This Will Never Happen??????

[redcliffsw]

Teresa, keep it up.  You're telling like it right.

Keynsian economics is taught in the schools as
gov't policy. Sure both Democrats and Republicans
support Keynesian - their arguments and debates
ought to offer true American alternatives to Keynesian.

[srkruzich]

I went grocery shopping yesterday, I got 12  cans of tuna, 2 small boxes of raisin bran generic, 1 box of cheerios generic, 2 pints of blueberries, 2 pounds of cheddar, 4 bananas, 4 pounds bacon, 2 loaves bread, 2 pounds of smoked sausage, 1 pound of ham, 2 pounds of turkey, some scrubbies for the dishes, soap and a pack of sodas and ended up spending 84 dollars. 

I can't eat a whole lot of stuff that is cheap as it is loaded with sugar or high carbs.  But the groceries have gone out of sight on prices.   I would say they have about doubled in the last two months.

[W. Gray]

Those rising prices are reflected in the latest Consumer Price Index releases, but they still have not increased enough to trigger a Social Security increase later this year.

[Varmit]

NOTHING should Ever trigger a Social Security increase, this year or or any other!!!   If you can't afford groceries because you have a fixed income, heres an idea, quit paying for cable or satelitte, turn off your cellphone service, get off the damn internet and instead spend your money on things you need, not want.

[larryJ]

Well, let me see.  I live on a fixed income.  This includes my pension, my social security, and a 401k payout monthly.  I have cable TV which I enjoy, being somewhat (but not always) housebound.  I have a cellphone so that I can keep in touch with my family when I need to or be able to dial 911 if I fall and can't get up.  I have two computers, one desktop and a laptop which are both connected to the Internet.  I love the Internet as it is a great source of news and information from around the world, and it helps keep me sane and I have heard is a deterrent to developing alzheimer's earlier than I normally would.  I have family and friends who regularly post on their blogs and send e-mail.  In this modern day and age I can communicate with my son who is traveling around the world in four different ways: by cellphone (free calling), using Skype on the computer (free calling), e-mail (Internet provider service fee--small amount) and contacting him on the blog that they have set up for their trip (included in the Internet service fee). 

I realize that there are those who are on a fixed income that cannot afford all these wondrous items listed above.  And, Billy, you are right in that they should budget themselves to needs rather than wants.  But, they, like me, enjoy what luxuries we can and one of those luxuries is signing on to this forum to enjoy our friends and relatives.

Unfortunately, we have to put up with negative responses such as yours.  But, then again it just makes the forum more fun.

Thanks, Billy, for contributing.  By the way, I will give up my Social Security increase if you will give up your yearly raise.

Larryj

[Catwoman]

Excellent post, larryj!!!!!!!!!!!   

[srkruzich]

NOTHING should Ever trigger a Social Security increase, this year or or any other!!!   If you can't afford groceries because you have a fixed income, here's an idea, quit paying for cable or satelitte, turn off your cellphone service, get off the damn internet and instead spend your money on things you need, not want.

I'll tell you what, I don't have a tv, nor cable nor satellite, or a cellphone.  I have to have a phone for medical assistance when i need it and internet don't cost me but 10 bucks. Not going to make a difference in my grocery bill and I don't get food stamps or section 8 housing, or any of the other various welfare programs around.

But last of all, I get my social security because i PAID INTO my social security by force and i damn well am going to take what i paid for.   Since i am stuck on a fixed income, and since the COLA rules allow for my social security retirement to be raised, then I expect it to be triggered by these rising prices.

It would be different if I was on welfare, i wouldn't expect a thing.  But since i am not on welfare, then i expect them to hold up their end of the deal or give me my money back.

[W. Gray]

It sounds like two totally different people with the same name responded to my observation about a trigger.

The most recent figure (based on my computation for the June CPU figures released by the Department of Labor) has the COLA at -3.4%.

The Social Security website predicts zero for 2010 and .2% for 2011. Zero is probably accurate but the past predictions at that location have, otherwise, always been way off.

[Wilma]

We had a larger than usual raise last year, so I am not going to complain if we don't get a raise this year.  Besides, one of my daughters had to take a cut in pay so everyone could keep their jobs, another one took a cut in hours so no one would have to be laid off and a third daughter took a cut in overtime.  Why should I expect a raise?

[larryJ]

Thanks, Cat.  You will be impressed that I said all that before the second cup. 

Billy, don't get upset with me.  I really do appreciate your posts and definitely agree with a lot of what you say.  Some people look at SS as a savings plan.  It is not.  It is a "government pyramid scheme" with the exception that the top of the pyramid aren't getting all the money.  Those of us who collect it, paid into it all of our lives.  I am sure that I paid much more, way much more, into SS than I will ever be able to collect.  My wife paid into it for about seven years a long time ago.  She stayed home for a long time raising kids and went back to work after the last one graduated high school.  Where she works now is a government agency and they do not pay into social security, therefore she will collect a very small amount earned from over 30 years ago.

A lot of us worked all of lives, some of us earning pensions, and paying into our 401k plans, as well as paying into Social Security and Medicare.  I started working part time at age 14 and worked summers and after school and weekends and of course, full time.  I retired at age 62.  That makes 48 years of giving the government my money.  So, now it is time for the government to give some back.  I may live another year or ten years or twenty years if I am lucky, but I guarantee you I will never see all that money again.  Don't get me wrong.  I am happy with what I get. 

Like I said in an earlier post to you on this subject some time back, pray that the system won't collapse before you can get your money back.

Larryj