Well, Damn
I’m trying real hard this morning to make this connection:
Gas prices are down, so social security recipients will not get a COLA raise this year.
I’m here to tell you that my gasoline consumption has been cut by 75% since I’m not driving to work and back or taking kids to baseball practice.
However, my prescription drugs, glasses, hearing aid, and dental costs have gone up about 250%. I haven’t noticed prices in the grocery store dropping, but that may be due to the need for new glasses that are gonna cost more than they did last year.
Who had the bright idea of connecting social security COLA to gas prices? The COLA should be based on the price of One-A-Day Senior vitamins. And that is my platform for running for congress.
My name is Juanita Jean and I approved this message.
I’m voting fer ye. Although I’ll have to change counties temporarily to do it.
1JJ, Right on! There was a children’s crusade now’s the time for a righteous indignation crusade by the “over the hill” gang.
2I wondered about that SS/gas tax connection, too. Does this mean that when we’re all driving electric cars there will be no more Social Security?
3I had exactly the same thought when I heard this yesterday: Dayum! Screwed again.
I don’t have any medical expenses to speak of, yet. But at the grocery store, prices might not have gone up that much recently (overlooking the huge W Bush inflationary period), but the package quantities and quality keep going down, down, down.
And I’m not going to get rolling on insurance, electricity, water, etc., etc., billing increases.
About the only routine expense item I have that has not increased a penny in years or suffered diminished quality (and I should shut up now, knock on wood) is the monthly charge for my marina slip (which remains a very good deal compared to many other locations).
4Preach it, Sister! Whoever made this decision obviously doesn’t live in the same world as America’s senior citizens.
5I have to wonder if these people actually go shopping, pay a utility bill or buy medicines??
6Where do I sign up to get you elected, JJ?
*$^%*&@%#^* Republicans.
7I wish the only thing I had to worry about …. was the price of gasoline. Do the dumb bunnies really believe that’s the only place that us old people spend money?
Geesh.
Voting JJ. 🙂
8American voting patterns are confusing. Supposedly the Republicon demographic is old and white, yet they appear to hold tight to some bizarre 2nd Amendment right to shoot off their own nose and toes. Even some of the .01% disavow the Republicons; primarily those who enjoy what they have and don’t want a repeat of the French Revolution. But for some inexplicable reason, those who have the least and will be done the most damage by Republicon voodoo economics continue to vote against their own interests.
Remember last winter? When natural gas was plentiful and prices dropped, not so the price charged by our utility company. We asked; they answered: “you’re paying what we paid for it last year.” OK … any wagers of those lower prices lowering our bill this year? You can stop laughing at me … really … we’re not holding our breath on that one, either.
9It must be difficult to comprehend what it is like to live on a fixed income while being paid $14500 a month. Our deprived Representaties and Senators having to live in such ignorance of the joys of the day to day struggles of most of their fellow Americans.
10Thank God for tuna casserole (heavy on the noodles) easy to reheat. That and generic cereal one just might make the end of the month. Set the thermostat at 85 summers and 55 winters and above all don’t get sick.
I’m as confused as y’all are! I don’t need any furniture, or new appliances or a new car. That part of my economic world is stable. I have Medicare and a back up policy. Don’t drink or smoke or gamble. But I do damn well eat. It is so hard lately to get a piece of beef that hasn’t fallen apart and made it self into hamburger that doesn’t cost as much as rare jewels per pound! I have chicken, turkey, fish and some pork up to my ears and you would think I should be singing Te Deums about that, but for cat sake, I’m just dumb enough to want a balanced diet and a pot roast would work just fine, but its gotten so I would need a second mortgage! A 3.27 lb. beef roast is going for $25 right now in my local supermarket. Jebushepme!
11More bad news. Medicare Part B premiums are going up a fair bit this year because of increased costs. But they can’t go up for people who pay their premiums out of Social Security. That’s because the rule is that SS payments cannot be reduced, thus cancelling Part B increases for these people since there is no SS COLA raise this year.
