President Obama will release his new budget proposal next week and despite his promises to protect Social Security benefits, it is said to include the chained CPI. This new method of calculating the cost of living adjustment will result in lower benefits to seniors each year. If you’re on Social Security, you already know about this. You can express your displeasure by contacting the White House directly.
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RELATED ARTICLES
- Obama enrages progressives with rumored budget cuts to Social Security (tv.msnbc.com)
- AARP poll: Seniors loathe chained CPI proposal (dailykos.com)
- Liberals groups threaten primaries over Obama budget (salon.com)
- Chained, chained, chained (economist.com)
- Dean Baker Statement on the Chained CPI and the President’s Budget (anirrationalviewoftheirrational.wordpress.com)
The kerfuffle over the chained CPI amounts to misdirection in my opinion, and concerns might even be backwards according to the excellent Economist article (“Chained, chained, chained”) under “Related Articles” above. Why misdirection? Because the stated reason for keeping the CPI-W is that the cost of healthcare is rising faster for the elderly than average inflation. That ignores the fact that healthcare already costs 250% more than it should and getting that down ought to be the priority. Seems to me.
It may be misdirection, in that rising health care costs are taking more of our income, but it’s a cut nonetheless and totally unacceptable. Not that Washington cares. I’ve also read that it’s just a ploy, a bargaining tool, and won’t be in the final bill. If so, it’s a dangerous ploy. He’s playing political chicken with my income, and I don’t appreciate it. He didn’t do all that well with health care reform and I don’t expect any better with his budget.
I’m also infuriated by the assumption behind the chained CPI — the one that assumes if the price of beef rises, the consumer will switch to chicken. I and many seniors like me “switched to chicken” years ago and have nothing left in our budgets to cut — unless you consider meds, heat, housing, etc. to be expendable.