First of all let me take a moment to wish all the fathers out there a good day…..

From time to time I try to be an FYI blog or offer up a PSA…..this post falls into both categories….you decide.

Since I am a retired person and have been on SS for years I try to be a PSA blog and help my retiree readers understand what the government is doing to their retirement.

Last year we had a great COLA….but sadly this next one will be just a fart in the wind……

The government has issued the bad news….

This year’s Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, was the highest in four decades, coming in at 8.7% to account for record inflation. Beneficiaries shouldn’t expect quite such a boost for 2024. According to new government data, the annual inflation rate fell in May to its lowest level in two years, which will likely lead to what USA Today calls the “double-edged sword” of a much lower COLA next year. The estimate, based on data from the consumer price index, per the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League: 2.7%, or about a third of last year’s COLA.

Just last month, the 2024 COLA estimate was coming in at 3.1%. Over the past decade, the average Social Security COLA was 2.6%, Mary Johnson, an SCL policy analyst, tells NBC News. Why this development is concerning to Social Security recipients, per Johnson, is that although inflation is cooling, prices are still high, especially when it comes to health care, utilities, transportation, and insurance. “That part of it is still very problematic for retirees and disabled Social Security beneficiaries who are living on fixed incomes,” she notes. In fact, during the recent inflation spike, Census Bureau stats show that seniors were the only demographic that saw its poverty share increase from 2020 to 2021.

The COLA estimate is still subject to change, though that means it could go higher or lower, Johnson tells NBC. Some senior advocate groups have lobbied to have the subset of the CPI that this estimate is based on shifted from the CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers, or CPI-W, to the CPI for the elderly, or CPI-E, which they say would more accurately reflect what this more vulnerable group spends its money on, says Richard Fiesta of the Alliance for Retired Americans. The COLA is set to be announced in October and would go into effect in January.

I think someone in DC is smoking pot…..why?  Because nothing has shown me that inflation has slowed….food up….gas up….rents up…..and then there are those medical expenses.

Then there is the plan by the House GOP to further screw retirees (why does anyone vote for these slugs?)

A panel comprised of three-quarters of the House Republican caucus released a budget proposal on Wednesday that would raise the Social Security retirement age—cutting benefits across the board—while further privatizing Medicare and slashing taxes for the rich, a plan that Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocacy groups said is a clear statement of the GOP’s warped priorities ahead of a critical spending fight this fall.

The proposal outlined by the 175-member Republican Study Committee (RSC), led by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), would gradually raise Social Security’s full retirement age—the age at which people are eligible for full Social Security benefits—to 69, up from the current level of 67 for those born in 1960 or later.

Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works, said the RSC budget would “destroy Social Security as we know it,” using a “modest shortfall” that’s more than a decade away to justify reducing benefits for millions.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/gop-budget-destroy-social-security

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news….but you need to know.

One finally question….do you enjoy your retirement and want to keep what you already have?

If so then stop voting for these d/bags that want to destroy your retirement and your life.

Have a great Father’s Day…..enjoy food, fun and family….be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”