Joe Biden’s economic and energy policies have resulted in another record matching former President Jimmy Carter. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced an inflation driven increase in SAA benefits of 8.7% beginning in January 2023. This is the largest cost of living adjustment in 40 years.
(Social Security Administration) – Approximately 70 million Americans will see a 8.7% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2023. On average, Social Security benefits will increase by more than $140 per month starting in January.
Federal benefit rates increase when the cost-of-living rises, as measured by the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). The CPI-W rises when inflation increases, leading to a higher cost-of-living. This change means prices for goods and services, on average, are higher. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) helps to offset these costs.
We will mail COLA notices throughout the month of December to retirement, survivors, and disability beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and representative payees. But if you want to know your new benefit amount sooner, you can securely obtain your Social Security COLA notice online using the Message Center in your personal my Social Security account. You can access this information in early December, prior to receiving the mailed notice. Benefit amounts will not be available before December. Since you will receive the COLA notice online or in the mail, you don’t need to contact us to get your new benefit amount.
If you prefer to access your COLA notice online and not receive the mailed notice, you can log in to your personal my Social Security account to opt out by changing your Preferences in the Message Center. You can update your preferences to opt out of the mailed COLA notice, and any other notices that are available online. Did you know you can receive a text or email alert when there is a new message waiting for you? That way, you always know when we have something important for you – like your COLA notice. If you don’t have an account yet, you must create one by November 15, 2022 to receive the 2023 COLA notice online. (more)
A 25% increase in the rate for those who qualify for federal food stamp assistance….
An 8.7% increase in the rate for those who qualify for Social Security benefits….
Meanwhile real wages decreased 3.8% in September and the borders are wide open for cheap labor to pour in.
Oh great– I don’t drown in deep water due to inflation, just the shallow end!
Yes. As long as you understand that.
*We have been paying inflated prices for everything for at least 18 months now due to Robinette’s EOs. Even if the increased income was real, we will never recover what’s already been spent.
*I’ve been keeping a cumulative total of fixed-price-increases as I’m being notified about them as we get toward the end of the year. Currently, my fixed expenses have gone up $40/month, so that amount can be immediately subtracted from the increase. Still waiting on notification re increases on 4 additional fixed-budget items.
*8.7% increase against real-time inflation of 40% (minimum) isn’t worth much. They get this figure down to 8.7% because of their not-reality-based formula. Most items I ordinarily purchase (in a number of different stores) show price increases from 30%-90%. 8.75 is the stuff of dreams.
Due to this reality, I no longer budget for groceries, clothing, or gas for the car. Those expenditures come out of whatever’s left after projected fixed expenses are subtracted. (I have plenty of food on hand because I started seriously stocking up the day that Robinette moved into the white house. The majority of the stimulus checks I received went directly into canned foods, beans, rice, OTC things of all kinds, furnace filters (which now cost $40 each for my particular furnace; they used to be $17…I purchased 4 of them for about $19 each many months ago, so I’m good to go)
*one of the few areas where I can push back at a personal level is in the business of utilities: even as they are raising rates, my effort is aimed at reducing my consumption enough to both compensate for the increase and, where possible, get my actual usage down
Related example re utilities: recently I got this nifty, 4-color marketing thing from PGE (electricity), commending me for my extraordinarily low (according to them) electricity bill/usage and then offering me the opportunity to start paying about $8 more a month (for power I DON’T use) as my way to contribute to going green. Fools. I seriously doubt any of them consider what my motivation is for keeping bill at minimal levels.
I have 2 furnaces. Permanent filters that just need cleaning ( varies with individual Conditions) I highly recommend. K.& N is the brand I use. They cost more originally but the savings is great over time. I also use K& N air filter in my car. Just clean and put back in. Only thing my mechanic and gear head husband would use.
I used K&N filters for my dirt bikes. Great products.
I didn’t even know they made furnance filters for years. I cringe when I think of all those disposables and money I threw away.
Just to say from a mechanics perspective that those filters if used incorrectly can cause problems.
I loved my K&N filter in my Avalanche truck. It was crazy
the mileage I got from it. Most folks didn’t believe me.
They don’t make one for my Subaru. I didn’t know I could get a furnace
filter from them.
Thank you Diceanna!
Very informative. You are an excellent steward.
I have the issue that we’ve begun the slide into colder weather here in Southcentral Alaska (Wasilla-Anchorage).
Fortunately, chemotherapy doesn’t make you more sensitive to cold temps….
… oh, wait. 🙂
I had to heat up all my drinking water during chemo because I couldn’t tolerate it at room temperature. Added a lot of propel for flavoring because it was so weird. God bless you!
After chemo I had zero tolerance physically for it being too hot or too cold. I was miserable while my body fought to get back to “normal”. I can’t even imagine living in Alaska with that sensitivity. I did learn to layer clothing so I could put clothes on or peel them off.
Lots of things chemotherapy does last a long, long time. I’m six years out.
❤️
You mean to tell us you did not pony up extra cash to PG&E to fund going green?? Bad, bad Sharon. Shame on you, as a certain underage European girl says.
Some college age girl was at my door about three years ago, from the same utility. She very much wanted to chat. I invited her in.
She presented me with four-color wonderful things, explaining how I could choose where I wanted my power to come from. (the old railroads were accused of featherbedding when they did a lot of make-work type jobs….)
So I let her go on, wanting to learn if it was all as goofy as I assumed at the outset. It was.
I could “choose” if I wanted my power to come from solar. Or from wind. It was all feel-good, not-doable, but really important, and we need your money, cuz you can’t keep using power that is created by the massive Columbia River (which works and has worked for a very long time)…..
She got all gone, and I asked a couple of questions that came to mind. Just simple, curious questions about the reasons behind this, how it would work, and why-would-I-do-that-since-it-would-mean-I-was-paying-more-? She couldn’t think of how to explain those things, except for her script.
My last question was, specifically, this: “Am I going to be punished if I do what you want me to do?”
She looked quite startled and assured me that, no, I would not be punished. (I took that to mean—“our systems are not yet set up for that.”)
They are deeply embedded.
We live in SE Asia. We use to be able to feed ourself for under 400$ per month. Now it is around 650$ per month.
A lot of noodles and rice. 🤨
I’m feeding myself for under some way $200 a month now. A large contributor to that is I no longer buy any prepared item (except dairy products). I’m back to baking from scratch on everything else…which takes just as much time to do for one as it ever did for two (or four). The time element is why I kept avoiding it–but now that’s what’s for dinner: whatever I made. It has great benefits, so I’m not complaining.
Are we in an election year?
Sorry, not sorry, but that picture makes the Carters look like ventriloquist dummies.
Jill has idiotic taste in clothes
She was wearing the picnic table cloth here, the sofa cover a few weeks ago. LOL
Don’t forget the off the shoulder lamp shade.😂
Except she didn’t even have the sense to actually wear it off the shoulder. Lol.
More than you know. See this:
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/10/jill_biden_isnt_mutton_dressed_as_lamb_shes_even_worse.html
No class!
Or brains!
She IS then, the PERFECT partner, for Joe.
Joe is EVERYTHING PDJT isn’t, and nothing PDJT IS.
Jill is EVERYTHING Melania ISN’T, and Nothing Melania IS!
HOW PERFECT a match, is THAT?
“Like school on a Saturday”..
It is believed she was having an affair with Joe while she was still married. She was working on his campaign and his wife was already dead.
She of course denies the marital affair. The husband doesn’t discuss it.
