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No Cola next year, too bad, I suppose I will have to drink Mt. Dew instead.

Deflation scares me.

smurf, watch the Republicans blaming the Dems for "Cutting SS" during next years campaigns.

The dems will respond by passing an ill conceived temporary increase in SS payments.

The Republicans will complain the plan costs too much and will kill grandma.

Well lots of abled and young are seeing paychecks stay stagnant or decline - or disappear completely.

robco wrote:

Well lots of abled and young are seeing paychecks stay stagnant or decline

Maybe they can wait another month for their PS3s or Beatles boxed sets.

- or disappear completely.

Unemployment checks and extensions. Most'll still be better off.

What we really need is a Social Security Czar to fix this mess.

JakeTheTall wrote:

Deflation scares me.

Why?

Isn’t this better for the ordinary person?

mo' ron wrote:

JakeTheTall wrote:

Deflation scares me.

Why?

Isn’t this better for the ordinary person?

No.

It increases debt, for one thing -- personal, corporate and government.

Can you imagine what that would mean in America?

Tallgeese wrote:

resedit wrote:

Given that social security is no longer solvent (paying out more than they take in) this is expected.

It won't be long and people will be demanding the Bush plan - where you have some say in how the money you earned is invested.

I'm sure that recent stock market activity will make that idea very popular.

That's a fact.
You won't be hearing anything about privatizing even part of SS anytime soon. My mom lost almost half of he savings last year. Same thing to millions of other retirees.
Privatizing SS in any way, shape or fashion is a dead idea until the current generation of seniors has passed.

Pariah wrote:

Tallgeese wrote:

resedit wrote:

Given that social security is no longer solvent (paying out more than they take in) this is expected.

It won't be long and people will be demanding the Bush plan - where you have some say in how the money you earned is invested.

I'm sure that recent stock market activity will make that idea very popular.

That's a fact.
You won't be hearing anything about privatizing even part of SS anytime soon. My mom lost almost half of he savings last year. Same thing to millions of other retirees.
Privatizing SS in any way, shape or fashion is a dead idea until the current generation of seniors has passed.

It's not the current generation of seniors that will pass it.
It's the current generation of 30 somethings that will pass it.

10,062.94

robco wrote:

The point being that in a down economy, everyone is taking a hit - unless you got a huge government bailout and are now raking in loads of money and passing out huge bonuses. I wouldn't expect an increase every year whether inflation goes up or not.

Not, but IIRC you and your BF bring in a whole lot more than my measly SSI + food stamps, likely an order of magnitude greater. Sci gets rather more than I, and he can tell you how little his is- and he has family to share costs with. Mine all died, I'm alone and likely to remain so.

Nearly 20 years ago, when Robert Krulwich was still with CBS and did economics pieces, he did one pointing out how much faster common, everyday items rose than the big-ticket items that dominate single-metric numbers like inflation indexes. I'm not in the market for any such, so increases in the lesser things hit me harder, especially with so small a base and margin to begin with. Heaven help me if anything substantial hits like my '79 auto failing or even needing much work.

Again, a lot of working people don't get guaranteed raises every year. Nor do all working people have excess wads of cash to throw away on PS3s and Beatles boxed sets

Someone was talking about doing so just recently, tho not the Beatles stuff. I thought you'd catch that reference.

, or have you missed out on all the people losing their homes? Unemployment isn't living high on the hog either, for those who don't have additional savings to supplement UI, making ends meet is rather difficult.

I'm quite aware; the house to the North has been vacant since February- the folks just up and, I'm told, moved out of state. I'm not saying unemployment makes you rich or even lets you go on CD-sprees, just that it's a deal more than I get or have much prospect of getting for the foreseeable. Even if good treatments become available for my illness over time, I have to make it that far and they'll need paying for in any case. If I miraculously became well tomorrow, I'd still be faced with trying to begin a career, or simple job, in my 50s and the present conditions. Employers don't count those as pluses.

So yes, I look forward to anything I might get, am worse off than most, and there's substantial more I'm keeping private that are even less favorable.