There's a Big Problem With Social Security's
2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)
Posted By: crashnburn, 10/19/2024 11:23:10 PM
For Social Security's more than 68 million beneficiaries, nothing loomed larger last week than the annual reveal of the program's cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Based on 23 years of annual surveys from Gallup, 80% to 90% of retirees (including 88% in 2024) have consistently pointed to their Social Security income as being necessary to make ends meet. For a majority of retired-worker beneficiaries, knowing how much they'll be receiving each month in the upcoming year is critical information. While Social Security's 2025 COLA marks the fourth consecutive year of an above-average payout, it also comes with a sizable, and unavoidable, problem.
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For Social Security's more than 68 million beneficiaries, nothing loomed larger last week than the annual reveal of the program's cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
Based on 23 years of annual surveys from Gallup, 80% to 90% of retirees (including 88% in 2024) have consistently pointed to their Social Security income as being necessary to make ends meet. For a majority of retired-worker beneficiaries, knowing how much they'll be receiving each month in the upcoming year is critical information. While Social Security's 2025 COLA marks the fourth consecutive year of an above-average payout, it also comes with a sizable, and unavoidable, problem.
The Collapse of Kamala Harris | Opinion
7 replies
On July 26, in the aftermath of the Democratic Party's ruthless midsummer coup of their own democratically elected presidential nominee, this column predicted that the elevation of dimwitted cackler-in-chief Kamala Harris to the party's presidential slot would "spectacularly backfire." More specifically, I wrote: "Practically, the path to winning 270 Electoral College votes still runs through the Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is frankly bizarre for Democrats to swap out the man who talks ceaselessly about his hardscrabble Scranton upbringing for a Californian who boasts the most left-wing voting record of any presidential nominee in modern history."
Vice President Kamala Harris is adding to her recent “media blitz” that until now has included stops at mostly friendly news outlets, talk shows and podcasts (which the Democratic presidential nominee has still inexplicably managed to bomb).
Yet, this week, she’s shaking things up and doing her first ever sit-down interview with Fox News. The interview will take place Wednesday with Fox News anchor Bret Baier. Baier has said that he won't treat Harris with kid gloves during their conversation, and that any editing of the interview will only be for “timing” and that “no topic is off the table.” Sounds promising.
(The Hill) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) temporarily paused aid in parts of North Carolina this weekend after alleged threats targeted the agency’s personnel aiding in recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene.
Ashe County Sheriff Phil Howell said in a statement Sunday that FEMA personnel in North Carolina’s “mountain region” were targeted by threats, prompting FEMA to take precautionary steps and temporarily pause aid operations at other FEMA sites. Neither Ashe County nor its surrounding counties were targeted by the threats, Howell said.
Kamala Harris: The Manufactured Candidate?
Why CBS's "60 Minutes" Edit Betrays The
Larger Problem 6 replies
Why CBS's "60 Minutes" Edit Betrays The
Larger Problem 6 replies
In the landscape of American political journalism, a troubling trend has emerged this election season: the selective editing of the news. The latest case study comes courtesy of “60 Minutes” of CBS News, whose apparent need to repackage Vice President Kamala Harris’ words into a neatly clipped soundbite is raising skepticism about the intent behind it. What makes the whole thing even more troubling is that they’ve withheld the full, unedited transcript of Kamala’s interview. They should have released it not because the Trump campaign labeled it “deceptively edited,” but because journalistic ethics demanded nothing less
I swear to God that this is not about polls, although that Quinnipiac poll on Wednesday shook me up a little. And I understand that it’s hard to determine anything real with all the smoke and noise surrounding the campaign right now. And I also understand that a good fraction of my fellow citizens will believe anything they pick up while Doing Their Own Research on the Intertoobz. And I also understand that a larger fraction of my fellow citizens have surrendered to the Cult of the Vulgar Talking Yam.
Iam not crying for Carl Icahn, who has lost about $17 billion over the last few weeks as investors have fled Icahn Enterprises stock.
I’m talking about it today because the saga offers an important lesson about why the American economy hasn’t been working for most Americans in this era of shareholder capitalism.
Icahn was one of the first of the breed of corporate raiders — now more politely deemed “private equity” managers and “activist investors” — who take over or push corporations to make more money.