I’ve read that she was his babysitter. There’s a photo of her sitting on his knee.
I don’t have the resources to do a check on the authenticity, but it certainly looks that way.
I read that article and just laughed out loud at the woman whose latest obsession is finding the couch to match Jill’s dresses! Everyone needs to click on this link that Prairie Viking has posted. It is hilarious!!!
For a fairly attractive woman, she has abhorrent taste in clothing.
*Sigh*
I miss Mrs. Trump.
Just shared that with the MAGA girlfriend crew!
I scared the cats laughing so loud…
If I was drinking milk when looking at the pictures of FJ(ill)B in that AT article it woulda come out my nose!
“Oh The Huge Manatee!”
Just thought of the Sound of Music as it seems to fit.
I was going to post the same, but then I saw yours. So, then I was going to reply to you with something like, “she’s wearing the table cloth”, but many others beat me to this as well!
Before election day we may well see her in a lovely Green New Deal outfit constructed of AstroTurf.
Hillary helps Jill with her wardrobe selections.
Someone ought to tell Jill that 70 y/o women should not wear pointy toe stiletto heels. You’d think that Jill, being an “awesome doctor” in the minds of the claque on The View, would know better.
Ha ha – yeah, I saw this picture the first time SD posted it and didn’t notice until this time – the yellow pointed shoes “Dr.” Jill is wearing. (yes, I know she’s and EdD. I say “Dr.” about all EdD’s). Why she’s constantly wearing the drapes from the living room is beyond me.
Maybe she watched Gone With the Wind drunk a few too many times…
I just found the dress – it’s an Oscar de la Renta from the ‘pre-spring 21′ collection. It’s sad how far fashion has fallen. I remember watching the Gucci 2021 fall line launch and realized then that these people are just fricken’ nuts. They have destroyed everything that was beautiful, trading it in for some post-industrial warehouse trash look. That was the last time I could be bothered to look at “fashion”.
However, the Kanye West interview with Tucker Carlson was both interesting and uplifting.
Someone has a blog or Twit site of Jill fashion = couch fabrics. It’s a riot.
Jill is Jack’s wife? She doesn’t know jack!
Nothing but dummies in that picture.
The ventriloquist is BHO.
“I used to say if I can make an arrangement where I had a stand-in, a front-man or front-woman, and they had an earpiece in, and I was just in my basement in my sweats looking through the stuff…”
BO, Colbert show, 1 month before the FJB inauguration
And Joe and Jill look like juicer’s from the WWE
Now imagine if Big Mike was also in this picture…
Dwarfing them all!
Were they ALWAYS that small, and the media covered it up,…or did both of THEM,….SHRINK?
It is so bad it looks like a bad photoshop job
Could never figure out why they released that when it was so obviously and so poorly photoshopped. ???
Maybe somebody riding the White House Staff Clown Car just wanted to find a picture of the Xidens with the Carters for some b.s. “narrative” or other, but couldn’t…
…and the staffer just thought he or she was, uh, “talented” at PhotoShop….
I love that picture. Hilarious.
I used to sell a product that would be used in the manufacture of furniture.
One of my clients was a manufacturer of nursing home, etc. furniture.
Their showroom looked like Lilliput.
As we age, we shrink so they make the furniture smaller.
Looks like the thieves were photoshopped into image.
We took Sundance’s advice to be as self-sufficient as possible over a year ago. Sold our Las Vegas home and eventually found a place with a roof and walls on five acres that had it’s own well and septic with elk and deer in the back and near the ocean for fish and seafood. Been working on rebuilding the house and making fruitful gardens ever since. Best decision we ever made. Thank you Sundance.
Btw we are old folks, over 65 but not dead yet.
I’m 67 yo … and rebuilding my entire home … so I can escape CA. 4th generation Californian … but have had enough.
Older folks can have some serious skill sets. We went to WA state and it’s Trump country, so we have made lots of new like-minded friends!
That’s why they’re trying to kill us off. We’re living proof that we don’t need them. (I’m 72)
Plus we (same age) know what “normal” is and that this is NOT it. Meanwhile, we see college kids (this was Columbia) saying “Yes, we have free speech on campus, but of course, you can’t just have hate speech…” — not even knowing the definition and worse– not hearing their own illogic..
Y’all know what Communism is. I am 43 and many people younger than I am are painfully un-informed. If no one teaches the youngins or they lose the capability to learn, we are lost.
Yep, I got plenty of first-hand education from those who experienced the Reds personally and up close. My family. Even though I was never a Rand fan and didn’t know anything of her personally until recently, I apparently developed a similar nose for the Reds that she did growing up during their era before escaping.
Blessing and a curse. In the current milieu, I don’t discount the everyday Russians though. Tough stock. We’re hard to kill, God knows the Reds tried.
Nice post, we are in Southern British Columbia a 5 minute drive from the U.S. border at Blaine.
Although we are north of the 49, we are enthusiastic followers of this site.
We are setting up a place on Vancouver Island much like the place you describe.
Cheers, and all the best!
Thank you Dekester! Good luck on the island. We get near 80 inches of rain but I think you get more. Our very best friends are from Alberta and tipped us off to comedy like “Corner Gas”. Keep your sense of humor and you’ll get it done with a smile
Sounds absolutely beautiful. I have a friend on Whidby Island … which has become a bit like Jackson Hole … wayyyyyy too expensive.
I know that area so well having grown up in Skagit county. I’ve crossed the border at Sumas and Blaine countless times. It’s like being in the same family with a border in between.
Eastern WA?
No, we are north of Aberdeen on the west coast. Almost every home has an American flag flying.
I may join you. My son in law is Canadian from inner BC
I’m 62 in SoCal, sold my house. Currently looking in flyover country for something more self sustainable
It took us 5 months of hunting for wooded acreage (firewood) in a milder climate (less than foot of snow) winter, which landed us in upper Washington and 70-80 inches of rain a year. Not everyone’s cup of tea but after watching Las Vegas drying up we wanted a place with rain. Don’t give up and get on friendly terms with power tools so you can fix stuff yourself. 🙂
Should have looked here in Kentucky. Fits your requirements and most electricity is coal, nuclear or TVA hydro so cheaper than a lot of the country. The “warm” summers might be a bit much if you are not used to humidity.
Beshear and the teachers unions in Louisville and Lexington have ruined Kentucky with the help of gop like McConnell and Hal Rogers. Indiana is solid red – gov Holcomb is kinda pink but he identifies red and his pronouns are mike and pence. S Indiana is more like Tennessee than midwest.
Beautiful state but I don’t like their politics anymore than California’s which I am escaping.
It wasn’t my first choice for that reason, but the funny thing is all our new friends prove it’s Trump country except for lefty Seattle, and urban areas.
Southern Indiana between Louisville and Evansville is flyover country that is usually overlooked. Stay well south of Indianapolis. Corydon is a good place to start looking.
There is still plenty of inexpensive acreage in the southern Appalachians, as well as a bit further south into AL and MS.
We moved to north GA at about 3000′ elevation some 25 years ago, and have never looked back. Our county is 65% USFS land, so overcrowding is impossible. Much of USFS acreage can be legally hunted in season.
Fifteen miles above us one arrives in western NC, where the mountains are higher and the lands very thinly settled.
Jawga mountains !!! Eastern TN is 20 miles north , leaves beginning to turn….
If I didn’t love southern Indiana so much the Georgia mountains are where I’d settle. Good luck to you.
