It’s expected that later this week the Social Security Administration will announce that thee will be no cost-of-living increase – which means there will be no COLA for military retirees for the second year in a row, too.<\/p>\n
The cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, are automatically set each year by an inflation measure that was adopted by Congress back in the 1970s. Based on inflation so far this year, the trustees who oversee Social Security project there will be no COLA for 2011.<\/p>\n
The projection will be made official on Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases inflation estimates for September. The timing couldn’t be worse for Democrats as they approach an election in which they are in danger of losing their House majority, and possibly their Senate majority as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As far as Social Security recipients are concerned, I’m pretty sure they feel the pinch of rising prices, as well as the increases in their Medicare payments. We’re all paying more for gasoline, food and property taxes, so I’m not sure what their formula is for arriving at this COLA, but obviously, it’s not working. It’d take an awful lot of evidence to prove to me that prices haven’t gone up since 2008.<\/p>\n