Shrug. What I said was correct. What he said, that I objected to, was incorrect. As for his larger point that his SSI payments aren't keeping pace with inflation in the things he spends his money on, I have no reason to doubt him on that. CPI-W does seem like an odd choice - but not for the reasons he listed in his first post. barfo
Nope. His post was spot on. Social Security and other government retirement benefits are feeling the squeeze of ginormous debt payments (to the rich, who else can afford to buy T-Bills?) on the $18T national debt so they tie COLA to an inflation measure that means ZERO COLA. To doubly fuck the retirees, the Fed keeps interest rates low so the debt payments are less, but at the expense of the least risky investments that seniors live off of.
Denny, his statement was provably false, and I proved it. If you don't care about facts, well, I guess that's your problem. CPI-W does include food, energy, and healthcare. He said it didn't. It's not a matter of opinion. It's been tied to that same measure for decades. Well, MarAzul doesn't like inflation. But he wants his COLAs. Seems like a real quandry. barfo
They don't count food, energy, and healthcare in the calculation. They include something other than food, energy, and healthcare. If it's food, energy, health care, and education, it's not food, energy, and health care. He specifically said "the cost of almost everything older people need" Demonstrably true. MarAzul nailed it and buried you with the graphic in his follow up post.
So far, looks like we have four fascist sympathizers who have answered the poll; I don't know who they are, so I'm not personally attacking them, just attacking Donald Trump.
If they counted the important things that seniors need to live AND the cost of a megabyte of hard disk space, the math would negate the increases in those important things. You got spanked. Get over it.
Wait...are you really claiming that MarAzul is correct by noting that other things are incuded, not just food, energy and healthcare? He was clearly saying those things are not included, not that the problem is other things being included as well. I think it's kind of crazy to disregard a measure becuase it contains too much data. Inflation is near 0, whether that is representative of how you spend your money or not. No one cherry picked this measure just to screw retirees. And his graphic was showing increase since 2000, Obama's term was less than 50% of that and I'd bet most of those increases came when the market was helping us up until 2008. Even still, most the items on the list haven't doubled in price.
BEST BGD POST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The measure is a rather arbitrary basket of items that pertain to working people, not to retirees. And yes, he qualified what he meant by suggesting the measure should emphasize or include just the things he listed. He didn't mention CPI, CPI-W, or anything else. He said they don't count X,Y, and Z. They don't. Your "too much data" argument is B.S. Sorry. They are including data that are irrelevant to retirees and that negates the true effect of the costs of things important to retirees. Of course they cherry picked this measure. Social Security is already feeling the squeeze for lack of contributions to the fund vs. amount of benefits paid. It's only going to get worse. Minimizing the payout by a few bucks times millions of recipients adds up real quick.
This thread is a hoot! Yes the zero inflation is bull shit. And low interest rate are rip off to those that need to live on their savings. Both benefit the Government, not the senior.
Stop looking for a government handout. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Take responsibility. It's kids like you that have grown up expecting Big Government to take care of your every need that are bankrupting this country. With your addiction to "Free Stuff" I expect you are a Bernie supporter. barfo
Ha! No Tool! It's kids like me that are trying to shine the light of the shit big government does, and I thank you for the aid. Big Government that promises Social Security, Pays you with the Promise of being credited with max payment each year served in the Military. Big government take take more of your pay than you get in the days before 401ks, IRAs, deductions for educating your children, and blows the money deducted on election give away goodies. Then comes up with scam to calculate what you owe the senior you ripped off for 45 years. Big government that hold interest down to nothing to make borrowing cheap so the political class can pass out favorite stuff in pandering for votes. Obama has doubled the give away for food stamps, but stripped the seniors of their healthcare earned by years of work. Made it impossible to earn interest on savings. Obama blocks all attempt (through his minions in congress) to change the calculation of inflation that seniors see, they don't borrow money, buy houses, etc. Even a Democrat, like my representative thinks it sucks, The quote I gave before was copied from him, he has be trying to change this unreasonable exploitation of seniors. You asked what I thought of inflation under Obama. Do you get the picture? Can't think of a man in my life time this damaging to so many. This whole thing is because the people allowed the government to become more than the Constitution authorizes. You all have become, the big cookie box, the never ending supply of wealth for the Elected to take and share with their hoard of helpers. Screw those that earned a share from the prior game, this is a new day, and we will fundamentally change American. Begin to slow the rise of the Ocean... Wake up people! Stop this grifter game.
Seniors don't typically drive to and from work daily. Price of gas figured in drops the COLA to zero. It might be a tad easier to lift yourself by the bootstraps if the government wasn't taxing 15% of your bootstraps on top of income tax.
