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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe UnCOLA: Social Security Recipients To Get Puny Cost-Of-Living Boost (1.5% to 1.7%) In 2013
By Mary Beth Franklin
October 9, 2012 4:11 pm ET
Social Security recipients will receive a cost-of-living increase for 2013, but it will be only about half as large as the COLA they received this year, according to an unofficial estimate by the American Institute for Economic Research, an independent economic research in Great Barrington, Mass.
AIER economists estimate the 2013 increase to be between 1.5% and 1.7%, two percentage points below the 3.6 % increase seniors received for 2012.
The Social Security Administration will announce the official cost-of-living adjustment for 2013 on October 16. The federal government determines the size of a Social Security COLA based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W) from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the next.
Because the CPI-W includes items with prices that rise more slowly than everyday purchases refrigerators, for example as well as items that get cheaper over time, the increase in Social Security checks coming in January may not be sufficient to cover the rising cost of everyday goods, said Steven Cunningham, director of research and education for AIER.
MORE...
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20121009/BLOG05/121009934
LiberalArkie
(15,727 posts)Robb
(39,665 posts)Beats being fired, I suppose. Public sector here.
But my own griping notwithstanding, there's no comparison; Social Security needs to keep pace with the cost of goods, as it's a lifeline and the only option for so many.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)you know, if steak goes up, you can always eat hamburger...walmart slime...bugs...for your protein, etc.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)I see OPs like this, and they suggest that something evil has happened recently, without saying that specifically.
Did the Obama administration recently reclassify Hamburger as Steak?
Periodically the members of the DOW 30 change. Same for S&P 500. So on.
Is the suggestion that the COLA is being manipulated? If one is not paying attention, they might walk away from the data presented and assume manipulation.
I've been on line since I posted my question about this, and I don't find any recent changes in how its calculated. But that does not mean they don't exist ... maybe I just have not found them. Would not be the first time.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)so i dunno where you get: "I see OPs like this, and they suggest that something evil has happened recently, without saying that specifically."
Since its inception, the CPI has been comprehensively
revised on six occasions to implement updated samples and
weights, expanded coverage, and enhanced methodologies.
For example, the 1998 revision, the most recent one, introduced
more timely consumer spending weights; updated geographic
and housing samples; a revised item classification
structure; a new housing index estimation system; computer-assisted
data collection; and a new Telephone Point-of-Purchase
Survey.
BLS also has made important improvements
to the CPI beyond the major revision processes, an example
being the introduction of the geometric mean formula in January
1999.
Table 1, on the following pages, provides a chronology
of revisions and improvements to the CPI, and appendix
3 displays historical changes in base period,
population coverage, and other index characteristics.
http://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17.htm
Example of change in the 1998 revisions:
- Extended the use of hedonic regression to estimate the value of items changing in quality = more use of the hedonic adjustment
There have been three 'comprehensive' & 2 non-comprehensive overhauls of the CPI since 1973.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)The OP presents the decline ... and I would suggest, as described, the OP leaves the impression that something's been done recently to cause the decrease.
I've seen emails from right wingers that have argued that the lack of a COLA increase, or a reduced COLA year over year, is something that Obama did to hurt seniors.
The article in the link leaves a similar impression.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)Our raises only amounted to 1% of our total yearly salaries and we would not get them every year. I am collecting SS and really did not think there would be a COLA raose this year. It took 3 years to get the one we received this year.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)on the verge of eating catfood.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Which is good, since the charge to simply be hooked up to the gas company will be 9.00 a month in Jan.
Of course, Medicare premiums are scheduled to increase also.
aquart
(69,014 posts)Refrigerators? ARE THEY KIDDING ME?
sad sally
(2,627 posts)of no pay raises. I guess inflation is non-existant for them.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Virtually all seniors pay the Part B premium for outpatient care, including those with traditional Medicare as well as those in private plans. Currently $99.90 a month, the Part B premium is expected to rise by about $7 for 2013, according to the government's own projections.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-medicare-drug-premiums-set-to-jump-in-2013-20120925,0,796177.story
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)I'm already making plans for spending my windfall.