Careers New Graduates RnOver the past four years, TSCL's surveys have found that about 9 out of 10 people receiving Social Security benefits report that their household spending rose by at least per month during the prior year. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. "Retirees need to plan for large monthly jumps in spending annually over the course of their retirement," Johnson says. In every year since 2014, the largest percentage of those people participating in TSCL annual Senior Surveys reported that their household spending jumped by more than 9 per month. Since 2014 annual COLAs grew a total of just 3.5 percent, averaging less than 0.9 percent per year. One factor in why retirees have such a gap between their COLA and spending is the consumer price index that the government uses to measure inflation and to determine the annual boost. "One would think that the CPI used to calculate COLAs for retirees would be based on seniors' spending patterns, but it is not," says Johnson. Instead, the COLA is determined by the growth in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Younger working adults spend a far smaller portion of their income on medical costs, which is the fastest growing category of the CPI in most years. On the other hand, younger working adults spend more on transportation and gasoline, categories that have gone down dramatically in recent years. "This tends to understate the inflation experienced by the majority of people receiving Social Security," notes Johnson..Here is more from the report: "Pfizer, which played arguably the biggest role in 2020's vaccine race, also had a frenzied year politically. In addition to giving roughly million to members of Congress, Pfizer also wrote checks to 1,048 individual candidates in state legislative races..I have proudly introduced this important legislation every single Congress since coming to the House of Representatives in 201Despite having over 100 bipartisan cosponsors each Congress, the bill has unfortunately received little attention from House leadership. In September 2018, myself and my colleague, Rep. Garret Graves offered this bill as an amendment to the Family Savings Act, which was part of Rep. Kevin Brady's "Tax 2.0" package. Unfortunately, the amendment was ultimately defeated, but highlighting this important issue. It continues to be my priority. … Continued
Helping Teens Battle ObesityThe Senior Citizens League is predicting another record-low Social Security cost-of-living adjustment in 2020 despite skyrocketing prescription drug prices and home heating costs. Will you cosponsor the Fair COLA for Seniors Act, which would make the COLA more adequate for Social Security beneficiaries?.Back in mid-August we reported on President Trump's executive order to stop the collection of the workers' part of the Payroll tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare. TSCL is opposed of Payroll tax cuts of any kind because they seriously jeopardize the financial viability of both Social Security and Medicare..The U.S. is not the only country with that experience. Canada and Great Britain have had the same experience. … Continued