THOSE of us who knew from the beginning that the sequence of CoV-SARS-2 contained inserts which could not have possibly occurred naturally, and were similar to ones that had already been published from the Wuhan laboratory, have had to endure unbelievable scorn, scientific ostracism, and the ignominy of being “cancelled” by the mainstream media (MSM) as well as by professional colleagues for nearly three years now.
In the summer of 2020 a paper I co-authored, describing the findings of an Anglo-Norwegian team of scientists who had demonstrated unique “fingerprints” of laboratory manipulation in the COVID virus, was suppressed in both the United States and UK.
Two antibodies have been uncovered that are so effective at neutralizing COVID-19 — and all of its variants — that they believe the antibodies could serve as an “effective substitute for vaccines”
The antibodies — TAU-1109 and TAU-2310 — bind to a different area of the spike protein than other antibodies, one that doesn’t undergo many mutations
TAU-1109 is 92% effective at neutralizing the omicron strain and 90% effective at neutralizing the delta strain
TAU-2310 has an efficacy rate of 84% at neutralizing omicron and a 97% efficacy rate against the delta variant.
The effectiveness of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine against infection turns negative over time, according to a new study that was funded by the vaccine maker.
The effectiveness of three doses—a primary series and a booster—against infection remained above 50 percent after 150 days against BA.1, a subvariant of the Omicron virus variant, researchers estimated.
But against more recent strains, including the currently-dominant BA.5, the effectiveness turned negative.
Against BA.2, BA.4, and BA.5, the effectiveness went negative after 150 days.
Against BA.1.12.1, the effectiveness turned negative after 91 days.
Negative effectiveness means a vaccinated person is more likely to contract COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, than an unvaccinated person.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
Dr. Meryl Nass shares astonishing figures on the blatant PCR testing and case count frauds that occurred during the pandemic
The FDA has given emergency use authorization to 281 tests for COVID-19 but not one has received approval; this means their manufacturers have zero liability if the tests don’t work
The number of people who actually had and/or died from COVID in the beginning of the pandemic is unknown, because everybody who died “with COVID” was labeled a “COVID-caused” death
Hospitals were financially incentivized to increase the number of COVID cases because they got paid more if their patients had a COVID-19 diagnosis
Both sides of the debate surrounding the controversial drug, ivermectin, agree it can kill SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But some groups have characterized the drug as a COVID-19 “cure,” while others have classed it as “dangerous.”
While many published studies advise against using ivermectin for COVID-19, studies that showed statistically-significant benefits for the treatment have been taken down and retracted “without explanation.”
That’s according to Dr. Pierre Kory, a pulmonary and critical care medicine specialist who is the president and co-founder of the Front Line Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC).
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Former President Barack Obama came out swinging at Friday’s rally in Arizona, questioning former President Donald Trump’s competence.
The 44th president sharply criticized his successor throughout the appearance in Tucson, taking aim at Mr. Trump’s ability to articulate policy positions and his age. Mr. Obama’s comments come just months after President Biden, 81, dropped out of the race over concerns about his coherence.
If elected, Mr. Trump, 78, would be the oldest president in U.S. history by the end of his term. “Along with his intentions, there is also a question of his competence,” Obama said. “He’s giving two, 2 1/2-hour speeches. Just word salads.
The US is investigating an unauthorized
release of classified documents on Israel’s
attack plans 28 replies
release of classified documents on Israel’s
attack plans 28 replies
The United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate.
The documents are attributed to the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, and note that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the “Five Eyes,” which are the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Canada sure seems to be a popular destination for Americans who suddenly find themselves in a position where leaving the United States is a good idea - at least in their fevered imaginations. The problem is, these people, who are almost exclusively creatures of the loony left (yes, I know that's a redundancy) almost never follow through on their threats.
On Friday, Politico gave us some examples from Michigan - and these people are daffy.
“Oh, God, she has to win: I don’t want to live in a Trumpian hellscape,” said Erin Conklin, a 62-year-old retired homemaker and artist. “We might have to leave: Canada, if they’ll take us.”
The Overrated Obama
25 replies
My Red State colleague, Jeff Charles, has already reported on former President Barack Obama’s recent attempted public shaming of black men who don’t want to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, supposedly because of their misogyny.
I would like to associate with most of his column. The one exception I have is to this statement – “it’s the type of mistake that Obama doesn’t normally make.”
I beg to differ. Actually, I think it is the type of mistake that Barack Obama often made.