I made a small fortune buying produce on the Forest Park Farmers Mkt s of Atlanta and selling it in s. Indiana – bad news is I started with a large fortune
I’m envious.
I wanted to move into the boonies in Southern Europe. Yes…EU is a failing political experiment. But, they have better food, treat those at the short end of the stick better (comparatively) and have more to do within manageable distances.
Cancer currently suspending the gameplan. This too shall pass (not me!).
Speedy recovery to you!
Thank you!
Enjoy taking the vision to fruition; always very satisfying.
Prayers and good wishes to you….
Sending blessings and prayers. Every dollar spent on this mass psychosis formation covid scheme should have gone to cancer research and treatment.
Sounds idyllic! 😀
We are truly blessed to have taken the leap fearlessly. But there have been a few days where we wondered about the line between brave and stupid. lol
God Bless you.
I say a prayer of thankfulness each time I receive one of these types of statements, by comment or by mail, because they provide genuine fuel for my spirit. Knowing my small contribution to helping understand the world around us provides a little bit of detail for such a substantive decision is overwhelming.
I wish the very best life for everyone as we travel through these storms.
It is me that thanks you.
Warmest and most sincere best,
Sundance
Your work is so appreciated. Everything your family has gone through recently has to be hard but remember, as long as you have God and your sense of humor you can keep going with laughter.
Yep– SD and CTH is my first go-to every day. Thanks and bless all the treepers.
I may not agree with everything you say. But you sir are a wonderful person and the world would be better of with more people like you in it. Thanks for all you do.
Many of us are grateful to you, Sundance (and to the other commenters). I’m not on a self-sufficoent homestead but I’m in a better state with more conservatives and an increasingly bigger garden. Once the house is paid off, even more will get done.
Thank you for all you do.
No, we sincerely and deeply thank you. While some of us have lived long enough or had relatives who lived thru hard times, it’s such an uplift to have someone like yourself, with your analytical skills, provide a deeper insight than many including myself may push ourselves to.
I’ve been of the self sufficient mindset since 1999. Three years ago I took the plunge and moved to central Florida to a 42 acre horse farm. I’m fairly well prepared but feel I can always do better.
While I don’t have everything yet figured out, the necessities are in place. Your words are most encouraging to persevere, a bit at a time so it’s not overwhelming.
We are blessed to “know” you even if only on this site.
God bless you and keep you forever, as well as this community you have built.
Wait for the 87 000 new hires to say you must pay taxes on your own labor. YOU will be required to get 5 estimates of what it would cost if you hired someone and with some formula you will not know the IRS will assess.
Of course people on Marthas Vineyard will fly in Venezuelans to get their estimates before they send them to a Massachusetts army base.
FDA is building a database for those with home gardens…..means taxing your own grown produce is not far off….they are even asking for informers to tell on their neighbors so they have better intel…..talk about reminders of the KGB
List of taxpayers to be audited is being assembled.
I am withdrawing from pay services online. Trying to reduce surveillance footprint.
Vertical Integration Farming. The Corporations will want to control everything from seed to sale. Unauthorized cultivation will result in stiff penalties.
They already do this, in form of sterile seeds, and government cash penalties on farmers who dare keep heirloom seeds from one season to the next.
And then there are Bill Gates’ killer insects, the ones that carry mRNA in their teensy little bodies and get it into our plants – and us, if we are lucky enough to get bitten.
I need to hide my collection of; rare, quality, and limited pressing vinyl. I hope the IRS still believes record collections are things that nobody buys at the yard sale … worthless.
No shit! Everything I’ve built has added to my … “wealth” … which must be IMMEDIATELY transferred to some slacker with no ambition or work ethic. Yes … THATS Communism. Mountains of skulls follow.
Since starting on SSI, my older brother and I joke about our annual “merit” increase from the government for doing such a good job. (SSI annual COLA). We must have been really productive this year to receive such a large increase when inflation has been 3 times that.
It’s still about 6 times bigger than most of the raises I got in the last 8 years of my career. I talked to someone at the old workplace last week and the company actually gave them – are you sitting down- average raises of 2.25% this year. Wow!
I got a creative raise. I was able to change my work schedule from 5 eight hour days a week to 4 ten hour days. I have a long commute to work and the savings on gas is my raise.
Rather than paying for medi-care, I pay for health insurance through my husband’s job (he’s still working and covered; I’m retired and not). But because insurance premiums went up this year, and he has to pay for my insurance, he actually took a pay CUT this year. (And as a teacher — a trad one, heh — if I’m not mistaken, he gets a small step increase about equal to yours each year, but since it’s negligible, I don’t know for sure — just know that it’s a net cut in the monthly check.)
Wasn’t it nice last year, when — because of PDT’s doubling of the standard deduction, we all saw MORE in our paychecks each month? Had an acquaintance claiming PDT raised his taxes — he believes what Kyle Kulinksy (or however he spells it) says more than he believes his own paycheck.
I can relate! Same here.
I don’t even talk about my raises with people still working.
That’s insulting to treat employees like that
Don’t forget the federal tax increase on that nice 8.7% raise!
You don’t pay taxes on SS unless you earn over a limit. I don’t even file any more 😂
If you’re on SSI, you can only have $2000 in assets not including a house so I can see why you’re hurting.
The govt had the plan already worked out before they announced this year’s SS COLA. Wait until you see the increase in Medicare premiums for 2023. In one pocket out the other.
Yet you’ll pay more in income taxes due to the COLA increase. Win for them. Lose for retired Americans.
No, they announced the part b premium is decreasing. Miracles….
The Medicare premium is going to go down by $5 and some cents.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcarlson/2022/10/11/medicare-premiums-drop-in-2023-but-thats-not-the-full-story/?sh=2ac94ffb41c4
“The Part B premium took a 14.5% leap from 2021 to 2022 to $170.10. The increase was due to several factors, but $10 of this $22 increase was to establish a reserve to pay for possible coverage of the then-new Alzheimer’s drug, Adulhelm. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) subsequently decided to limit coverage for the drug, and the manufacturer reduced the price.
“In 2023, the base Part B Medicare premium will decline to $164.90 in 2023, a $5.20 decline from 2022’s $170.10 monthly premium. Also, the annual Part B deductible will decline to $226 in 2023 from $233 in 2022, according to CMS.”
Curb your enthusiasm for the raise; I don’t believe they have announced
cost of Medicare increases yet! LOL
There’s going to be a slight decrease. Several commenters have mentioned that.
What’s the difference between success under Trump and this moron? A stolen election; Obama; Soros; Pelosi; and the Chinese.
I would add WEF.
Honey, I shrunk the Carters and the economy.
I’m waiting to hear what people think. But, my two cents is: Seniors cannot afford groceries right now, or heat. 8.7% will help – not a lot, but a little – it could mean the difference between starving and eating. The sad thing is, all this could have been avoided if the nut jobs in D.C. hadn’t stolen the election.
One big giant FUBAR.
It’s more than just groceries. Rents have gone through the roof too, depending on area. Going thru this with MIL who has depleted almost all of her savings trying to stay above water. It’s not fun for a lot of people right now.
My sister’s went from 1200 to 1500 this year. My daughter and son-in-law thought about moving but their rent, utilities included, went up only $70. Most of their friends were going up $200 or more and they decided they like their place. Rather than move, they started organizing and that has helped a lot.
Good luck to your mother-in-law.
I was talking with a woman recently and the senior mobile home park she lives in is charging $1000 a month for space rent !
