Senior citizens just cannot win....

[Booklover]

Social Security checks to rise for first time since 2009 - Oct. 19, 2011

Sounds good, doesn't it?

However, most seniors are not likely to receive the full amount of the increase because an expected hike in Medicare premiums could eat up part of the raise. The change in Medicare premiums, which could increase by a double-digit rate, is expected to be announced next month.

Why can't they rein in some of these costs? This country is crushing it's own citizens.

[Contrary Housewife]

Well, if it's any consolation the same thing is happening to working folks. DH gets a 4% raise, the following spring insurance premiums go up. Or the cost of parking downtown. Or the car insurance. Nobody wins when there's inflation.

[Booklover]

I agree with you, but I feel especially sorry for the senior citizens. They have no way to make extra money, usually due to health, strength, stamina, etc., and I see what my parents and grandmother are going through with the rocketing utilities, food, gas, fuel, etc.

When I go into a grocery store I watch how many seniors walk the store checking prices, but yet leave with very little in their carts. With some I can just sense the dispair. And factor in the ones that are in the "donut" for their medicines - it's almost unbearable.

[nuisance26]

~Well, part of the problem is generations that didn't prepare well enough for their retirement years because they were promised retirement from the Government.
Also, I doubt the majority of the aged expected to live as long as they have. They would have no way of knowing that medical advances would prolong their lives or how much it would cost.
The biggest problem, I think, is how the money is passed out. Too much is lost, goes to bloated administrative costs or is borrowed to fund other worthless programs. These issues need to be addresses quickly and action taken.
My hubby and I were just talking about SS working more like food stamps. You could use it to pay rent or a mortgage, utilities, food, clothes and medical care but nothing else. The amount should not be based on what you earned, but by what the cost of living is in your area. Everyone gets the same amount. If you want to have fun and extras in retirement you need to save for it. This would also drive down the cost of the program while assuring that actual needs are met.
Even seniors can find little things to do to make a bit of money for fun. The can give lectures or teach sewing or woodworking. They can sell produce or flowers they've grown. They can be guides or coaches to whatever their hobby/work/knowledge is(fishing, sports, homemaking, crafting, etc.). There are plenty of free things to do for fun as well.~

[madhen]

My mother is in that boat. She is in her 70's and lives in a small condo (that she owns). She is on lifeline EVERYTHING and won't turn on her heat or A/C unless she is in danger of passing out from the extreme weather. She has arthritis and cataracts, and she pays about double what I pay for medical insurance just to have the coverage she needs if something really serious happens. She also doesn't speak English well, so she can feel very isolated when dealing with medical offices who push expensive meds and treatments on her. I try to go with her when I can, but sometimes I am not available to help her sort out what she is being told.

I am happily in a position where I can help her out financially, but I didn't know how bad it was until AFTER I started to regularly supplement her income. Suddenly, she started eating regularly instead of talking about how she was never really very hungry so didn't need much; she started going to the store or visiting friends more, because she could afford gas for the car; and she started getting medical attention for things that no U.S. citizen should have to suffer (and I'm working on her to get her to go in for cataract surgery).

Her cost of living has been out-stripping her SS for years, with association fees at the condo, food costs, gas costs, etc. She keeps eliminating things from her life, to make ends meet, but eventually you run out of things you can do without.

[brennasmom]

One step forward two steps back...

Of course the general public just hears about the good increases....

[annymoll]

I think SS was meant to supplement retirement. It would be difficult to live on SS and still pay a mortgage and car payments. It is difficult to watch seniors scrimping to pay for food and to know that they are not qualified for assistance because they have a few assets.I want to be able to spend my Social Security on whatever I want, and not just necessities- if that means I use it on golf green fees.I expect no assistance, because I would not qualify.I have not mismanaged funds, and I have done without to save for retirement. I expect my SS and my retirement. Yeah.

[Russ]

I wonder what the headline will read when there is no social security left?

[annymoll]

It won't be long before we hear on the news that Congress has decided to raise retirement age and give lower social security benefits for top wage earners.So if you put into that fund for 50 years( or more, if you continue to work after retirement age and are productive) then they will steal your money from your fund.Good thing we didn't take money from our personal investment accounts and run down there and let them manage it. Lying thieves.

[Ramona]

This really frosts my cookies.

Our government gives with one hand and takes away with the other.

I blame every single member of Congress, the Senate and the Legislature. They're fat cats who care nothing for the American people.

They should all be voted out of office.

Bring in some new bodies and if they don't take care of the young, the elderly and the disabled, vote them out, too!

[Booklover]

You know, sometimes I think we all forget perspective. From our point of view NOW, we can say that the seniors should have prepared better, should have known it wasn't going to be there, etc. But just think back to when they were working. It was assumed (not saying it was correct, just assumed) that S.S. would be there. Now it the rug is being pulled out from underneath them, they are afraid, and now they have to endure the smugness of being told "Too bad-you should have known better."

That reminds me of seeing my dermatologist one day. The nurse was quite smug about her using sunscreen her whole life, and was shaking her head over those that didn't. I told her she was fortunate to have been born during the "sunscreen generation". All of us born "pre-sunscreen" weren't stupid-it's just the way it was. Heck, for my 15th birthday my grandmother gave me one of those aluminium bodylength sun reflectors to lay on out in the sun! It was a big item back then. It isn't right to define the past by today's standards.

[NicJean]

For years, people in this country 'expected' and were told that the government would take care of them. If you dig a bit deeper and find out for yourself - you realize the government exists to perpetuate itself, it doesn't care about you, or perpetuating your high on the hog living standard. This country is so far behind, there will not be any SS before too long. Printing more money, without anything to back it is exactly like having lots of checks - not worth anything if no money is there (hello, inflation!) Invest what you can, in those things people NEED: water, food, etc. Gold and silver will always have value, and will always be needed and traded for goods.
Figure out how to become self-sufficient. Turn to your community to band together. Garden, preserve, sew, learn skills - not just how to play video games. Build a respectable teaching library. Do for yourself no one in Washington knows how to, or cares about. If you depend on schools (government education), the media (government run or at least sanctioned), you will become victim to the "dumbing down" of America and not have a clue they are leading you down a path of destruction. Why is it that 100 years ago, 7th and 8th graders read and were familiar with the classics - Homer, Illiad, Ivanhoe, Last of the Mohicans, etc. This day and age: barely getting through two books a year (that were written within two years of the present) maybe one essay a year, the rest of homework are a collection of worksheets, where no one has to show how they came up with the answer, so a calculator may be used.

Sorry for the rant, but it boils down to: Don't depend on the government for anything, depend on yourself and community. Government has the opportunity to change every four years, but so far, every change heads deeper into fascism.

More information: read Richard Mayberry's books on economy, early government, natural law, etc.

[McD]

It isn't right to define the past by today's standards.

I will say that this door swings both ways. How many times have you heard someone say, "We did ( or didnt) do that when we were growi growing up and we turned out just fine.". I hear that quite often, especially In regards to parenting. It's frustrating.

[Booklover]

I agree, but this situation is close to life and death for many people-parenting styles is just discussion.

[McD]

I agree, but this situation is close to life and death for many people-parenting styles is just discussion.

I would agree with that. I was just pointing out that many people do not offer the same level of compassionate/nonjudgement that they expect for themselves.

Social Security is a broken machine. What honestly can be done to fix it? What's the solution?

If the money isn't there to either increase COLA or to not increase the Medicaid premiuims, then what do we do?