Re: 'your money,' exactly. That's the insurance part of social insurance. I'd say the COLA calculation is done as well as it can be, though some people have tried to unfix it. Dean Baker's book is the definitive progressive word on this. http://books.google.com/books/about/Getting_Prices_Right.html?id=pI1JdYWSHh0C
The budget connection is that the Gov needs cash, from either borrowing or taxes or cuts to other spending, to top up SS revenues to pay scheduled benefits. SS tax income is insufficient. The Medicare savings from an increased eligibility age accumulate over the long term (in the projections). Perversely, advocates of raising the age are saying in the interim people can avail themselves of Obamacare. Of course, these same worthies are fighting Obamacare. An interesting story is that Medicare spending growth has slowed in recent years. If this trend continues, the long-run budget scare projections go away. Combine this with the possibility that the Feds get back merely to average taxes/GDP levels and the whole budget debate is transformed. This slowdown has yet to be reflected in the Medicare trustees' projections, I am told because the latter are reluctant to revise their own previous numbers. On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 5:28 PM, Chuck Grimes <[email protected]> wrote: > ** > > The immediate targets are the SS COLA and Medicare eligibility age, the > former more likely than the latter. Max Sawicky > > ----------- > > I had to look up SS COLA, which means social security cost of living > adjustment. I just got a 1.7 percent raise, but then my rent is also tied > to the official cost of living and it went up 1.7 percent. Nice game. I > barely squeeked in at 65 plus nine months to qualify for `full' SS > `benefits'. What benefit? Most of it was my money. > > The SS eligibility age is already stepped upwards by month based on date > of birth and the cost of living adjustment is quite marginal. The COLA was > frozen in 2010-11 but groceries, car insurance, and general retail prices > were not. The cost of living calculation is some bizarre fantasy > arithmetic. But 1.7 percent is better than nothing for 55 million people. > > Anyway what do either of these have to do with the US budget? Social > Security is not part of the budget so its adjustments up or down have > nothing to do with saving budget money. Medicare already collects premiums > every month from the SS checks. So upping the age of qualification only > cuts the potential premium payments. As far as I know the big costs in > Medicare rise with ages over 70 as the big disease killers get to work on > the old body. > > And the grand question what does a cut the federal budget have to do with > the free fall of the US economy? > > As far as I can tell from consulting my non-numerical intuition the > economy is dancing on air like wile coyote as his mouth crinkles and his > eyes look down .... ahhhhhhh, splat! > > CG > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > >
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