America is obscene in more ways than I imagined!! Viva Mexico
8.7% will only “help” in that those who are struggling will starve more slowly .8.7% doesn’t come close to compensating for actual prices increases. It’s mockery; it’s not real help…..and “real help” should never have been needed.
Forget build back better. PUT IT BACK THE WAY IT WAS.
MAGA-A
It also cou.d have been avoided if they hadn’t intentionally destroyed the economy after they sto.e the election
I’m with you on the sorry gov but if you’re a senior citizen and living on social security is the extent of your retirement planning you have done a poor job of managing. I’m 71 and in my peak earning years of the 80s/90s/aughts I never relied or even expected to receive enough social security to amount to anything.
I am one of the fortunate ones, however, I would never denigrate
someone who do to poor circumstances or tragedy is forced to live
on social security as most of or all of their living expenses.
Aren’t you special. Entitled one.
I agree with him/her. My parents were born in the 1920s. Their horror stories of the Great Depression made me a saver for life. Yet all around me are neighbors who maxed out their cards, bought too much house or had more kids than they could support. They live check-to-check and are suffering, but it’s as much their own fault as it is the government’s.
“…you have done a poor job of managing. ”
Yeah, I guess I’m guilty of that. My long-deceased husband was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 1993. So far gone the docs wouldn’t put him into any clinical trials, said the usual chemo/radiation route would kill him faster than their 3 month prognosis.
I spent 50 grand on alternative healing for him, and he lived relatively pain-free for another 3.5 years. He got to see our son graduate from high school, tears streaming down his face with both sorrow and pride.
It took me over 20 years to pay off the fifty grand I had placed on credit cards. That’s fifty grand that never made it into my retirement savings.
And I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. My husband’s three extra years were worth every dime.
I have no doubt he agrees with me:)
Sounds to me like you managed very well, Fionnagh.
Thank you, that was very kind.
My son is quite reticent with regard to his father but has told me his Dad taught him how to live with dignity, and courage, and faith.
If seniors have no debt and live in a low property tax state, it’s very doable. But, my electric rate is up 64% this year, groceries almost doubled, just like gas, and car/house insurance is astronomical.
I didn’t care for jimmy carter, but I would take his regime over the present one any day.
Carter and early Reagan were a cakewalk compared to today, IMO. There was, surprisingly, a modicum of trust in institutions back then. I got a lot of pushback and shunning for being a skeptic, that’s why I remember. Everyday life was nothing like it is now. Having lived in the same area for six decades before escaping gave me that perspective.
we also started w a $4T national debt with RWR so there was more “flexibility” in fiscal policy available
Other than a few things he’s done over the years, I think Carter was a good guy at heart. I really think that’s a big reason he was NOT a good president. A lot of stuff a president has to do has to be tough and emotionally draining… you gotta be a bit “ruthless” about some things, in my opinion. I doubt I could ever do it, even if I was trying to do the best for the people of the country. So yeah, despite his flaws, Jimmy was a far better person than others we’ve had recently. (Not counting President Trump, obviously!)
So … SS goes broke … how many years earlier?
I believe the fake vaccine will help SS remain solvent. Just how many people receiving SS and Medicare will be gone in the next few years!
How very convenient…
The vax is killing across all age groups >18, not just seniors. This means less people putting money into the SS system, and all those illegals don’t contribute to SS either.
Double-whammy.
I noticed today’s propaganda machine was cranked up with ‘news’ that the GOP was looking to attack SS and Medicare/Medicaid if they win in November. Don’t vote GOP they’ll take your Social Security away. Heh. Tokyo Rose was more creative.
That tired old smear has been used by the DemoCommunists as far back as I can remember.
They had TV ads showing a Republican pushing Granny over a cliff.
Republicans DO want to stop entitlement programs from being “automatically” funded year after year. There have been legitimate proposals to force the SSA / Medicare programs to be reviewed by Congress every year for funding.
My only problem with that is that they make no simultaneous effort to tighten up the gaping tax loopholes that the corporate crowd always exploits.
IMHO Social Security was inflated decades ago far beyond its original 1932 intentions – but that’s always what happens to Democrat-originated social welfare programs. As such, far too many able-bodied people exist entirely on government welfare when they might otherwise hold a productive job and contribute to the welfare funding rather than suck from it.
Yep, after decades of paying both the employer and employee contribution, I had my fill of customers telling me they could get it cheaper by the container from China so decided to end that death march and shrug.
Like Sundance puts it, sand in the machinery. Deny the machine my decades of skill, and machinery, in industry. I don’t mind being poor. I’ve seen the other side; it isn’t all rosy and nice. If that choice puts me at odds with other humans, so be it. Nothing new. Let’s get to it. The afterlife beckons.
Who wants to see all their labor, effort, and genius go to the government … where your treasure gets treated like a fine gold ring in a pigs snout. Just wasted.
More political advertisements showing Trump shoving grandma’s wheelchair over a cliff?
It already is. They keep saying “it will run out…” this or that year as if there is money kept in a trust fund for it rather than being run as the ponzi scheme it is. There’s no way congress could be trusted to keep money in a trust fund. It was gone long ago.
Doesn’t matter. Whichever party wants to buy an election, will print sufficient trillions of USD so as to claim “we kept SSA solvent!”
Yes but does anyone ever hear of welfare payments for deadbeats going broke? Me either.
They just give you more Social Security and then say “you made more money so you owe more for your Medicare” and take it right back.
Respectfully, that only happens if you have allowed them to get you addicted to the Mainstream Healthcare System, which makes people sick, keeps people sick, and kills people.
Opt out of parts B and D, and give yourself a monthly raise in household income.
$170/mo per recipient, we’ll find out if they raise the premiums in Jan.
Then, “call around” to see if their are clinics that charge no insurance “self-pay” patients on a sliding scale, based on ability to pay. TRY to research to detirmine if you REALLY need those pills the Dr wants you to take every day, and wean off any you can.
As for the rest, see if the drug company has a program to supply the meds,..FOR FREE to those below certain income, and if you qualify.
I know a couple,..both qualify for SS.
Either they ‘pay’ $170/mo, x2 for parts B and D.
Which would include stressing over and paying co-pays and deductibles.
OR, they opt out; any labs are capped at $30 per draw, and office visits are $40 each.
They pay less per YEAR, for ‘healthcare’ than ONE MONTH of their medicare premiums,…and they STILL have “Catastrophic” coverage under part A, which cost you nothing, but you can’t opt out of.
Its NOT for everybody, but is something those on Medicare SHOULD look at, and consider.
Today I read that the premium for Medicare B is being decreased in the coming year.
Yes, it is. By $5.67 or something. But it’s only being decreased because they have admitted that the increase last year (which was about $35) was based on their assumptions about some incredibly expensive med for Alzheimers that they ASSUMED would be widely used—unfortunately, it hadn’t completed standard testing at the time. When that testing was completed, in April 2022 or so, they realized it was a complete bust, and decided they had better back track a bit.
So, for 12 months they’ve been taking $35/mo on false pretense; and now they are going to return $5+ month to make it right.
I spit in their general direction.
Thanks Sharon. I didn’t hear about the premiums going down.
I was expecting an increase.
A 5.00 decrease, I can deal with 😃.
