ECON Social Security COLA largest in decades as inflation jumps - UPDATE Post #90 for 2023

[intothatgoodnight]

I think this totally depended on the social-economic level of the family/recipients, for retired sharecroppers or other folks who had very low incomes (no matter how hard-working) during their working lives, Social Security WAS their retirement income.

For people even slightly up the scale who were able to save some money (it didn't all go just for rent, food, heat, and taxes) they tended to have social security as a supplemental income to their pension from the factory or other job (and many "good" jobs had some sort of pension either from the employer or sometimes the union).

I saw (and filed away) some of the original documentation for Social Security from the 1930s and originally it was "only" for "widows and orphans" but soon expanded.

On paper, it was always supposed to be a "supplemental income" but for many who retired during and just after the Great Depression, it WAS their retirement because they had lost everything and were too old (and often disabled) to earn any extra.

So there was a nice legal fiction that the Congress Critters could "comfort" themselves with that the money didn't really need to be enough to live on because it wasn't intended to be lived on - except it was. Not always very well, but for many then and now, it is what they have and if they are really too old or disabled to work, that IS their reality.

Pretending it isn't "supposed" to be that way won't change things, though it could make a lot more older people end up in much more expensive (to the taxpayer) nursing homes or specialized public housing if the situation is totally ignored.

Good point about Congress continuing to kick the Social Security can down the road - been going on as long as I can recall - it was a topic of discussion in a social studies class, back in the early 1970s, and "the numbers" were not "adding up," then.

It will be interesting to see if the bulging Boomer retirement numbers will be able to come together as one, in order to effect positive changes for SS - or not.


intothegoodnight

 

[Redcat]

Our power provider has issued a warning it will be raising it's costs 30%. After a raise in Medicare, that alone will negate the SS raise for us. Lovely.

 

[Melodi]

I think I can see a stimulus check on the distant horizon.

And if it were limited to people 75 or 80 years old and above, with an income lower than say 80,000 thousand dollars a year (excluding the value of a home or family business) then it might be useful and somewhat cost-effective both to the older elderly and the tax-payer if it helps them get home help and avoid a nursing home.

 

[summerthyme]

Our power provider has issued a warning it will be raising it's costs 30%. After a raise in Medicare, that alone will negate the SS raise for us. Lovely.

Ouch! Who is thst? NYSEG?

Summerthyme

 

[Redcat]

Ouch! Who is thst? NYSEG?

Summerthyme

Electric is actually RG&E, NYSEG is south of us. This irritates me to no end. Pretty soon we will be using oil lamps at night. Back to the 1880's I guess.

 

[summerthyme]

Electric is actually RG&E, NYSEG is south of us. This irritates me to no end. Pretty soon we will be using oil lamps at night. Back to the 1880's I guess.

Wow! I wonder what Steuben Rural Electric rates are doing? They were HALF of NYSEG when we sold...

Our previous home could be run off 100 wstt solar and a battery (to run the outdoor wood furnace fan and pumps) and my collection of oil lamps, Aladdin lamps and propane lanterns, with a woodstove I the basement to augment my propane stove top (but Electric oven). Here everything but the heat is propane (minisplits).

Summerthyme

 

[ShadowMan]

Inflation Calculator

Just for shittes and giggles, starting at the year I was born, here's what has happened to your buying power since then:

$100 in 1955 is equal to $118 in 1965, (This is an average inflation rate of 1.64% and cumulative inflation of 17.68%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $201 in 1975 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.59% and cumulative inflation of 101.00%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $402 in 1985 (This is an average inflation rate of 4.80% and cumulative inflation of 301.74%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $569 in 1995 (This is an average inflation rate of 4.49% and cumulative inflation of 469.13%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $729 in 2005 (This is an average inflation rate of 4.09% and cumulative inflation of 629.38%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $885 in 2015 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.74% and cumulative inflation of 785.22%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $1003 in 2021 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.59% and cumulative inflation of 902.52%.)

Projected:

$100 in 1955 is equal to $1107 in 2025 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.53% and cumulative inflation of 1,006.60%.)

 

[To-late]

Yeah and diesel fuel today at the local pump is $4.35 if you use cash. Up from $4.19 in one uptick.
ssi never matches the economic inflation.
but it could if it was used as originally designed.
today it is just a slush fund for every commie tears eyed program.
And a threatening device for politicians to sway votes.

 

[Kris Gandillon]

Inflation Calculator

Just for shittes and giggles, starting at the year I was born, here's what has happened to your buying power since then:

$100 in 1955 is equal to $118 in 1965, (This is an average inflation rate of 1.64% and cumulative inflation of 17.68%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $201 in 1975 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.59% and cumulative inflation of 101.00%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $402 in 1985 (This is an average inflation rate of 4.80% and cumulative inflation of 301.74%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $569 in 1995 (This is an average inflation rate of 4.49% and cumulative inflation of 469.13%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $729 in 2005 (This is an average inflation rate of 4.09% and cumulative inflation of 629.38%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $885 in 2015 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.74% and cumulative inflation of 785.22%.)

$100 in 1955 is equal to $1003 in 2021 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.59% and cumulative inflation of 902.52%.)

Projected:

$100 in 1955 is equal to $1107 in 2025 (This is an average inflation rate of 3.53% and cumulative inflation of 1,006.60%.)

I was born in 1956 so close enough for me. I realize this is not true for everyone but I have been greatly blessed that thru my life, my compensation overall, with a few lean years, has kept up and exceeded the inflation along the way...so far.