Social Security benefits

Chained CPI: 4 Opinions From the Press

Posted on 04/22/2013 by | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsIt’s not only politicians who have mixed reactions to a different way of calculating cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security benefits. Newspaper editorial writers and columnists are conflicted, too. The chained consumer price index, included in President Obama’s budget proposal, would mean that seniors’ checks would go up a little slower each year. The chained CPI assumes that as prices go up, consumers buy cheaper substitute goods to make up for it. Here’s how it’s playing among the mainstream press’s opinion …

Social Security Benefit Cuts Would Have Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Impact on Women

Posted on 03/6/2013 by | AARP Media Relations Team | Comments

Money & Savings | PoliticsThe Social Security benefit cut known as Chained CPI remains a piece of the deficit puzzle for reasons that baffle conservatives, veterans, progressives, and almost everyone in between.  The $85 billion in sequester cuts for 2013 have begun and many in Washington have still said they’re willing to cut the modest Social Security benefits we’ve earned by $127 billion over 10 years, even though Social Security by law remains separate from the budget and its deficit.  Let’s give every woman …

Poll: Boost Social Security, Improve Benefits

Posted on 01/31/2013 by | Money and Work | Comments

Bulletin Today | Money & Savings | WorkWe’re shelling out about $2,000 a year more in Social Security taxes in 2013 (based on $50,000-a-year earnings) now that the tax break expired. But guess what? Most workers say they don’t mind paying into the Social Security system, and in fact, they’re willing to dig deeper into their pockets to eliminate a projected financing gap and to improve benefits, a new survey finds. More than three-quarters of  2,000 people polled, age 21 and up, say they value Social Security …

The Takeaway: Number of Americans Taking Social Security Early Hits 35-Year Low

Posted on 05/24/2012 by | Brooklyn, NY | Comments

News RoundupsIn 2011, the number of Americans taking early Social Security benefits dropped to a 35-year low, according to a new report from the Urban Institute. For the second consecutive year, those taking benefits fell (to 27% of the number of eligible older adults). That’s down from 31% in 2009, reestablishing a 12-year downward trend interrupted only by the recent recession.

Lowest Number Of Social Security Benefits Awarded Since 1976

Posted on 04/25/2012 by | Money and Work | Comments

Bulletin Today | Money & Savings | WorkRecord numbers of Boomers and older adults took Social Security retirement benefits at the height of the Great Recession, in large part to supplement their faltering income as joblessness rose. But a new report out this month finds that the financial situation of older workers may have turned around. The number of people 62-plus who filed for Social Security last year fell to the lowest rate in 35 years, the report by the non-profit Urban Institute says. An improving jobs market was …