You have to hand it to the right wing conservatives here in America regarding their consistancy regarding this issue. They don't give a damn who you are, as long as you aren't personally independently wealthy, they hate you. The latest indecency they are working over is the lack of an increase in Social Security payments to our senior citizens this year. Because, let's face it, the US government gave those senior citizens a One-Time $250.00 payment last spring as part of the economic stimulus plan! What more could they possibly need?
More below
From AP:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.
The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.
snip
Cost of living adjustments are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year, largely because energy prices are below 2008 levels.
Advocates say older people still face higher prices because they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on health care, where costs rise faster than inflation. Many also have suffered from declining home values and shrinking stock portfolios just as they are relying on those assets for income.
"For many elderly, they don't feel that inflation is low because their expenses are still going up," said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP. "Anyone who has savings and investments has seen some serious losses."
Seriously, does anyone believe that just because there is no huge core inflation happening at this time that costs for things such as food, medicine, housing, gasoline, etc. aren't going up? However, of course, the konservative right doesn't see it that way.
Critics argue that Social Security recipients shouldn't get an increase when inflation is negative. They note that recipients got a big increase in January — after energy prices had started to fall. They also note that Social Security recipients received one-time $250 payments in the spring as part of the government's economic stimulus package.
"Seniors may perceive that they are being hurt because there is no COLA, but they are in fact not getting hurt," said Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. "Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want."
I truly hope the Republicans take up this battle. Let's see how well they do against the senior citizens of America when they can't lie to them about the bottom line.
Well, it seems that Senator Bernie Sanders doesn't agree with Andrew G. Biggs any more than David Certner of AARP.
"I think a lot of seniors do not know what's coming down the pike, and I believe that when they hear that, they're going to be upset," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is working on a proposal for one-time payments for Social Security recipients.
"It is my view that seniors are going to need help this year, and it would not be acceptable for Congress to simply turn its back," he said.
I truly hope the Republicans take on this battle. Let's see how well they can lie to the seniors on this topic when the bottom line is obvious. No increase, less money. I'll look forward to John Boehner and Eric Cantor explaining that one to their elderly constituants.