Do You Believe That It was Correct For the Government to CANCEL the COLA (Cost Of Living Increases) for those on Government Penisons , Social Security, VA etc ?

The government did not cancel the “cost of living” increases. In 2009, there was no increase in prices, and therefore no increase in the cost of living. The annual COLA increases are formulaic, tied to a specific measure of inflation. There was no inflation this year, therefore no increase payments.

In fact, prices for the goods that make up most of a senior citizen’s consumption actually fell this year, and because their SS payments stayed the same the real value (meaning the inflation adjusted value) of their SS checks actually went up. This is the first time that has happened in decades.

Then pray tell WHY the AARP and AAA say that Gasoline is UP over last year ?

I can take you to the four major grocery stores in this area and show you INCREASED prices .

My electric company got a 30% RAISE….

What is suppose to have went down ? I sure as heck have not see ANYTHING get lower except property values ; everything else has INCREASED !

I take care of an elderly uncle. He only recieves 525.00 a month on SSR because he was a farmer all his life. I guess they don’t make enough or didn’t back in his day to get the full amount in retirement. That still baffles me. Someone who feeds people, helps in survival makes so little but someone that makes a video game makes so much.

He lives with me and I take care of all his expenses, except for his personal needs and food. I read the letter sent to me by the Social Security office in his behalf. I was shocked! I know how much everything has increased, as I am on a tight budget with him. He can no longer afford his personal expenses and food. My Electric increased by 26 dollars on avg a month. My GAS has been CRAZY thats just for the car. His co-pays went up.

I actually laughed at first when I read it, and then I cried. I don’t know what this man would do if he was on his own. I barely know what I am going to do myself. The cost to take care of him is getting higher and higher…but there is no way I will put him in a home.

How can the Government honestly say there has not been an increase? Please someone explain this to me so I can understand.

@HighShaman and Social Security COLA increases are based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If you go here you can see that the CPI-W was lower every month this year than the year before.

The CPI is a measure of prices that is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the COLA increases are tied to that measure by law. It would take an act of Congress to increase the SS payments this year. President Obama has proposed authorizing a one-time extra payment of $250 to each SS recipient.

Here is more information about the CPI.

I recognize that it may feel like prices have gone up because times are hard. But CPI is universally accepted as an excellent measure of the aggregate level of prices. Gas has gone up recently (thought it is still cheaper than it was one year ago), but the price of many other goods has gone down. If you go here you can download the full CPI report from October 2009, and see just which goods went up and which went down.

Thank you Michael! I will go and look. It sure does feel as well as look like things have gone up from my perspective…I will be interested to see. Thanks again! =)

hey some one has to pay for obama’s trip to Hawaii

The way I am reading it and I could be wrong…Housing is up, electricty is up, food is up, shelter is up, and the only thing I really see down is gasoline. That would make sense because gasoline was a lot more for a while last year.

the gasoline offsets the rest of the increases?? That’s how they figured it?

Government standards for cost of living are based on a standard basket of goods that hasn’t changed much in the last several decades. Gasoline doesn’t factor in, but electricity does. Housing prices are generally down over last year. And there’s been essentially zero inflation over the last year, so there’s no reason for an increase.

Also, just as a reminder, millions and millions of working Americans took pay cuts this year. So it doesn’t make a lot of sense to increase the payout.

Gasoline DOES factor into it . At least it was one of the reasons the government gave when saying there would be NO increases this year (2010) ....

Housing prices might be down; BUT they are still UP over last year… as Groceries and Utilities…

I’d like to know WHO is paying less to live this year than last ?

Obama is busy shoveling truckloads of money out the back door of the Federal Reserve, for the benefit of the bankers that bought him before the election. He doesn’t care about you or me.

There hasn’t been inflation in consumer prices for most of 2009, but it’s feels like things are getting more expensive if you’re taking home less money. Things like groceries, gas and other everyday expenses will be taking up a bigger proportion of your monthly earnings, even though they do cost less. Whatever savings we might get in consumer goods because of deflation is more than offset by the money we’re losing in pay cuts or lost jobs. It’s hard to tell that prices are going down just from your own shopping, because the difference in the price of an individual item might be only pennies. And it’s really counter-intuitive to even think that we might have a deflation rate, because it hasn’t happened in most of our lifetimes. But that’s what’s going on.

I’d like to know where YOU are shopping if you THINK prices are going DOWN .

I’m on a FIXED incom ; no decreases or Increases….. and I can tell you that my groceries are about $10—$25 MORE a week . As already said; AARP and AAA said that gas prices are 25% HIGHER than last year ! Like it or NOT. Then; Utility Bills ARE on the INCREASE !

I don’t care about Formulas, directories, projections , price indexes, and rates…. it still comes out that prices are UP and Everything is costing MORE…