Tag: "COLA"

Minimum Wage Myths

Here we go again…beginning January 1, 2012, eight states raised their minimum wage.  The way news articles have hyped this, one would think that somehow raising the wage another 30 cents is going to catapult the bottom 99 percent into the top 1 percent.  According to the Huffington Post “the new rates will translate into hundreds [...]

Jan 03, 2012 | 3 comments | by

How to Help the Poor

Using a new measure of poverty which adjusts for area costs of living, in-kind benefits, health care costs and other factors, the Census Bureau released a new report today (reported here in USA Today) showing that the number of people in poverty is about 49.1 million, 6% higher than the 46.2 million originally estimated in September.  [...]

Nov 07, 2011 | 2 comments | by

Social Security COLA Freeze is Not the Problem

For the second consecutive year, seniors will not get a cost of living adjustment in their Social Security checks for 2011 [see USA Today, “No Social Security Benefits Boost Expected for 2011“).  This will certainly become an election year issue, with the parties accusing each other of not caring about the welfare of seniors.  

Oct 12, 2010 | 3 comments | by

Setting the Story Straight on COLA

Over the past several days, I have read some articles about the fact that next year's Social Security benefit payments will not be increasing as they normally do to keep up with inflation.  This is what is known as the cost of living adjustment (COLA).  According to some politicians and advocates, with rising health care costs, seniors are getting the short [...]

Aug 25, 2009 | 5 comments | by