The Social Security Administration makes it official today: There will be no cost of living increase for Social Security recipients next year, the first year without one since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. The announcement comes as President Obama and key members of Congress call for a second round of $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities. We can all blame falling consumer prices for no automatic increase next year. By law, Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is pegged to inflation, which was negative this year, due largely to falling energy costs. The $250 payments would go to Social Security recipients as well as those receiving veterans benefits or disability benefits, railroad retirees and retired public employees who don’t receive Social Security. Recipients would be limited to one payment, even if they qualified for more. But isn’t this an oxymoron of social security in the first place? Was social security not set up to reflect the cost of living? Will a one time payment of $250 sustain the deficit incurred over a year for those on social security? Is social security a farce anyway that is all too often exploited by those who don’t really need the assistance? GO!
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