Re: Obama Calls For $250 Payments To Seniors

On Oct 15, 7:59 pm, Nathan Bedford Forrest <N...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:52:26 -0400, "tdny" <t...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113805482&ft=1&f...

That's not going to by votes for doomed liberal politicians.

Liberals are the only ones you can buy, and they are cheap;
a bottle of Old Thunderbird and a pack of cigarettes will
purchase a liberal.

Number of States won by: Democrats:19    Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000    Republicans:
2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats:127 million    Republicans:
143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2
Republicans: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory
Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of
the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens
living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of
government welfare...."

No Social Security COLA could prod $250 payments By STEPHEN
OHLEMACHER, AP

-Social Security recipients won't get a cost-of-living increase next
year for the first time in more than a third of a century, and that
could boost President Barack Obama's plan to send seniors another
round of $250 payments before the congressional elections.

Democratic leaders in Congress have signed onto the plan, greatly
improving its chances, even as some budget hawks say the payments are
unwarranted and could add to the federal budget deficit. Republican
leaders said they, too, favor the payments but don't want to increase
the deficit to pay for them.

More than 50 million Social Security recipients will see no increase
in their monthly payments next year, the government said Thursday, the
first year without an increase since automatic adjustments were
adopted in 1975.

Blame it on falling consumer prices. By law, cost-of-living
adjustments are pegged to inflation, which is negative this year
because of lower energy costs. Social Security payments do not go
down, even when prices drop.
Social Security recipients at a senior center in Pembroke Pines, Fla.,
a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, took it in stride that come January they
won't see an increase in their benefits.
"At my age, I've got a nice bedroom, I have clothes, I have anything I
want, I got a walker, what else do I need?" said Marie Arrasate, 83,
who ran a restaurant and candy shop with her husband in
Washingtonville, N.Y., and now lives with her daughter in Pembroke
Pines.
"You have to make do with whatever you get. What are you gonna do? You
can't do nothing about it," said Ed Nunez, 69, a retired truck driver
from Miami.
The White House said the stimulus payments would cost $13 billion,
though a congressional estimate put the cost at $14 billion. Obama
didn't say how the payments should be financed, leaving that up to
Congress. The president is open to borrowing the money, increasing the
federal deficit, just as Congress did with the first round of stimulus
payments.
Government analysts have been forecasting for months that there would
be no increase next year in monthly Social Security payments because
of falling consumer prices. In anticipation of Thursday's
announcement, Obama said Wednesday he supported $250 payments to about
57 million senior citizens, veterans, retired railroad workers and
people with disabilities.
Seniors groups applauded the proposal, saying the recession has
reduced home values and diminished retirement funds. Recipients would
be limited to one payment, even if they qualified in more than one
category.
"Without relief, millions of older Americans will be unable to afford
skyrocketing health care and prescription drug costs, as well as other
basic necessities," said Tom Nelson, chief operating officer for AARP.
The payments would match the ones issued to seniors earlier this year
as part of the government's economic recovery package. They would be
equal to about a 2 percent increase for the average Social Security
recipient.
Social Security has been the backbone of the nation's safety net for
older Americans since it was enacted in the 1930s. Together with
Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly, it
helps keep millions of seniors out of poverty.
The poverty rate for U.S. residents 65 and older is below the rates
for other age groups and has been for much of the past two decades. In
2008, the rate for seniors was 9.7 percent, according to the Census
Bureau. That same year it was 11.7 percent for 18-to-64-year-olds and
19 percent for minors.
The average monthly Social Security payment for all recipients is
$1,094.
Some Social Security experts say recipients shouldn't get a raise or
an extra payment next year because their purchasing power has already
increased with falling consumer prices.
They note that Social Security payments increased by 5.8 percent this
year, the biggest rise since 1982, largely because of a spike in
energy prices in 2008.
Over the past 12 months, gasoline prices have fallen 29.7 percent, and
overall energy costs have decreased 21.6 percent, the Labor Department
said Thursday. Consumer prices in general have declined 2.1 percent
since the third quarter of 2008. The cost-of-living adjustment for
Social Security, or COLA, is based on the change in consumer prices
from the third quarter of one year to the next.
"The real purchasing power of their benefits is actually higher today
than it was last year," said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy
commissioner at the Social Security Administration and now a resident
scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
"Nevertheless, there will be a big political price to pay if no COLA
is granted," Biggs said.
Obama's proposal has picked up support from key members of Congress,
including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio
said he wanted to use unspent funds from last year's stimulus
legislation to offset the cost.
Advocates for seniors argue that they deserve a raise because they
spend a disproportionate amount of their incomes on health care costs,
which rise faster than other consumer prices.
"Any senior living in the real world knows that the cost of living has
gone up over the last year," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Obama's plan also picked up an endorsement from Social Security
Commissioner Michael J. Astrue, who was appointed to a six-year term
by former President George W. Bush.
The lack of a monthly increase in payments triggers several provisions
in the law. Among them, the amount of wages subject to Social Security
payroll taxes will remain unchanged. The first $106,800 of a worker's
earned income is currently subject to the tax.
Also, Medicare Part B premiums for the vast majority of Social
Security recipients will remain frozen at 2009 levels. However,
premiums for the Medicare prescription drug program, known as Part D,
will increase.
—
Associated Press Writer Matt Sedensky in Miami contributed to this
report
.

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