There is a meme circulating around Facebook right now about Democrats voting against the 2.8% Cost of living increase. Normally, here at inflationData we try to avoid politics unless it directly relates to inflation, or our other major topics covered. But in this case I feel compelled to address this issue. The quick answer is that this is "NOT TRUE". However, if the MEME was phrased slightly differently it would be "TECHNICALLY TRUE". If the Meme said, "NONE of the Democrats voted FOR the Social Security Cost of Living Increase" it would be "TECHNICALLY TRUE". Likewise, if it said "NONE of the Republicans voted FOR the Social Security Cost of Living Increase" it would also … [Read more...]
58 Facts About The U.S. Economy From 2015 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe
There are a variety of ways to look at things and putting the pieces together is almost like looking through a kaleidoscope as we try to piece the facts together in order to get an accurate picture of the economy. Some of the pieces appear to indicate that the economy is getting better and some appear to indicate that the economy is getting worse. And just like the kaleidoscope the pieces change on a constant basis. At the moment the economy is clearly better than it was at the bottom of the crash in March of 2009 when the NYSE was near 4800. So the current levels of 10,000 looks good but... we have to remember that back in 2007 the NYSE was also at 10,000. So if we adjust 2007 … [Read more...]
How to Calculate the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment
How Does The Government Calculate the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) on your retirement benefits like Social Security? I recently received the following question from Jerry: What formula does the government uses to figure out COLA based on inflation for retired people each year? That is a great question! Social Security benefits are indexed for inflation to protect beneficiaries from the loss of purchasing power due to inflation. The government uses a complex averaging system to take the average CPI index for the 3rd quarter of the previous year versus the average CPI index for the current year and calculate the inflation rate based on that. Cost of Living adjustments are … [Read more...]