this group and voted for Obama, you got fooled. I am not surprised, all he ever talks about is helping the middle class.

 

[Mad Scientist]

For the Luddite, rDean, TM and Ooo Poo Poo:
Daniel Marans: Ten Reasons Why the Chained CPI Is Terrible Policy

 

[LoneLaugher]

It is not nice to frighten the elderly with stories of the monster hiding in the closet without also warning them about the evil goblin hiding under the bed.

 

[zeke]

President Barack Obama has proposed adopting what is known as a “chained” Consumer Price Index, or CPI, as part of his plan to reduce the nation’s deficit and raise revenue through an income tax hike on wealthy Americans.In general, people who would be negatively affected by the use of the chained-CPI would be retirees and other beneficiaries who receive most of their income from Social Security and who aren’t in a position to switch to other goods and services when prices rise.
The bottom line: The elderly poor, singles, widows, widowers, and non-whites will be most negatively affected by shifting to a chained-CPI approach to calculating Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. If you count just those retirees whose Social Security benefits represent 90 percent of their total income, that’s over 13 million Americans.
“Chaining” Inflation Gauge Would Hurt Social Security Recipients | XFINITY Finance Blog by Comcast

If you are in this group and voted for Obama, you got fooled. I am not surprised, all he ever talks about is helping the middle class.

WTF? You must be in that rethug group complaining about deficits.......but not having any idea about what to do about them. So Obama agrees to go along with a rethug idea (cutting spending on entitlements) and now you want to drop the hammer on him for doing what rehtugs wanted.

WTF is wrong with you people? Just can't take "yes" for an answer.

 

[Seawytch]

Um, do ya'll really think he would have proposed such a thing if the GOP wasn't demanding it? Really? Oh, and those of you not up on current events, the CPI thing has been dropped.

GOP Gives In On Social Security Cuts In Stalled Talks

 

[Star]

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Here's the key sequencing you need to know.

Obama said on Meet The Press that a Chained CPI is an example of something he could get behind (in terms of spending cuts) that showed he was serious about not giving into the far left of his party (the left wing hates the idea of a chained CPI).

Now Democrats are saying that the GOP insistence on including this is a poison pill.

Republicans are hammering Democrats for this inconsistency. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said in a tweet: "This morning President Obama bragged about taking a tough stand on Social Security. This afternoon Harry Reid took his offer off the table."

But the key point here is that Obama is only going to give in on entitlement cuts if it's part of a "grand bargain" that sees significant GOP concessions on taxes. What's infuriating Democrats is that the Chained CPI is being tossed in as part of a late "small bargain."
So that's where we're at with this story. It could all be irrelevant in a bit.

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[Star]

President Barack Obama has proposed adopting what is known as a “chained” Consumer Price Index, or CPI, as part of his plan to reduce the nation’s deficit and raise revenue through an income tax hike on wealthy Americans.In general, people who would be negatively affected by the use of the chained-CPI would be retirees and other beneficiaries who receive most of their income from Social Security and who aren’t in a position to switch to other goods and services when prices rise.
The bottom line: The elderly poor, singles, widows, widowers, and non-whites will be most negatively affected by shifting to a chained-CPI approach to calculating Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. If you count just those retirees whose Social Security benefits represent 90 percent of their total income, that’s over 13 million Americans.
“Chaining” Inflation Gauge Would Hurt Social Security Recipients | XFINITY Finance Blog by Comcast

If you are in this group and voted for Obama, you got fooled. I am not surprised, all he ever talks about is helping the middle class.

WTF? You must be in that rethug group complaining about deficits.......but not having any idea about what to do about them. So Obama agrees to go along with a rethug idea (cutting spending on entitlements) and now you want to drop the hammer on him for doing what rehtugs wanted.

WTF is wrong with you people? Just can't take "yes" for an answer.