Of course that means the entire increase will be spread across the group of people who don’t pay their premiums out of SS. So 30% of Part B recipients get 100% of the increase, which will be about 50% higher premiums. It will affect a lot of the poorest recipients and will hit the states hard for Medicaid costs.
The government has known this for a while and been trying to find a fix. They have, of course, failed.
12I should have provided a source. Here it is: http://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2015/10/15/rising-medicare-premiums-will-you-pay-more-in-2016/
13We sold our house last year in order to downsize to an age in place house. I thought the electric bill would decrease. Strange thing happened. Since i use less electricity, the rate went up.
Oh well. The kids are paying our SS and we are subsidizing their low interest home and auto loans.
14Woohoo … I have my Medicare & Humana premiums taken out of my SS payments and I am thrilled about this information. Doesn’t stop Humana from raising their co-pays, however. They will increase from $5 for some things to total out-of-pocket costs by $400. Bah!!!
15We wuz warned a few months ago that we would not receive a SS cola next year. Us retirees ahould receive as much as worthless congressweasels get every month,then the economy would really pick up. One year of congressional pay equals about 17 years of my SS checks. And wingnuts complain they can’t live on $174 thousand bucks a year. Willard Romney’s missus said they barely scraped by one year on over $600,000.
16Yah,but us retirees get all this Medicare free,doncha know?
17Well, of course it all depends on the price of gas. Who do you think owns this country anyway?
18The difficulty as that COLA measures the consumption patterns of the populace as a whole, whether they are working adults, stay-at-homes, children or seniors. Social Security by and large is paid to seniors, whose consumption pattens differ significantly from the general population. Seniors don’t drive as much or go out to dine as often. On average, they spend a larger share of their money on groceries, medical and dental. These factors in combination tend to make COLA fall short of estimating the true cost-of-living on seniors.
Groceries in particular have not been recognized as a major cost increase problem because manufacturers have done their utmost to obscure and conceal their price manipulation. Compare, for example, the prices for that popular Texas-headquartered product, Lay’s potato chips. For years they’ve been ratcheting up their price by alternately the price outright, then trimming the package size by a half-ounce or ounce at a time. Compare the product weight today to what it was four years ago, and now they have the nerve to call a bag pumped full of air “Family Size”!
Scott 1000 toilet tissue. Been getting your fingers soiled more often? It’s because, a year ago, they trimmed the dimensions of the individual sheets by about 10% in area! Literally, the new rolls don’t stack up to the same height as the old ones.
Back on topic, it will take a more accurate index to remedy the under-compensation in seniors’ Social Security checks. “Numbers games” are the bane of our existence – whether in government, business or finance.
19@Umpty
20I have also noticed that the diameter of the cardboard roll on some brands is now larger.
JJ: I feel ya on the medical/dental expenses. But I have a tip for you on the glasses. I’m damn near blind (think double coke bottle thicknesses of yesteryear) and used to get my specs at Costco to save some money since my glasses usually run $300-$400 with the exam. This year, I got an eye exam for $48 and sent the Rx to eyebuydirect.com and got frames ($12 — just like the ones I paid $80 for two years ago) and thin progressive lenses with all the non-glare, scratch-resistant coatings for $128. And they didn’t even take as long to get as through a local eye doc. Free shipping and I had them within 10 days. That extra $200 in my pocket feels pretty good…and I love that they are USA-made (Michigan) and not in Pakistan like other online vendors. If, unlike me, you CAN see the side of a barn before your nose hits it, yours will be even cheaper.
21Hope this helps!
@Crone and Umpty, don’t get me started on toilet paper. You’re both right in that the cardboard roll is larger and the dimensions of the sheets are smaller. The rolls really dance around on the holder. I expect in a year or two we will be able to put two rolls on the holder and have to replace both every other day.
22Or disposable diaper prices. Have you seen how the prices of disposable diapers have soared lately? Me neither.
23Umpty, Crone, June,
Some of my worst pet peeves too.
