[ce] inflation means free money for elderly

In this article, it is said that the 55 million social security beneficiaries will receive a 3.6% raise in benefits for 2012. In 2010 and 2011, there was no increase at all but in one year there is a 3.6% bump. The elderly need money to spend that is up to date with inflation but is that much of a bump necessary? If each recipient got average 1000 dollars a month, then an increase would be 36 dollars. For 55 million dollars that would be nearly 2 billion dollar increase dent in government spending per month. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

The government currently has around 14.3 trillion dollars of debt and they are increasing benefits. They should be thinking of social security reforms that could be used to change the program. That extra 2 billion will not be magically printed out; the workers will have to pay for it through taxes. Since the government is paying out more money than it is taking in, the problem of debt is getting worse every day. From the research I was finding for my mock congress note cards, I learned that the government wrote IOUs in the trust fund. Social Security had $ 2.6 trillion surplus money in previous years of extra tax money but that money does not actually exist anymore. The other parts of government just borrowed that money and used it all already.

The current beneficiaries need to save money and worry about the years ahead. Millions of baby boomers will retire soon meaning benefits will only go down. Future generations, lets prepare ourselves for high taxes with low return rates.