IOWs, as part of the Republican fiscal cliff-moving target Boehner lays "Chained-CPI" on
the table then-----then President Obama calls Boehner's hand then-----then Boehner folds --giggle-- then-----then rightwingers claim...
No wonder though -- Republicans thought they could run a campaign for POTUS with the following quote as their back-story mantra “we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.” -pewsh!-

8. Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. Social Security is self-funded, it is off budget, and it cannot borrow to pay benefits. Therefore it cannot contribute to the deficit. Just take [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihUoRD4pYzI"]President Reagan's word for it.[/ame] There is no good reason to include it in fiscal cliff negotiations. In fact, it has never been included in budget negotiations. The famous [ame="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-marans/the-reaganoneill-myth-of-_b_2162028.html"]Reagan-O'Neill Social Security compromise of 1983[/ame]? They did it through a Commission devoted solely to Social Security -- not the general budget deficit.




Now that Christmas is over is over, President Obama and Speaker Boehner will soon resume talks to cut Social Security as part of a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. Here are 10 reasons why the chained CPI -- the Social Security cut they are considering -- is terrible policy.


<snip>


1. Chained CPI is a significant benefit cut that compounds over time, hitting late old-age beneficiaries and the long-time disabled hardest. For a worker with average earnings retiring at age 65 in 2015, chained CPI would cut benefits $653 a year (3.7 percent) at age 75, $1,139 a year (6.5 percent) at age 85 and $1,611 a year (9.2 percent) at age 95.

2. Chained CPI hits current beneficiaries. Even Paul Ryan tried to hold people ages 55 and older harmless from his plan to privatize Medicare (and Social Security before that). Seriously. Check out page 52 of his 2013 budget, and every speech he ever gave on the topic. The theory is, if you're gonna burn people, give them some time to adopt a Spartan lifestyle for several years so they can make up for the lost pension money in time for retirement.

3. Chained CPI cuts benefits for veterans. At least 771,000 veterans receive both Social Security and VA disability benefits. Under chained CPI, both would be cut. A fully disabled veteran claiming benefits at age 30 in 2012 would see a cut in VA benefits alone of $1,425 a year (4.3 percent) at age 45, $2,341 a year (7 percent) at age 55, and $3,231 a year (9.7 percent) at age 65.
4. Chained CPI cuts benefits for the indigent elderly and disabled on Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Do I need to add detail here? These are the poorest of the poor.

5. Chained CPI is less accurate for seniors and people with disabilities. Chained CPI assumes people can substitute cheaper products as prices go up, but this is not true of seniors and people with disabilities for whom health care makes up a larger share of expenses. In 2009, health care made up 12.9 percent of expenses for people 65 or older, but 5.3 percent of spending for people ages 25-64.

6. A more accurate CPI for Social Security is the CPI-E, not the chained CPI. The CPI-E, or experimental Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, weights health care and housing costs more heavily to simulate the basket of goods consumed by seniors. On average, it increased 0.2 percentage-points more annually than the current CPI.
7. Social Security benefits are already declining due to increases in the retirement age and Medicare premiums. After Medicare premiums, Social Security replaced 37 percent of the pre-retirement earnings of a typical worker retiring at 65 in 2010, and is projected to replace 32 percent of the same worker's earnings in 2030.

<snip>

9. Giving away a benefit cut for no additional Social Security revenue is foolish. Yes, Chained CPI generates additional income tax revenue (albeit in a regressive way). But it gives Social Security no new revenue. Even Simpson-Bowles tried to do that.

10. "Birthday bump" and other sweeteners are inadequate. The chained CPI's apologists say they will hold the poor and people in late old age harmless through a "birthday bump" in the 20th year of benefits eligibility. As the graphs here and here show, however, this only offsets the benefit cut significantly if you live past 90, and even then doesn't make up for the chained CPI.
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[usmcstinger]

It is not nice to frighten the elderly with stories of the monster hiding in the closet without also warning them about the evil goblin hiding under the bed.

You are an idiot. I am a Sr. Citizen and all us should know who is trying to screw us.