However, as you may already suspect, that's not necessarily the way our government calculates the change in price. The federal government doesn't simply calculate the difference in cost of navel oranges from one period to another. If another type of orange, such as Valencia is priced lower, at .39 per pound in June when navel oranges are .49, then our government assumes you buy the lower-cost orange, whether or not you actually do so. The price change from .39 in December of 2018 for the navel oranges to .39 in June of 2019 for the Valencias would show no price increase at all for oranges. It would show prices are flat, and that would be reflected then in the overall CPI. One obvious problem is the fact that consumers can't always readily substitute lower-costing items in certain expenditure categories, especially for things like medical services and prescription drugs..The coronavirus emergency spending bill that Congress just passed was not "paid for," in Washington's language. It was added to the deficit, which means the government will borrow the money to pay for it..Now Medicare Part A is facing insolvency once again, this time around 202Health policy experts are now proposing that the revenues raised by the 3.8% net investment income tax should be "re-directed" to the Part A Trust Fund rather than the federal government's general revenue..This week, two congressional committees held hearings on issues affecting older Americans, and The Senior Citizens League saw support grow for four key bills in the House and Senate..Your own retirement benefit would be low if you were to take it at age 64 - prior to reaching your full retirement age. Full retirement age at which you start receiving full, unreduced benefits, is rising. For people born in 1956 your full retirement age is 66 and 4 months..Medicare costs are continuing to escalate in 2010, but unless Congress takes immediate action, it's all but certain that seniors won't receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment to help offset the increase next year. The Senior Citizens League strongly endorses new legislation introduced by Representative Walter Jones, H.R. 3557, to provide an emergency COLA increase for 2010..View the TSCL home page to participate in TSCL's monthly polls..The most recent data from the Social Security Administration indicate that, in recent years, the ESF grew at an unprecedented pace. Cumulative wages held in the ESF since 1990 now total more than ,022.5 trillion, unadjusted for inflation. A significant portion of these wages could later be claimed and re-instated to valid SSNs if immigrants working illegally gain work authorization and have kept copies of their W2s or other evidence of earnings. Because earnings are used to determine entitlement, this poses a substantial long-term liability to the Social Security Trust Fund and would worsen solvency..You can also sign up to receive our monthly newsletter that includes tons of helpful information regarding current legislation and policy affecting you. The newsletter also features a "Congressional Corner," where various Representatives and Senators express their thoughts on issues important to seniors.
