Social Security COL raise.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Repeating yourself ad nauseam does not make your argument more compelling.

You are right. It does not. It just seems like I must be presenting it wrong when people still tell me that inflation is not real and less purchasing power is good.

It is almost like when the WEF Director said, "You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy." As long as people buy into that, I really don't see much of a future for my children and grandchildren.

I personally have plenty (all I need). My life is an embarrassment of riches, but I worry for others that have less. Not in the way my very wealthy friends worry that the proletariat will rise up and take their wealth if not tossed a handout by redistributing middle class wealth to the poor, but that a government spending wealth faster than we can earn it will cause the entire system to fail.

The increasing debt/spending (causing inflation) will also feed additional spending (as cost adjusted pensions and salaries increase and the cost servicing that debt increases with the higher interest rate). That, in turn, increases inflation further...and so on.

Stagflation and the lack of opportunity of my youth was horrible for the poor and ignorant (like me) in many parts of the country. I hate seeing it return when it could have been easily prevented. It may be worse as most are no longer agrarian or capable of producing food or fuel yet will need to eat and stay warm. It is hard to pretend everything is great when winter is coming and heating oil has increased 60% in one year. Lots of folks will be very cold this winter because they cannot buy oil and eat. I remember that well from my youth, it is not a good memory.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by KC911

Lies, damn lies, statistics, and fint's perspective...

Samuel Clemmons just didn't live long enough

Yes, I very much agree with Clemmons. He stated it well:

"In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing."

[lukeh]

I thought SS was going broke. How does it afford a raise? Does this mean it will go broke faster now?

[Crowbob]

I suppose we'd all be better off if all the people who can do math were cancelled.

[KFC911]

"Is the glass half-fulll or half-empty"?

Fint: "Is that a Republican glass or a Democrat glass?"

God hates deviled eggs btw....

Repent!

[rfuerst911sc]

My wife and I both collect SS benefits along with our pensions . We will gladly take the COL increase . We have zero debt so it's all good . We never complain about additional $$$ coming into the household budget .

[MMARSH]

What's Social Security?

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by KC911

"Is the glass half-fulll or half-empty"?

Fint: "Is that a Republican glass or a Democrat glass?"

God hates deviled eggs btw....

Repent!

If a child is hungry because they only have a half-empty plate of food because of this runaway inflation, I imagine they appreciate anything, but their stomachs feel half full. If the heat in their home is set to 35 to just keep the pipes from freezing instead of 70, I imagine that feels pretty darned cold.

It really doesn't matter what your politics are, it is pretty indefensible to intentionally create such hardship...or justify it. Maybe pretend that it (inflation) just isn't happening. Indicating that a large COLA is a windfall (because one does not need it) and let the good times roll (times are good) seems odd to me as a high COLA indicates massive inflation that is severely damaging to our country and the poorest Americans and dramatically increases national debt.

I am not sure what your point is here with the political banter. Are you are trying to claim math does not work when it makes certain people look bad or compassion is somehow political? Maybe you are just trying to make a thread political and religious (by bringing up both political parties and God) to justify sending it to PARF (as is typical for uncomfortable topics here).

I am pretty sure the Christian God I worship does not hate deviled eggs ...maybe it is different for other religions.

[Baz]

Inflation is not real and less purchasing power is good.

[McLovin]

Seems like even though we all pay into SS and are therefore entitled to our money back when we retire (that was the deal), SS will in the not too far future be heavily income dependent.
You know, the retired people who the Govt decides don’t “need” it won’t get it.
It’s already kind of starting. I saw my parents’ SS statement, and they’re getting $10k/yr deducted out of it for Medicare insurance costs, based on their retirement income.

[fintstone]

Yep. Medicare can cost a couple up to $13,452 a year based on their modified adjusted gross income (total adjusted gross income and tax-exempt interest income) from the previous year's tax return (starting at age 65). This is whether they draw Social Security or not or ever visit a doctor.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

I suppose we'd all be better off if all the people who can do math were cancelled.

That would be convenient. The powers of manipulation would be thrilled if we just read the headlines, skipped the analysis, and went straight to gloom and doom, whining and crying, wailing and beating of the breast.
Or do the ... never mind. Math is so hard.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by fintstone

You are right. It does not. It just seems like I must be presenting it wrong when people still tell me that inflation is not real and less purchasing power is good.