This is an excerpt from an article at Forbes:
“The Part B premium took a 14.5% leap from 2021 to 2022 to $170.10. The increase was due to several factors, but $10 of this $22 increase was to establish a reserve to pay for possible coverage of the then-new Alzheimer’s drug, Adulhelm. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) subsequently decided to limit coverage for the drug, and the manufacturer reduced the price.
“In 2023, the base Part B Medicare premium will decline to $164.90 in 2023, a $5.20 decline from 2022’s $170.10 monthly premium. Also, the annual Part B deductible will decline to $226 in 2023 from $233 in 2022, according to CMS.”
Actually 5 dollars a month. Decrease the last I heard. One big Mac a month. Yippee!!!!
I read the same thing today.
I’ve seriously considered that, but I don’t understand what happens in the case of serious physical injury or diagnoses/surgeries like cancer that require hospitalization, brief or long. (One of my husband’s one-day outpatient procedures during his terminal cancer care priced out at over $10,000)
Do the professionals at these sliding price/concierge/self-pay places have hospital privileges, for starters? It’s not my understanding that they do.
Browse for information on Dr. Scott Atlas – he is a pioneer of affordable concierge-style care.
My husband and I had a concierge primary care physician. He had no hospital privileges, no say so in my husband’s terminal cancer care. We had employer coverage that was great. I liked our pcp but not for the aging or for serious illness. It takes a lot of resource to figure out what’s best for yourself. You do realize insurance companies and medicare have Philadelphia lawyers write these policy’s to keep us in the dark.
In 1961 at age 10 I started going to a family practice started by 2 brothers and a close friend. These doctors were young and good. Their practice thrived, soon there was a half dozen doctors in the practice and then children of the founders joined. Great doctors and a wonderful practice.
Then the founders started dying, none ever retired, they cut their workload but stayed active letting the youngsters take over.3 years ago the last of the founding doctors children passed and the practice was bought by the local mega hospital and is now staffed with one doctor and 5 pa’s – all female and young. I hated it.
There are a couple of highly successful doctors who opened a concierge service start of 2022. I’m a heart attack survivor and my doctor is a 30 year highly regarded local cardiologist. The other partner was director of a major area hospital – both serious over achievers. Cost is $2750 per year – kinda salty but the care is first class and there are no deductibles or co-pays. No masks either. They bill medicare and take whatever they pay in addition to my annual dues.
Both have hospital privileges at the areas best hospital and will even make house calls if necessary. I sometimes feel a little guilty because I know not everyone can afford this kind of care but the guilt does not override self preservation instinct.
The doctors who run self-pay clinics can be wonderful doctors for basic medical maintenance, but I’ve never met one who was even a general surgeon, let alone specialties like oncology or orthopedics. No reason for them to seek hospital privileges. They refer out to specialists when needed.
I think Dutch’s advice is good, but only for primary care/family medicine. If you enter a public, nonprofit hospital in an acute condition, they have to treat you whether you have money or not.
I have been wondering if I can do that, thank you for the information.
Current reports are Medicare part B is declining, to 164/mo, for 2023. Also, in some states, seniors below a certain threshold of income can qualify for the state paying the Part B premiums, copays and deductibles, in addition to all or part of Part A premiums for those who didn’t work the necessary quarters to qualify.
In general, costs of living like this loom large in choosing where one goes/stays to live their twilight years.
Though having decades of experience living the good life, I shrugged and now use those skills to live in poverty, on purpose. It’s doable. Health is wealth. Amazing how much stress has been removed from the constant struggle of the war with other humans over building the good life and protecting it. Amazing. If I never see another human again it’ll be a good end of life experience.
Viva Mexico. Land of Less Stress. Proven results.
Until they get cancer, have a heart attack, etc. Part A pays the hospital bill but not for doctors, PT, labs, out patient treatments, etc. I’m not saying don’t do it but I’ve always thought if insurance as being there to cover the really big stuff and your friends don’t have that with just Part A.
Best way to avoid as many costs as possible is to stay as healthy as possible and avoid accidents even down to putting things away immediately so you don’t trip over them.
Good point. Attention to surrounding and safety is some of the best insurance one can buy. Take it from someone who worked daily with stuff that could maim or kill me.
Even today, yesterday actually, when I climbed the ladder to work on the roof I was mindful of safety. No one is going to rescue me in the middle of the woods, much less getting to use those awesome Medicare benefits that are tens of miles away. I’d sooner be eaten by the critters.
IMO, analyze and do what’s best for one’s personal situation. Each of us is different. At my age, my dad had all kinds of problems, much of it related to his time in the war. Comparatively, even with a lifetime in heavy industry, I’m healthy as I was decades ago and I often lament the risks I took with my life to earn the money to enrich the insurance companies to pay for health care I never received. Life in America I guess. Make the best of it, we only get one go-around.
I opted out of the drug insurance. I discovered that pharmacies give the “uninsured” a deal. As far as cancer drugs go, the manufacturers also give you a deal. So, I don’t carry Part D. At the same time, I weaned myself off of all pharmaceuticals. And I’m still alive.
Since I live on a farm, there are potential daily treacheries that I carefully avoid. I don’t do stupid things so that I don’t get hurt. I don’t go places where I might get shot. I avoid highways! I do live a more careful life now. But, that doesn’t stop me from doing the work that needs to be done here to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
I too would be happy to never visit another large city as long as I live.
Chemo and radiation cancer treatments will kill you before the cancer does.
Watch “Heal” on Amazon Prime (may be on Netflix, too).
I would love to see you try and tell that to my 93 year-old mother, whose chemo and radiation cured her leg sarcomas when she was in her 70s. Those treatments saved both her life AND her leg.
Agree Dutchman.
I guess, I am different, but so average a person. I can count on one hand how many times in the last 40 plus years i have gone to a Doctors office. I have for the most part always had the best medical money could buy but rarely visited a Doctor, myself. My medical was more for my family than me (wife and kids). If I used medical its was for dental hygiene and eye exams and those visits were spread out over 15/20 yr increments. I always like the Dentist, come back in six months, ya sure and then the eye doc., see you in a year, ya sure. Why?
The way I look at it and this is just speaking for myself, no need for a Doctor unless i’m dying and God is still keeping me alive for a reason, so no Doctors needed. My wife on the other hand that is her business. Women have different medical needs then men. She being an X teacher has the best medical (of course) and its not expensive, you could call it cheap.
I like you do not trust the medical profession at all and never have, I do not take one single pill for any aliments, never have. And that is God looking out for me, now will that hold, now that I’m over 70’d. I leave it in Gods hands.
If the whole thing collapses, will there even be a medical system at all?
Dutchman: As I get closer to Medicare age, I am paying closer attention to the details. With an elderly mother who is fully covered, with supplementary insurance as well, I have susepected that I could be better off without Parts B and D. The more one takes responsibility for his or her own healthcare and lifestyle, the more one can save.
I have a Medicare Advantage plan that costs $250/mo (the only Medicare expense I have, and it is deducted from my Social Security monthly check).
That advantage plan is with Anthem Blue-Cross and it’s worth it. I get a free YMCA membership and $400/yr. in health care products from their catalog that Wal-Mart supplies with free shipping. I use it for vitamins and lots of other things related to health care.
We have a very nice YMCA facility close by and they charge $50-75/month depending on your income, so having it for free is great.
“…The more one takes responsibility for his or her own healthcare and lifestyle, the more one can save….”
Unless you are diagnosed with cancer. Or have a heart attack or stroke. Those savings will then be eaten at a rate of between $10-$15,000 a day, so be sure you have big savings.
