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In the previous post, Dean Baker noted that Social Security payments went up considerably last quarter because they’re based on inflation measurements that included the big runup in gasoline prices through mid-2008 but not their subsequent fall. Needless to say, though, there’s a flip side to that:
For the first time in more than three decades, Social Security recipients will not get any increase in their benefits next year, federal forecasts show.
…. The forecasts, by the Obama administration and the Congressional Budget Office, indicate that Social Security beneficiaries will not receive any cost-of-living increase in 2010 or in 2011.
This certainly won’t help whatever recovery we manage to start eking out next year.