Some brands of TP (Scott 1000’s, WalMart- likely produced in the same Scott mills) are now more than 3/4 inch narrower in roll width, shrinking 1/4 inch at a time. That center core has indeed gotten larger in diameter, and the very paper itself is much thinner (I haven’t put a micrometer on it yet).
The HEB house brand TP still gives a fair measure (as of the last time I went to HEB, it’s been a few months).
Paper towels too, same shrinkage and thinning of the paper thickness.
Bars of bath soap, the same downsizing crap.
I like Irish Spring, not too many years ago a bar weighed ~6 oz, now they’re down to 3.75 oz; shrinking 1/4 oz at a time every six months or so. Shampoo too.
Many other products have been shrinking, quality reduced, but the prices keep rising.
Like boxes of breakfast cereal, etc., some boxes now offered in ~8-10 oz size (but full price), getting close to those little kid breakfast boxes you used to cut open and eat out of.
How do I know, and can prove this? I used to travel a lot, so I still have some suitcases equipped with old stashes of those common toiletries (ready to pack clothes in and go).
It’s insane how the ‘Murikkan consumer is getting ripped off, and few even seem to notice. As long as there are some shiny objects out there, they just chase the fake rabbits like dumb greyhounds.
24Even Virginia’s Democratic Governor (whom we all voted for while holding our noses, but he was still better than Cockroachanelli) … is pondering levying a toll on Interstate 66 which cuts right through the state… It could cost us $8 to drive 8 miles to Costco, and $9 to get back home again.
25Tea Partiers use John Wayne brand TP. Rough as a cob and don’t take no sh*t off nobody. 🙂
26We use a TP made from recycled paper– feels like the other brands, and I can’t see cutting down trees to… for that purpose. I pay what it costs because I’m a liberal environmentalist. Paper towels too, in a nice unbleached tan.
My favorite magic shrinking product was when all the yogurts went from 8 oz to 6 for the same price as before, and they thought we wouldn’t notice.
27Y’all have been a blessing to me! Now I know I’m not alone or crazy! Well, maybe forget that last part! Good to know that my Medicare comes out of my SS and that is a good thing! I have volunteered at church food kitchens and seen the elderly come in on walkers and even in wheel chairs to get a meal cuz on what they get to “live” on is a damn joke, especially when there isn’t enough to afford their own food. I always hoped that I wouldn’t have to go down that road. Now I’m gonna cross stitch “I am Strong, I am Resilient” on a sofa pillow!
28Hey, don’t forget canned goods. Same thing used to have 1 lb of green beans or peaches, now 13.5 oz. Well, I eat too much anyway. Not saying you do.
29Rather than whine, snivel and complain, I am going to rant against the formula they use for calculating inflation and COLAs. It focuses too much on some things and not enough on others. When I retire, I am going to be forced to move out of state, as I won’t be able to afford rent.
30Our federal government has a vested interest in selling us on the idea that inflation is low. If it reported the actual inflation numbers, much higher payments would need to be paid out. But guess what, the Social Security surplus has been spent by politicians on both sides of the aisle over the years so there are only a couple of choices. 1) Raise taxes to fund the social programs that have been borrowed from. 2) Reduce payments by understating inflation. Here’s an article on it:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/perianneboring/2014/02/03/if-you-want-to-know-the-real-rate-of-inflation-dont-bother-with-the-cpi/
If you want to read more about it, there is a guy named John Williams that runs a website http://www.shadowstats.com/
31that exposes what’s going on. Although it’s a subscription site, he’s got a lot of free stuff that will give you enough information to realize that this has been going on since the 60’s and every administration since then has been making slight changes that aggregate into a massive ripoff for all but the very wealthy (of course).
I’d also recommend http://www.zennioptical.com/ for glasses.
32yep, right on…….I have one Rx that went from $15 to $75…….the insurance companies will get theirs.
33I foresee a lot of beans in my dietary future. Luckily I live alone.
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