Or if you’re involved in a bad car accident, with internal injuries and multiple fractures. Level 1 trauma care costs as much as a terminal illness. The aftercare can go on for years, assuming you survive.
I’m no commie, but I do not like having healthcare be under a profit-driven system determined ultimately by insurers. It’s one of the big downsides of Capitalism/Corporatism.
I did not know you could get the free catastrophic coverage! I think I am supposed to sign up next year for Medicare and told my husband I wasn’t going to since I don’t go to doctors at all or take any meds. I don’t want to throw that monthly fee down the toilet. I’m going to look into this. Thanks.
If you don’t take PartB/D when eligible and later change your mind you will pay a pretty stiff penalty. And AFAIK all medicare supplement insurance requires enrolling in part B.
That must be what my husband was talking about. But I get less than 1k in ss a month so can’t really see paying almost $200 for Medicare
Not only will you pay a penalty if you try to get supplemental, they can turn you down if you have health problems. Totally refuse you coverage. Better if you can afford it until it’s too late. One severe illness can wipe you out financially.
…and that “pretty stiff fine” will continue for the rest of your life.
We made the mistake of not signing up for Part D (prescriptions) when we were first eligible, because at the time our cash flow was as good as it had ever been in our working lives, and we didn’t think it made sense to have the taxpayers contributing to our medications. Big mistake.
Because we did that, when we eventually had to because of increasing costs, our initial premiums were larger than they would have been AND THEY KEEP INCREASING EVERY YEAR. You WILL be punished if you sign up as soon as you are eligible. Fact.
last line: You WILL be punished if you do NOT sign up as soon as you are eligible.
Was just going to post that, it is a huge penalty and it carries over each year going forward, in other words, its not a one-time penalty for delaying signing up. Search the social security online site and look into the various options to consider and keep the long term, down the road what if such and such happens how much will it cost then in mind as part of the process of deciding choices. Just an idea.
Are the part A co-pays eliminated, as part of that “free” coverage?
One unplanned set of surgeries – say, following an auto accident or a cancer diagnosis – will destroy you if you do not have Medicare. We are not all Rush Limbaughs, able to pay millions out-of-pocket for state-of-the-art surgeries and treatment regimens.
Med coverage on auto insurance should pay for that.
So here’s the thing… all the insurance companies are in cahoots with one another. If you turn down Medicare, there may be a clause in your auto insurance policy that gets nullified if you turn it down. It’s all very tricky.
Most hospital systems have affiliated physicians that cover people on a sliding scale. If you keep yourself healthy with good diet, exercise, sunshine and stress management all you may need is an occasional visit to your county health for a round of antibiotics.
Also there is QMB which helps low income seniors cover the costs of premiums and copays. Call the customer service number on the back of the Medicare card to get started.
If you’re in Tennessee St. Thomas Ascension has a medical group in just about every town with this program.
How are labs and office visits capped?
Especially if one lives in or close to Mexico. Doctor visits start at $ 3 USD to 10$. For excellent care by the way.
I for one, opted out of Part B and the rest because it is on a sliding scale. I was fortunate to be able to keep my job insurance which is a lot cheaper
I was forced to retire a few weeks before my 70th birthday last October, as I refused the mandated clot shot, so that’s when I had to ditch my job insurance and sign up with Medicare.
They are claiming the prices for Medicare/medical care have gone done.
Yes, they are decreasing the premium on Medicare B beginning 2023.
The premium has gone down by $5 a month–see my comment above. After being raised about $35 a month for 2022 on false pretenses. Gotta be sure apples are being compared with apples, I think.
My bet is that premium decline is a propaganda point, with the real increases coming in co-pays and deductibles and ‘supplements’. We’ve all been watching the numbers on medical equipment and services during the Covid operation. It’s nuts.
The operation to swing votes is running at flank, full steam ahead, pay no mind to the icebergs in the way. It’s unsinkable. Heh.
Of course it’s a propaganda point!! But it’s still a fact.
Yup.
My first thought as well; aside from being bumped into a higher tax bracket.
My first reaction is: They’re trying to buy my vote.
My second reaction to that is: Nice try, but no dice!
Exactly! My very first thoughts too.
They are desperate.
Will all of that increase go to Medicare?
Of course it will go to Medicare. It’s like the gubbermint paying more toward section8 housing and the landlord raising the rent price. D U H.
The stupidity is off the charts
Even with the premium decrease for 2023, the S/S COLA will be ripe pickings for the medical industrial complex, given the general health of seniors overall.
that’s my question also, last time there was an increase it matched in increase of the Medicare increase so saw an net increase of $17 out of the last whopping Social Security cost of living increase. Keep on apply for the benefit (which I do qualify for) where we have that Medicare payment returned to social security, but it’s on a lottery-type system and those already on it get first dibs, something to do with State allocations for reimbursements to their portion from the federal till for each senior they approve for that reimbursement. Almost like a tontine where only the last one standing finally gets to receive their portion.
Sure is easy enough: medicare is directly deducted from SS.
It’s called Medicare Savings Program so those that qualify (single with assets less than $8,400 – not counting house and one vehicle; married assets of $12,600 or less, again not counting house and one vehicle), the entire Medicare deductible, currently $170.10 a month is put back into the monthly social security check. Somehow the individual State enrollment of that program is limited by the federal government of so many dollars a year (some sort of federal-state situation) so if a person qualifies they still may not become a recipient until others already on it drop out (i.e. pass away). At least, that’s the current run-around I’ve been getting.
All I know is that with the increase of food and gas (here fuel was $5.39 a gallon today) that extra $170 could be a big difference to a lot of people.
Thanks for outlining the MSP; I’ll bet a lot of seniors don’t know about it, particularly seniors who otherwise qualify.
If they’d just left us alone a lot of us would still be out there being productive in our senior years. Cumulatively, they pissed me off enough that now I’m on strike. I’m no union supporter, owned a non-union shop, but if those rail workers go on strike I’ll support them too. They’ve gotten the shaft for long enough. The bill is due. The enemy is gonna pay it.
Am sure there are similar businesses in every State as there are here in Nevada which specialize in finding out which Medicare program is best, based on the individual’s needs. Here in Nevada they are independent so can freely present from all the State approved insurance carriers what would be best for their client, not paid by any one particular insurance provider.
They will ask the basic questions such as income, assets, health needs and can determine from there if a person is better off with sticking with Original Medicare (where the individual will then purchase a supplemental policy to cover all that Medicare approves and doesn’t pay; this was beneficial to my late husband who had a medical condition no doctor or hospital in Nevada could cover at the time so that let him be free to travel to California where the physicians at Stanford could do the surgery he needed.), or
Medicare Advantage which limits a person to the hospital and doctors that accept that plan, such as a plan from Humana, Anthem (the big boys) or State specific plans like Prominence or Altria here in Nevada that are hooked up to specific hospitals.
The Medicare Advantage programs will cover things such as hearing aids, dental, vision, some (like Prominence) will issue quarterly debit cards that can be used at local pharmacies for over the counter meds like vitamins etc. The limitation with those is you can’t go to a hospital not in that particular providers plan without prior approval. But, the bonuses like dental are very generous where Original Medicare doesn’t do those extras.
It depends on the financial ability, and comfort with ones personal physician, if they aren’t in that particular advantage plan, and a person can afford the extras, stay with Original Medicare.
