Heads we win, tails you lose

[Engineer]

This is what happens after your SS insurance payments get turned into an "entitlement". The scary part is that they're planning to gut the raises versus inflation...just as inflation looks like its about to go for the moon.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will offer cuts to Social Security and other entitlement programs in a budget proposal aimed at swaying Republicans to compromise on a deficit-reduction deal, a senior administration official said on Friday.

Under a proposal that would cut the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, the president will offer to apply a less generous measure of inflation to calculate cost-of-living increases, the official said on condition of anonymity. That change would result in lower payments to some beneficiaries of the Social Security program for retirees and is staunchly opposed by many congressional Democrats as well as labor and retiree groups.

Obama would agree to cuts to other so-called entitlement programs, the official said.

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-budget-offer-program-cuts-seek-deficit-deal-060835057--business.html

[DTEJD1997]

There are only TWO ways out.

A). The hard way.
B). The easy way.

Which way do you think this government is going to go? I'm not sure, but I'm going to guess that it is the easy way.

The government will NEVER default on it's obligations, it will simply inflate it's way out.

[beauanderos]

apply a less generous measure of inflation to calculate cost-of-living increases

they've already been doing that since they changed the CPI back in 1993, but really going clear back to the 80's, giving John Williams of ShadowStats a platform for his website. Now BHO is willing to lie even more egregiously regarding the true cost of living? What ya wanna bet that they're not going to keep the current CPI and PPI and just reduce the percentage due COLA's calculated from those indices... but actually GUT the methodology with even further outright lies and mendacious hedonics blather... so that they can tout that real inflation is ONLY say, two percent (ring a bell?) when the real number is closer to ten percent? They can thus jigger the GDP so that if looks as if we're in a recovery, rather than a replay of eighty years ago.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

I qualify for full SSI benefits at 65, or is it 67.5?? That is not very far away at all, and you know what? I don't believe it will be relevant by the time I get there.

[TwoPenniesEarned]

Your pension will feed a dirty banker and the bribe he'll have negotiated with a politician to allow it. It certainly will not be there for you.