Elderly Won't See an Increase in Social Security
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}More than 58 million retirees and disabled Americans will get no increase in their government-paid pension plan known as Social Security. This is bad news for Democrats as they approach a Nov. 2 election in which they are in danger of losing their House majority and possibly their Senate majority as well.
Unlike other voter groups the elderly have a good record of showing up at the polls in election years when there is no presidential contest and some could vent their disappointment at getting no raise --for the second year in a row - on Democrats.
To make up for the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment or COLA, the House will vote in November -- after the elections -- on a bill to provide $250 payments to Social Security recipients, the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said. But even if Pelosi can get the House to pass the proposal, it faces opposition in the Senate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Social Security Administration said Friday inflation has been too low since the last increase in 2009 to warrant an increase for 2011. The announcement marks only the second year without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first year was this year.
The COLAs, are automatically set each year by an inflation measure that was adopted by Congress back in the 1970s. Many recipients have not had a raise since January 2009, and they will not be getting one until at least January 2012.
A little more than 58.7 million retirees and disabled Americans receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income. Social Security was the primary source of income for 64 percent of retirees who got benefits in 2008.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The average Social Security benefit: $1,072 a month.
Social Security is supported by a 6.2 percent payroll tax -- paid by both workers and employers -- on wages up to $106,800. Because there is no COLA, that amount will remain unchanged for 2011.
The last increase in benefits came in 2009, when payments went up by 5.8 percent, the largest increase in 27 years. The big increase was caused by a sharp but short-lived spike in energy prices in 2008.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By law, the next increase won't come until consumer prices rise above the level measured in 2008. The trustees who oversee Social Security project that will happen next year, resulting in an estimated 1.2 percent COLA for 2012.