You know, Obama is the guy who once said, in 2008, “And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or
The Center for Immigration Studies' Todd Bensman, who's done groundbreaking reporting on the border surge, has been in southern Mexico documenting what is going on there and in Central America as the election battles out in the U.S.
He found this:
This, despite his earlier reporting that migrants are anticipating a Trump victory in November, and making a rush towards the U.S., before the anticipated drawbridge will be pulled. Bensman reports that Trump is known as 'el diablo' to the would-be illegal border crossers.
So the idea of building a huge permanent complex to house migrants, United Nations agencies, and NGOs would almost seem counterintuitive,
Marine Corps Vet Says Delta Employee Made
Her Deplane, Remove Shirt Supporting Her
Fellow Veterans 18 replies
Her Deplane, Remove Shirt Supporting Her
Fellow Veterans 18 replies
Claiming that her clothing sported a "threatening" message, a Marine Corps veteran with over 20 years of service to our country was forced by an airline employee to disrobe in public and don another piece of apparel before being allowed to reboard her flight, she says.
via KNTV:
A Bay Area veteran said she was shocked and humiliated after being kicked off a Delta flight at San Francisco International Airport because of a T-shirt she was wearing.
Catherine Banks was set to fly out of SFO on Wednesday before a flight attendant told her the shirt she wore was threatening.
While the WNBA is getting sellout crowds for the finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, the league’s owners will not be making a return on their investment for the foreseeable future, sources close to the situation said. The NBA owns nearly 60 percent of the league. When one combines the NBA owners’ personal stakes in WNBA teams and the WNBA itself, the amount rises to 75 percent, a source with direct knowledge of the numbers said.
Four years ago, a sitting president — rejected by American voters — attempted to seize a second term anyway, plunging the nation into confusion, conflict and, in its last gasp, violence.
Now, Donald Trump’s political comeback has revived a sense of dread among the officials and institutions who stood in his way last time: Could it happen again?
Dozens of interviews with people deeply familiar or involved with the election process point to a clear consensus: Not only could Trump make a second attempt at overturning an election he loses, he and his allies are already laying the groundwork.
“The threat remains,”
Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News delivered a frankly disgusting performance during the September presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The network had agreed that there would be no fact checks and no interruptions, yet the partisan duo proceeded to do exactly that. In fact, Trump was fact-checked at least five times, while Harris was left to say whatever the heck she wanted (much of it lies). Perhaps the most infamous moment came when Muir, using his most arrogant, self-important tone, interrupted Trump on crime statistics. Yes, the former president fought back and tried to explain why Muir was wrong,
For years, Democrats across the nation have reassured Americans that our elections are “safe and secure.”
But in a stunning reversal of their own rhetoric, Democrats in Tennessee are now raising alarms over voter irregularities.
The Shelby County Democratic Caucus held an emergency briefing on Thursday to address disturbing reports that voting machines were flipping votes from Democrat candidates to their Republican rivals.
Democrats like Tennessee State Representatives G.A. Hardaway and Antonio Parkinson, both from Memphis, joined Election Commissioner Vanecia Kimbrow at a press conference
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted a video to X on Thursday promoting efforts, alongside their friends at FEMA, engaged in disaster cleanup. It is a demonstration of government efficiency at its absolute best.
Or maybe not. They were promptly ratioed into oblivion for the effort.
Worried about hurricane cleanup in Florida after Hurricane Milton? Fear not. These folks are on the case!
"Along with our partners at @FEMA, we will continue with disaster recovery as a result of Hurricane Milton," the video is captioned. "The safety of the American people is our top priority."
CNN host Chris Wallace challenged The New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro’s defense of Vice President Kamala Harris, igniting a broader debate on Harris’s political positions and the rhetoric used against her by critics.
During a discussion on “The Chris Wallace Show” about the Harris campaign’s strategic shift away from focusing on former President Donald Trump as a “threat” to democracy, Garcia-Navarro expressed frustration with Republican criticisms labeling Harris as “far-left.” Wallace, however, remained unconvinced, leading to an exchange over Harris’s political identity and the ongoing rhetoric surrounding her.
Comments:
Sean never mentions grocery inflation was ignored. Also, if the COLA was low, then inflation was low, and SS loses ground every year to inflation, because they don't include everything that inflates in it. So, if the COLA was low, there was less inflation, and SS lost less ground.