Headlines
Social Security benefits up only 1.5% in ’14
Social Security benefits will rise only 1.5% next year, one of the smallest increases ever in the program’s annual cost-of-living adjustment. The increase is down from the 1.7% increase for 2013. There was no cost-of-living increase at all in 2010 and…
Social Security COLA for 2014 Will be Announced Today
Halloween may come a little early for senior citizens, but hopefully it will be an early Christmas. The Consumer Price Index for September is due to be released today at 8:30 a.m. by the Department of Labor Statistics. It is…
Middle class struggling to save for retirement
As it becomes harder and harder for middle class Americans to meet their monthly financial obligations, funding their retirement is becoming less and less of a priority; a trend that will lead to Americans working longer, which could have widespread…
Congress aiming low in new budget talks, as Reid dismisses entitlement reform as ‘happy talk’
Congressional Democrats and Republicans are setting low expectations about budget talks scheduled to begin next week — with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid dismissing as ‘happy talk’ any notion of a grand bargain that would include cuts to entitlement programs. The…
After Government Shutdown, Few Discussing Budget Solutions
Something is noticeably absent from congressional candidates’ rampant finger-wagging over this month’s bipartisan deal to extend the nation’s borrowing limit and reopen government: concrete proposals to fundamentally alter the U.S. balance sheet. Blame politics as the chief reason for the lack…
Reid throws cold water on grand-bargain hopes
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threw cold water on the slim hopes for a “grand bargain” budget deal, dismissing it as “all happy talk.” “We’re not going to have a grand bargain in the near future,” Reid said in a Nevada public…
Social Security can be reformed, not left to die
One of the biggest lies in today’s political discourse is that Social Security will not be around when today’s young workers are ready to retire. Social Security is known as the “third rail” of politics and for good reason — it…
Cut Pentagon waste, not Social Security
The arms lobby is gearing up for its latest attempt to get special treatment for Pentagon spending. Given the vast amounts of unnecessary spending that still exist within the Pentagon budget, this should be a non-starter. But just last week…
AARP Publishes a Study to Show Only What It Wants to Show
Kudos to Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute for exposing AARP’s sham study showing the economic benefits of Social Security. The AARP study is intended to demonstrate the economic benefits of Social Security in the hope of staving off any future benefit cuts…
Dems, labor bash Social Security proposal
The federal shutdown didn’t halt the flow of Social Security checks to retirees – but the agreement that ended the shutdown opened the door to changes that might make future chains smaller than they’d otherwise be. As bipartisan budget talks get underway…