The Real Cost of Social Security Surplus Raiding

by: RDemocrat
Hillbilly Report
Wed Jul 27, 2011 at 21:38:57 PM EDT

It seems in these debt limit talks some of the "reckless spending" both Republicans and Corporate Democrats are talking about without adding new revenues is entitlement spending. Entitlements that include Social Security. Despite the fact that the Social Security trust fund regularly runs surpluses that are raided for real "reckless spending" such as tax cuts for the very greedy and wars of failed ideology.

Everyone in Washington seems ready to do one thing. Steal your Social Security. Of the proposals made to "insure the solvency" of that program one thing that keeps coming up is lowing the cost of living adjustment, or COLA which means only one thing. Less money for more of the people who need it the most:

Many deficit reduction proposals under discussion reportedly include a lower cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits. This change in how to calculate the COLA would reduce it by an estimated 0.3 percentage points per year. This seemingly small cut would erode benefits over time. Under the proposed COLA, an average-wage worker retiring this year would, in 2031, receive $1,754 less in annual benefits. This represents a decline of 5.4 percent in the next 20 years.

(More here.)