Sunday, October 25, 2009
Do you agree with President Obama's plan to send $250 payments to retirees and people with disabilities because they are not scheduled to receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment?
From the RoundTable blog
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Do you agree with President Obama's plan to send $250 payments to retirees and people with disabilities because they are not scheduled to receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment?
Tyler Bowersock, Roanoke
I'm a transplant from Ohio. I threw a dart at a map after graduating from the University of Dayton and The Ohio University (not state), that landed on Roanoke, which I now call my home. I've been very fortunate to meet some great friends while being lucky enough to find a beautiful girl whom I now call my wife. Together, as young professionals, we want to get more involved in the community, benefiting the valley in any way we can. We also share a healthy obsession for health and wellness, which is finally getting the attention it deserves!
Certainly I think taking care of seniors and persons with disabilities should be an important tradition we maintain in this country. Prior to Social Security, the elderly were the largest and fastest-growing population falling into poverty, and persons with disability really had no income to speak of. So in theory, it is a great thing.
Now, you have to take into account the current economic climate and the 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment increase SS and SSI beneficiaries received in January. How many people can say they received a 5.9 percent pay increase this year? Also, not only do we have 10 percent unemployment, but we have other people in the middle class who have had their pay cut or hours reduced or receive little to no pay increase. At the same time, employers are cutting back benefits, shifting more costs to middle-class Americans who continue to take home less and less.
Would I like to give every American who receives SS or SSI an extra $250? Of course I would, especially since these beneficiaries still struggle. However, I'm a realist who takes into account the current economic climate and recent COLA increase. Therefore, it is hard to get on board with this one. If we had a budget surplus, I would not argue. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Duane Howard, Roanoke
Why the delayed reaction and all the uproar of concern now? Buried in the paper months ago, it was published that we would not be getting a cost-of-living increase for the next two years. I waited for the media hype and was dismayed that nothing appeared.
Now that we are down to the wire, it's all over the news as if it had just been disclosed. This being said, it truly is an absolute, appalling disgrace how some of the most poor, needy, physically handicap people in this country of such opulent wealth are being dumped on and tossed aside.
Because the index for cost of living is stagnant (what a joke), seniors and in particular those with disabilities have certainly seen none of our health care, prescription and overall cost-of-living remain stagnant.
Struggling seniors like myself who are one catastrophic event away from losing our homes will once again have to sacrifice proper eating to afford to keep a roof over our head.
Did anyone see the "Performance from the White House" on PBS Oct. 15? An evening of Latino music performed on the back lawn of the White House with a stage and tent set up for the event. Such an outrageous expense of luxury and entertainment for our president and the rich and famous when our country is at war, men and women dying every day, and Americans homeless in record numbers, while Wall Street and the auto industry are being bailed out.
Having worked on the Obama campaign "for change," the only change I see is in his lavish, opulent, jet-setting lifestyle, while the real change is in the poor getting poorer and he and his friends getting richer and richer. Shame on him !
David Horn, Moneta
It goes without saying that retirees and the disabled could use a boost to their incomes. The same can be said of many others. With the exception of those in the top-tier of earners, no one has been "keeping up with the Joneses," not even the Joneses.
For the last 30 years or so, the U.S. economy has slowly shifted from one that produced general prosperity to one favoring only a very few. A CEO in the 1960s was paid roughly 40 times what the lowest-paid employee in the firm was paid. CEOs contented themselves with tax-free perks and plowed any extra earnings back into their companies. The only members of society who were in any degree of financial trouble were the elderly and disabled. Most of that was due to high health care costs, which were addressed quite well by Medicare. In all, the rich were comfortable, and the middle and working classes were solvent. The poor, retired and disabled were able to cope.
Today, CEOs are making hundreds of times the pay of their lowest-paid employee, and they seem intent on raising it to thousands of times.
Workers are unsettled, worrying that their jobs can be outsourced or simply eliminated. As always, those not actively working are most at risk. The rich are living large, the middle and working classes are under stress. The poor, retired and disabled are only as secure as their political clout permits.
So, all in all, the proposed $250 disbursement won't help anyone very much, but I'm all in favor. I hope the retirees and disabled are in favor of raises and bonuses for those of us still in the workforce. As far as the fat cats, though, I wish for them what they wish for the rest of us.
Harlan Miller, Blacksburg
I believe that economic stimulus is the right policy for us now, and, since I get Social Security, I'll get $250. But this is still a mistake.
Having a fixed income is certainly preferable to having no income, or an income that can vanish at any moment. Many of us on Social Security are actually doing much better than working (or work-seeking) folks. There were many years of my working life in which I received no COLA. I'll certainly accept the money, but it will just be a pleasant little surprise like the dividends I get every year on life insurance. No one is going to be saved from foreclosure or bankruptcy by $250 (or $500 for a couple). The payment may help some get through another month of medical bills, but not the next month.
There are about 50 million people receiving Social Security payments. I'd bet that 20 million of those have household incomes over $100,000. But let's be conservative (in a good sense) and say it's 10 million. Ten million $250 payments totals $2.5 billion.
If that were spent on infrastructure rehabilitation or actual production and installation of wind and solar power, it would create (conservatively, again) 10,000 jobs.
Ten thousand real jobs for real people or 10 million pleasant little surprises: If we really want to get out of this mess, the choice is obvious.
