current events firegeezer on 18 Oct 2008 11:07 am
Geezer Gelt
FOLKS IN THE GEEZER GENERATION GOT SOME WELCOME NEWS Thursday when the Social Security Administration announced its annual cost-of-living adjustments for beneficiaries.
Next year the retireees receiving social security benefits will be getting a 5.7% increase effective in January. This is the largest COLA in 27 years and more than double this year’s 2.3% rise.
That temporary spike in oil costs, along with the resultant retail and agriculture increases due to higher fuel prices, came at just the right time to affect the yearly appraisal of living costs for food and services.
An added bit of good news was the announcement that the Medicare trust fund is sufficiently endowed that there will be no increase in Medicare premiums this year. It is rarely that happens, but Firegeezer points out that these larger benefits payouts somehow always come along just a few weeks before Presidential elections.