There is one caveat that I don’t think has been remedied. (I did a huge dive when Obamacare was going through the process of becoming a law.) If a person starts with Original Medicare, they go onto an Advantage policy, if that company goes bust and then the person decides to pick a different Advantage policy, and a few years later the individual for whatever reason wants to go back to Original Medicare – the government does not have to accept that, and does not have to take a person back onto Original Medicare. Something about a two strikes and your out provision. It’s been over a decade since reading the bill so that might have changed.
Details. Details, Details, so if you can find a small company that specializes in reviewing all the policies offered in your State, make an appointment. It won’t cost anything and might save a heck of a lot of headaches and heartaches down the road.
And, that’s just from the limited experiences from this little branch on the Tree so take with the proper grain of salt.
What got me is that in years when social security had no COLA they didn’t raise Medicare B, but if you weren’t getting Social Security annuity (or you started Medicare that year) then they did raise Medicare to cover not only your own increase, but also everyone who had their premium fixed by that law. But I also have to pay the IRMAA due to the two-year look-back.
“open for cheap labor to pour in.”
Remember hearing about the Great Depression? There were no jobs. Grapes of Wrath and all that…Those illegals will eventually get hungry for your food with the rest of your neighbors (before the foreclosures).
Mentioned here several times, my neighbors have been sincerely planning for their’s and our area’s defense. We don’t want to be anywhere else. When neighbors are meeting to plan and walk through mutual defense, emergency approaches etc we’re where we want to be.
Where I live, criminals and law enforcement both know there’s few entrances, and no communications, down in the canyon. It’s a shooting gallery. Hence, we don’t see cops nor criminals often. In adverse action, there are no rules.
Same thing out in a very real not proverbial Swamp. Tons of jungle like cover, limited cell reception, lotsa gators.
“When neighbors are meeting to plan and walk through mutual defense …”
Great to hear, but beware any newcomers and try not to talk out of school
FBI would love love love to infiltrate your modest self-defense group and take you all down as dangerous white extremist conspiracists
just wisecracking … half
I work in tech and 95% of my coworkers are here on green cards from India.
I look out the window and all of the people maintaining the gardens are from south of the border.
I look at American school students and think “you’re screwed”.
Yep and then they tell the kids go into stem or learn to code. So they can what? Have a degree for jobs no one will hire them to do?
still may be some refuse-management-engineer slots available, tho
plus – exciting – you get to ride on the back of a big truck in the fresh air …
I’m not proud – did it in my teen years
Those riding-on-the-back-of-a-big-truck jobs are being replaced with automated trucks. I used to get a wave from the guy jumping off the truck to pick up my trash bin every Wednesday; now the robot “arm” ignores me.
I never use the self-service check-out at the grocery. I’d rather have a person take my money, even if she is behind a plastic barrier. She’ll be gone soon, too, no doubt.
Well, they can go to the U and major in gender studies then get a job in the booming DEI industry.
It gets worse!
Bannon was on fire today about the conversations in the media about the solution to the problem being to send a bunch of gubt people overseas to start printing VISAs to ship even more people to the USA to take our jobs and housing.
Yeah, that’s the ticket!
They want comprehensive immigration reform and they won’t stop until they get it. And we know the RINOs will give it to them and pretend they had no choice.
I told you Maria B was in on the plan. It’s Faux Newz all the way.
I do not begrudge retirees a significant COLA, because they paid into the program and are being destroyed by this inflation… but a 25% increase in federal food stamps as the earnings of those whose taxes fund the program decrease? It is utterly unstustainable, is clearly pandering to get votes from the welfare crowd, and will continue to decimate the economy, all according to plan!
Ugh. This is just moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic. They will “give” with one hand and take back more with the other. This is not a net benefit.
Wish we could have had the option to invest for ourselves for all those years. At least had the “un”common sense to pay off all debts, live below means, grow a garden (have done this since the horrible Carter years), and know how to be frugal when necessary.
That said, God has blessed us beyond measure and far more than we could ever deserve. So grateful for this site!
“Jill! You thought it was L’Oriel. But my nose knows Clariol when it smells it!!!!”
Oh goodie! A pay raise!!
It might almost negate my Electricity bill increase but what about the increase in my heating oil, food prices and gas for the truck? Gonna be an expensive winter. Hope it won’t be a cold one because that will make things even worse.
iC Food stamp recipients driving cars newer and better than my own….
Makes me mad.
Bothers me even more when they sell those benefits to drug dealers for .50 cents on the dollar.
Starting working at age 14
Retired at 68.5
Eat healthy exercise and no meds or illness
We deserve the pay raise and every cent we get. Worked hard all my life
I dont think it’s about American hard-workers “deserving it”… rather, it’s about asking why an “increase in SAA benefits of 8.7% beginning in January 2023. This is the largest cost of living adjustment in 40 years.” has to be done in the first place, and how they will pay for it.
of course you deserve it, lots of folks do, but that certainly is not the point.
the better contemplation is , do the grandchildren and great grandchildren deserve this?
I am not at retirement age, and I probably wont “get” anything, even though I started paying in at age 16.
I have been hearing this refrain for 40yrs. I was one who repeated it often back then…. and yes, you will get your SSA when you retire 😉
Just like I have been hearing that the world would end in 10 years – for the same amount of time and yet, it is still here.
Just make sure you prepare for your eventual retirement. You will want to make sure you have some money put aside, try to be mortgage free etc etc.
How are They….paying for Ukraine? I’ll wait. Gracias
Pretty much same, but started throwing papers and picking grapes at age 8. God bless you. It’s a harsh world out there. Health is wealth.
Knocking almonds here @ 8. 74 and still kicking azz. Gracias Dios!!
That picture…Honey I Shrunk the Carters
.
It honestly looks like a miniature House of Wax Figures and that these two dumbledorfs crashed through the red velvet roping for their photo op . . .
They give you this extra money, then they take a whole lot more out for medicare. So it never really increases enough to make any difference
I believe they made a rare departure from the traditional Medicare increases to buy mid-term votes. It makes for a good talking point, juxtaposed with the propaganda I saw today that Republicans were poised to attack those benefits if taking control of Congress. Hopefully seniors can see through that nonsense.
So Presidunce has destroyed the economy and will do the same to Social Security by destroying the alleged “trust fund” even faster. My house will be paid off in January, 2024, so I’ll still be able to afford to live when the benefits will need to be cut a few years later. Of course, I’m presuming we’ll have a congress and president willing to make some extremely difficult choices so the chances of that actually happening appear to be slim and none and slim has left town.
That trust fund was obliterated decades ago…it all goes in the general fund for robbing Peter to pay Paul.
SS and medicare were spent in the 60s to pay for the Vietnam War….in lieu of the cash that was in an actual “trust fund” they left IOUs
Funny, I can’t access my SS account today
This will be spun by the press and WH as a grand gesture of the administration’s benevolence to those who are in need. Look how magnificent we are. Look how much we value our Seniors.
There will be no explanation or comparison to the Carter years as to why the magnanimous increase has happened or what it means in real world, main street economics.
Just like with other Democrat Presidents who wrecked the country like FDR, LBJ, and Ozero.
The insanity of our system is on full display. Federal government causes massive inflation by overspending and killing productivity but federal laws are in place to automatically increase federal spending even more due to that. But of course there are no laws to punish the politicians who created this train wreck.
Just from the economic impacts alone, Biden is going to be the “Hoover” for the Dems.
After Hoover, the Repubs got their butts kicked, for many years.
Biden has insured that the Dem wing of the Uniparty will be held responsible for the consequences of HIS administrations policies.
