Chained CPI. The cheaper the items seniors buy, the lower the cost of living raise. Not good. [View all]

[madfloridian]

Senator Harkin spoke about Social Security and the chained C.P.I. on the Senate floor and warned about the negative effects that it has on the budgets of seniors. Dec. 2012.

I fear this will be part of a deal with the GOP to end the shutdown and avoid default. The president has often pushed Chained CPI, so it does worry me.

Superlative CPI. Obama's version of Chained CPI. From ABC in December.

House Republicans have proposed indexing federal benefits, most notably Social Security, to a slower inflation rate known as the “chained Consumer Price Index (CPI).” That would slow the growth of Social Security benefits, which increase periodically with Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs), the next of which is scheduled for January.

The president has countered with his own inflation offer, a “superlative CPI” that the White House says would shield the neediest beneficiaries from the change. Liberals have cried foul about all of it.

...The best number to know is $130: That’s how much a typical 65 year-old would lose in yearly benefits, three years from now, under the GOP’s “chained CPI” proposal.