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Showing blog posts tagged with CPI

‘Chained’ CPI: Two Million Times ‘No!’

‘Chained’ CPI: Two Million Times ‘No!’

President Obama will hear a straightforward and simple message from more than 2 million people today responding to reports that his budget will include cuts to Social Security and Medicare:

The 'Chained' CPI is a benefit cut to a program that does not contribute to the deficit. Do not barter it away in the name of deficit reduction. Stand strongly against all cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

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Bad Policy: President Obama's Budget Cuts Social Security and Medicare

Bad Policy: President Obama's Budget Cuts Social Security and Medicare

Yesterday the AFL-CIO learned President Obama's budget will cut Social Security and Medicare benefits for working families. The so-called "chained" CPI will cut Social Security benefits and middle-income seniors (people who made $47,000 a year and more) will be asked to pay higher Medicare premiums.

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Push for Social Security 'Chained' CPI Rears Its Ugly Head Again

Photo courtesy of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

The "chained" CPI cost-of-living formula—which would result in a painful cut in benefits for Social Security recipients—was touted as good policy by White House National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling in an "Ask Me Anything" Reddit chat yesterday. 

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Chained CPI: The Younger You Are, the Bigger the Cut

Photo from a lame-duck Social Security rally in Wisconsin.

One of the proposals floated for months in the fiscal bluff debate in Washington, D.C., is a change to the formula used to measure inflation for Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) called the "chained" CPI. Let's be clear: This is a benefit cut. These COLAs make sure seniors' income keeps pace with the rising costs of housing and food. The "chained" CPI would cut future Social Security benefits by as much as $2,432 for someone who is 17 years old today. Studies from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) show that not only is the "chained" CPI a benefit cut, it eventually will lead to higher taxes for most working people.

Young people around the country have been speaking out on the fiscal showdown. Check out this roundup of blog posts and see what it means to them.

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Social Security COLA at Risk with Chained CPI Proposals

NWLCChainedCPI

The chain CPI formula calculation would further erode Social Security benefits.

Today's announcement that Social Security recipients will receive a modest increase (1.7%) in their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) was a small but welcome boost for seniors who are seeing prices increase on necessities, from health care to food. However, even this modest increase could be jeopardized if proposals floating around in Washington to "tweak" the current COLA formula by tying it to the so-called "chained CPI" are passed. 

Senior advocates and retirement experts say the current formula, the CPI-W, is already inadequate. Higher health care costs and expenses seniors face are not accurately addressed in the CPI-W.

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