They can’t run away from that, and it promises Dem. minorities, up and down the ballot.
WE need to assure that the promised Rep majorities, up and down ballot, are America First MAGA Republicans, or the advances are illuory, with no lasting impact.
Pick an AmericaFirst Candidate, whether in your State/district or not,..and DONATE, now.
$5,10,20,50? whatever you can. Look for “down ballot” races, that don’t get as much attention, and toss em some bucks…
Roosevelt was at least as damaging as Hoover keeping us in the Depression until WWII got us out of it. Once again, the Left controls the information flow so Roosevelt is considering a great President and of course they blame the entire Depression on Hoover.
I think the Uniparty is better understood today than a century ago, or even 50 years ago, along with corporate fascism and its impact on the country.
I had my share of fascist corporations as customers over the decades so no clean hands there. The stench permeates America. Most learn to live with it. IDK, tough choices.
While SS recipients are happy about getting an 8.7% increase next year, my prediction in June came true. The CPI-W increased over 7% for the first 6 months through June, but has actually decreased 0.1% over the last 3 months while the overall CPI has continued to go up during those three months. This prediction was a no-brainer of the administration’s effort to keep the COLA as low as possible. We will now see the 4th quarter resume the increases in CPI-W.
I got tired of buying the enemy bombs, bullets and bioweapons so decided to work it the other way around. Brandon won’t be buying my vote for his kind on Nov 8 but I do thank the taxpayers of America for supporting patriots.
Are the Carters secret Hobbits?
bverwey
Question… wasn’t there a 28% increase to SNAP in the first year of covid? Someone pointed this out to me and I am hoping someone here knows the answer. If that is true the the total increase over 2 years is 53%!!!!
SNAP hadn’t had a change in many years, apparently, and besides the Covid boost in the base calculation, the emergency supplements are still active in a number of states.
Personally, and I have no idea why, my base amount increased nearly 50% on Oct 1. I was expecting, based on reports, 12%. Further, the ’emergency’ supplements continue and the single household maximum is now 281/mo, which is the minimum the emergency formula pays out. For some who qualified near the maximum, it’s even more. Not all states participate though.
Atlas Shrugged. Knowledge is power. There are no rules. Use it. We’re at war. I understand some folks don’t like that rhetoric. They didn’t back in the 70’s either, a far more violent period. It’s coming.
Thank you very much for your thorough reply.
A 28% increase followed by a 25% increase is a net 60% increase.
1.00 x 1.28 = 1.28
1.28 x 1.25 = 1.60
Great, keep pushing us into a higher tax bracket!
That picture was to show us that the Bidens are so much bigger than the Carters. And, indeed, they are.
Joe lied about taking the Amtrak, lied about his son dying in Iraq, lied about being raised in a Puerto Rican community, lied about confronting the thug Cornpop….and the msm sweeps it all under the rug. I was going to be Biden for Halloween but I couldn’t fit my head up my “rear”.
A 25% increase for those who qualify for federal food stamp assistance…
An 8.7% increase for those who qualify for Social Security benefits…
Well, it’s gratifying to see we’re taking extra care of our welfare class layabouts at the expense of people who have actually worked for a living all their lives
don’tcha think ?
I’ll wager a bet, the excess of the SNAP increase that surprised me, that a significant portion of seniors on S/S also receive some portion, if not all, of the SNAP benefits available, since they are based on income. Last I checked, if one was on S/S there is no work requirement.
If so, one had to work 40 quarters, either as an employee or self-employed , the latter paying both the employer and employee tax (FICA) to get a;t least the minimum. Note, one can work, and hard, but not have a taxable profit, so those quarters don’t count for S/S. Zero. Still worked though. Ask PDJT about carry forwards. Interesting stuff.
When I was working daily, and making those payments, I certainly never thought of seniors as layabouts but I was occasionally envious, a bit, over the welfare Cadillacs I’d see when I was driving a beater truck to work. I was thinking I was going about this all wrong, heh.
Then along came Covid, the cash cow for vast swaths of society. Who were the biggest fraudsters? Heh, well let’s just say they had lawyers helping them and weren’t poor.
Fellow SSA/SSI travelers..
Greatest increase since 1981..
While Medicare will “claw back” 90 % plus of your COLA increase..
Generally, yes; in 2023, in premiums, nope. However, there’s a lot more to Medicare than part B premiums which are the usual talking point and the medical industrial complex always gets their pound of flesh, no pun intended.
Wonder how much our contribution to Medicare will increase? Point for point, equal to the COLA adjustment. They will get their money one way or another.
The budget is going to get blown out, unless wages and associated ss taxes go up commensurately (and they haven’t). There is already a shortfall in ss taxes in versus ss payments out.
I receive SSA so I need the increase, just pointing out this continuing hole we are digging.
Neither Obama, Trump, nor Biden have had any problem running trillion dollar deficits, so a few trillion to keep social security checks coming is nothing.
I agree, just waiting for the debt bomb to go off. Been waiting a long time, the Ponzi scheme will eventually implode.
That picture of the two hobbits sitting next to the fake first family….is that a funny photoshop?
No its either gross lens distortion or bad photoshopping.
So basically the SSA is saying that SS recipients will need to cut eggs, meat, and vegetables out of their budgets…all of which are well into double-digits.
They really do want us to eat the bugs.
Really it isn’t, considering the true inflation is double that. These people it seems do not consider the cost of food or housing or utilities.
The raise should be about 16-18% just to keep above water. This truly is a slap in the face.
The formula they use to choose the amount of increase does not include food or fuel, etc. Hasn’t for a very longtime.
You’re right – it’s a mocking, slap in the face.
Most polls show Slo’ Ol’ Joe at about 30%. We know from experience that the polls are sampled in such a way that tends to benefit dems by about 15 points.
This means 85% of Americans know the score and are silently keeping watch and score.
People that receive social security retirement and disability are not a homogeneous group. They shake out about the same as every one else.
The white house may be attempting to buy votes but in reality they are insulting a huge swath of the population.
Once again, epic fail!
I’m sorry.. but that picture! WTH?
This is nothing. Congress voted themselves a22% pay raise.
I just went back and searched for sundance’s excellent article on the planned increase in electric bills in blueMA, because I had forgotten the percentage: 64%.
A few scribbles on the back of an envelope and I think that may wipe out a yuuge chunk of this COLA increase all on its own here, not considering general stagflation at all.
What’s going to happen now I believe is that you will see SS benefit compression, i.e. those hoping to take SS and Medicare in the next few years will get less SS (since the benefit formula is not inflation adjusted, plus it’s still capped) and pay the higher Medicare premiums. Now those receiving the 8.7% increase may just see their taxes go up, thanks to Biden.
What another fine mess Biden has gotten America into.
Big Ag is going to love that 25% increase in Food Assistance while making the non-working more dependent on government subsidies.
That 8.7% isn’t going to keep up with all the inflation this year. Especially when it is helping to make any savings so much lower in real value.
This will certainly accelerate the depletion of the Social Security “trust fund”, if it exists. Earlier projections of SS running out of funds in 2035 will surely move up to 2030 or before.
This is all likely part of the Dems Cloward-Piven strategy to bankrupt the country and drain all resources.
Just wait for the Medicare price increases. It will wipe out at least half of the benefit increase. You won’t see that before the midterms.
Not true. Read this entire thread.
There are enough disgusting and destructive things they do–there’s no need to say stuff that ain’t so.