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Seniors
to receive $0.00 increase in Social Security
next year
Congressional Budget Office Forecasts
First-Ever Zero Percent Automatic COLA Raise
for 2010
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- The 37 million Americans aged 65 and over
who receive a Social Security check each
month are forecast to receive no increase in
their Social Security checks next year,
according to the Congressional Budget
Office's (CBO) 2009 Budget Report.
That would mark the first time since
automatic Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA)
went into effect in 1975 that seniors would
fail to get an increase. Since automatic
raises were established, seniors have never
failed to receive an annual increase of less
than 1.3 percent.
The CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook:
Fiscal Years 2009 to 2019, reads on page 29,
"[The] CBO anticipates that the
year-over-year change in consumer prices for
the third quarter of 2009 will show a
decline, which implies that next year's
cost-of-living adjustment for Social
Security and most other benefit programs
will be zero."
"If Social Security benefits don't start
catching up to the real rise in costs, we're
going to see a wave of seniors falling
beneath the poverty line," said Daniel
O'Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens
League. "It's particularly outrageous that
seniors may be forced to accept a $0 raise
next year, as our lawmakers have just
accepted a $4,700 raise for this year."
Supporters of a zero COLA increase will
likely argue that such a move in a
deflationary period is fair. However, they
do not mention that the way the COLA is
calculated fails to accurately track senior
costs, since it is based on the spending
habits of young, urban workers. As a result,
senior costs may go up during periods of
deflation, reducing their buying power even
further.
A study released by The Senior Citizens
League last year found that seniors have
lost 51 percent of their buying power since
2000.
The Senior Citizens League advocates a COLA
that more accurately tracks the rising costs
seniors must endure.
With 1.2 million supporters, The Senior
Citizens League (www.SeniorsLeague.org) is
one of the nation's largest nonpartisan
seniors groups. TSCL is a proud affiliate of
The Retired Enlisted Association.
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