Try to keep up. You are confusing this thread with some other conversation you are having, or maybe a conversation you're having with yourself. No one here has said inflation is not real or that less purchasing power is good.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Try to keep up. You are confusing this thread with some other conversation you are having, or maybe a conversation you're having with yourself. No one here has said inflation is not real or that less purchasing power is good.

Calling it a "nice raise" despite the massive loss in purchasing power pretty much does indicate that it is "good"...as does panning my concern over inflation. Saying inflation is "not noticeable" as you and others have pretty much begged disbelief.

[rfuerst911sc]

I don't think anyone in their right mind thinks inflation is good . And obviously folks that live paycheck to paycheck are hit the hardest . Unfortunately that's the way it is . As a society we do a very poor job ( generally speaking ) teaching from a young age the importance of money management .

SS was never designed to be the sole source of retirement income . But when you can't or won't save before you know it you are over the falls . And now all you have is SS and eating cat food .

Of course it doesn't help that government can't balance a checkbook to save their lives . And regardless of party affiliation a politician is NOT going to run on a platform of balancing the budget it is political suicide . And so we spin . Happy holidays 😁

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

I don't think anyone in their right mind thinks inflation is good . And obviously folks that live paycheck to paycheck are hit the hardest . Unfortunately that's the way it is . As a society we do a very poor job ( generally speaking ) teaching from a young age the importance of money management .

SS was never designed to be the sole source of retirement income . But when you can't or won't save before you know it you are over the falls . And now all you have is SS and eating cat food .

Of course it doesn't help that government can't balance a checkbook to save their lives . And regardless of party affiliation a politician is NOT going to run on a platform of balancing the budget it is political suicide . And so we spin . Happy holidays ��

Social Security was pretty much designed as a retirement program until it was changed in 1939 and transformed into a "family income security program." Then again in the 60s. If it had remained as designed, it would still be well funded.

The reality is that most Americans that are 65 and older pretty much rely entirely on Social Security and other forms of social welfare. Those with meager savings really struggle with high inflation. We essentially seem to have "solved" for inflation after the late 70s/early 80s and had a good idea how to prevent this. Low inflation and low interest rates have been the case for decades.

Yes. I would not expect to live a very high standard on only SS and have prepared reasonably well (we do not even currently draw social security). That said, my concern is less that social security is not quite enough to live well on, but that all Americans are having to needlessly suffer runaway inflation. The much higher than normal COLA is indicative of really bad times, not a cause for optimism or celebration. Of course, COLAs almost never fully make up for high inflation.

Happy Holidays!

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Calling it a "nice raise" despite the massive loss in purchasing power pretty much does indicate that it is "good"...as does panning my concern over inflation. Saying inflation is "not noticeable" as you and others have pretty much begged disbelief.

Disbelieve all you want. I, and others here, are relating our lived experience. You are parroting the hype and hysteria of the media. Don't presume to know what my situation is, or that of anyone else on the board. For some of us, getting an increase in income while the prices of things we don't buy are going up means we are getting a "nice raise."

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Disbelieve all you want. I, and others here, are relating our lived experience. You are parroting the hype and hysteria of the media. Don't presume to know what my situation is, or that of anyone else on the board. For some of us, getting an increase in income while the prices of things we don't buy are going up means we are getting a "nice raise."

You are right. I really don't know that you personally buy any food (at home or away from home), gasoline, natural gas, fuel oil, electricity, airline tickets, or anything on credit.

Enjoy your "nice raise."

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Seems like even though we all pay into SS and are therefore entitled to our money back when we retire (that was the deal), SS will in the not too far future be heavily income dependent.
You know, the retired people who the Govt decides don’t “need” it won’t get it.
It’s already kind of starting. I saw my parents’ SS statement, and they’re getting $10k/yr deducted out of it for Medicare insurance costs, based on their retirement income.

I never entered into no deal. They took my money and told me how and when I could have it back.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by fintstone

You are right. I really don't know that you personally buy any food (at home or away from home), gasoline, natural gas, fuel oil, electricity, airline tickets, or anything on credit.

Enjoy your "nice raise."

Nice to hear you admit there is something you don't know.

For those who want to take the time to "do the math" and don't know how, there is a rather windy guide to how to make the calculations here:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-calculate-cpi

Calculating the increase in dollar amount spent on things you actually buy (as opposed to the government's standard market basket reflected in the CPI) is a good way to understand how inflation and the COLA adjustment actually affects you.
For us, the dollar amount increase in cost of the things we actually buy is less that the dollar amount of the COLA adjustment.