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Obama cliff bid trims Social Security
December 18, 2012, 10:46 AM
By Matthew Heimer
Stock investors are optimistic that President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are close to a deal that would avert the so-called fiscal cliff. But based on the offers currently on the table, retirees and people preparing for retirement may not be feeling so upbeat. This morning, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and a gazillion other major media outlets are reporting that President Barack Obama’s newest offer, like Boehner’s, embraces the use of the “chained consumer price index,” a formula for calculating inflation that would reduce the growth of Social Security benefits by making annual cost-of-living adjustments smaller. The Times says that the White House believes chained CPI will save the government about $122 billion over 10 years.
As Encore discussed yesterday, opponents of chained CPI argue that it makes an existing problem worse, since many believe that even under the current formula, seniors’ benefits aren’t keeping up with inflation. (Fast-rising Medicare premiums and other health costs are the biggest culprit.) The chained CPI idea has bipartisan backing, but it isn’t popular with voters, with 60% of respondents opposing it in a Washington Post poll. (Not surprisingly, the idea is least popular with voters who are already getting Social Security.) Liberal Democrats are not digging it, either. Anticipating objections, the White House is signaling that they’ll try to mitigate the new formula’s effects on the most vulnerable Social Security recipients. The Times’s Jonathan Weisman is saying that the cuts “would probably not affect wounded veterans and disabled people on Supplemental Security Income.”
...
As Encore discussed yesterday, opponents of chained CPI argue that it makes an existing problem worse, since many believe that even under the current formula, seniors’ benefits aren’t keeping up with inflation. (Fast-rising Medicare premiums and other health costs are the biggest culprit.) The chained CPI idea has bipartisan backing, but it isn’t popular with voters, with 60% of respondents opposing it in a Washington Post poll. (Not surprisingly, the idea is least popular with voters who are already getting Social Security.) Liberal Democrats are not digging it, either. Anticipating objections, the White House is signaling that they’ll try to mitigate the new formula’s effects on the most vulnerable Social Security recipients. The Times’s Jonathan Weisman is saying that the cuts “would probably not affect wounded veterans and disabled people on Supplemental Security Income.”
...
via http://blogs.marketwatch.com/encore/2012/12/18/obama-cliff-bid-trims-social-security/
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Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago we were all breathing a sigh of relief when Social Security was taken "off the table"?
Wha happen?
3 replies
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