Social Security to go without increase for 2nd straight year - NBC12 News, Weather Sports, Traffic, and Programming Guide for Richmond, VA |

This article misses the point. Sadly, many Americans rely upon Social Security as their sole source of retirement income. It was never intended as such. It was designed to be a supplement.

The consumer price index (CPI), the measure used to calculate cost of living increases, is heavily weighted toward energy costs and interest rates. Typically, the elderly are not purchasing homes with mortgages and not having to buy large quantities of gas for their cars.

In the early 80's when inflation was running in the 13-14% range, Social Security recipients were receiving hefty cost of living increases while those supporting the fund were receiving far less in terms of raises. In essence, "fixed incomes" was a misnomer in the realm of Social Security. Now that inflation has been very low, there are no increases.

The sad truth is that we cannot have it both ways: hefty increases when inflation is high and increases when there is no inflation as per the CPI.


Social Security to go without increase for 2nd straight year - NBC12 News, Weather Sports, Traffic, and Programming Guide for Richmond, VA