Social Security: 2011 Another Year Without an Increase in Benefits
This is a sad commentary on America. Our elders, some of the most financially vulnerable people in America, count on Social Security to help them in their later years. They worked hard for decades to contribute to America. And now Social Security is letting them down. To deny a cost of living increase to Social Security puts lives of the elderly at risk.
GOP & Tea Party Want to End Social Security
Even worse the GOP and Tea Party are fighting to try to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. That is a disgrace to America. Our nation started programs to ensure that the elderly would be protected as they aged. To strip away those programs is unjust and inhumane.
Currently the typical monthly income from Social Security is $1,072 a month. That is not enough money for elders considering the high cost of a serious illness in America. If cancer or other serious diseases occur the costs that are over the coverage by insurance can cost many thousands of dollars. Chemotherapy drugs are extremely expensive. One illness can wipe out life savings. Even monthly prescription costs are often a financial burden to many senior citizens.
Social Security Will Run Out of Funds in 2037
And already the country knows that the funds in Social Security will run out in 2037. New income will cover part of the expenses of Social Security from that point on, but at the rate America is losing jobs even that thought does not provide much hope.
Anyone who isn't already a senior citizen now has extreme doubt that Social Security will have any money in the future, even though they may have already contributed much of the weekly paycheck to the fund. Will the middle aged and young in America ever see a dime from Social Security? Only the future holds the answer to that question.
Why Does the GOP Want to Gamble on the Social Security of Elders?
The AARP is fighting for more money for seniors. The government should listen to this group. And the people of America should listen to the GOP too. Why do they talk about ending or privatizing Social Security? Basing Social Security on the whims of the stock market would be a total disaster. The GOP wants to gamble with the security of elders and that is not acceptable.
In this time of recession in America many elders are vulnerable. They are losing part-time jobs due to the massive layoffs many companies are doing. They are seeing costs of living rise without any way to get new income to keep up with daily expenses.
Spending Billions on Wars but Denying Increase to Elderly
The GOP got America into two wars that have cost the country billions of dollars. And yet we cannot give senior citizens a cost of living increase in Social Security? That is tragic. Let's spend less on war and more on our seniors. That is the humane thing to do. The futile wars America has been fighting only increase hatred against our country.
The elections of November 2, 2010 will be very interesting and likely historic too. Will Republicans who normally vote for the GOP continue to do so, even though the GOP and Tea Party continue to make noise about ending Social Security and Medicare? There will likely be many defections from the GOP due to the possibility of cuts to programs to protect the elderly.
Sources:
http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/08/15/1637465/obama-gop-will-ruin-social-security.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/15/social-security-cola-2011_n_763795.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2010-10-15-social-security-cola_N.htm
Published by Julia Bodeeb
Winner, Pulitzer Center Global Issues contest (Washington, DC), semi-finalist: The Nation's poetry contest. Published in newspapers, magazines and many online websites. Sold jokes to a major comic. Over a... View profile
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18 Comments
Post a CommentJust remember that so many of the Tea Party folks want to do away with it (also with unemployment compensation)... AND give tax rates to the rich parasites, the only people the TP really cares about.
This just sucks. I live on SSDI and I hate to tell you, but there HAS been inflation over the past two years. The government tweaks things to suit its goals, in this instance the goal being saving money by stealing from the already-poor.
They will pay more for medicare in the future too, which means they really may have to choose between food and medicine in the near future. That is more than disgraceful. The cost of food has skyrocketed. What my husband and I once purchased for $200, now costs us more than $267 and that's if we don't buy anything but generic. Medicine has gone up as well. My mom's $700 monthly bill is now close to $1,000. Her SS is $824. Do the math congress!
Shameful! I am hard-pressed to figure out what is more frustrating, the politicians who want to do away with it or the ones who refuse/fail to adequately fund it. It seems we have (print) money for everything else.
The situation is maddening! Seniors deserve so much better than this.
It's all so frustrating! My mom lives on a small amount of social security and I swear, I don't know how she does it!
We knew in 2009 there would be no increases in 2010 or 2011. I'll be dead before 2037 I'm quite sure!
Social Security only needs minor tweaks, no major overhaul. One simple act would make it solvent for the future. Eliminate the salary cap! Why is it that income above a certain level pays no social security? As for the COLA increases, it is a double-edged thing. It's great to automatically keep up with inflation, but when there isn't any, there is no increase.
it's tough
Do away with Social Security? Don't those people realize that they are cutting off their own pensions, as well as those of other people? How do they expect to be able to live? Are they all rich? And what about people who are on Disability, who can't work? Are we just going to throw them out like so much garbage? Something has to be done to help those people. BTW, I am 64, going on 65, and I have no plans to retire. I hope to work until I can't work anymore, and even after that I hope there will be an income to be made with writing and, maybe, music. Most people want to retire, though, when they reach a certain age, and they deserve to be able to do so.