Social Security Benefits to Increase 3.6%RUSH: Social Security recipients: good news for a couple of seconds, then I have to blow it wide open for you. This from USA Today. For the first time since 2009 American retirees, seasoned citizens, will receive an increase in their Social Security benefits of, what is it, 3.6%? Yes. Social Security recipients, to get 3.6% more, but even before it appears in their January benefit check it could be wiped out by an increase in Medicare premiums, because Obamacare is gonna come through here and lower — oh no, that’s not happening. Sorry. “The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will be an increase of 3.6%. It will affect about 55 million Social Security recipients and another eight million Americans who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
“Compared with previous increases, it’s fairly moderate, says Polina Vlasenko, research fellow at American Institute for Economic Research. The last cost-of-living adjustment, in January 2009, was an uncommonly large 5.8%. Earlier increases were 2.3% to 4.1%.The increase may lose some of its luster. Retirees may not see a lot, or any at all, of the increase because their Medicare premiums also can increase,” by about the same amount of money. So it’s a wash. It’s a net zero. CLASS Act’s Demise is Mourned by BackersRUSH: From The Politico: “The death of health reformÂ’s long-term care insurance program was so unceremonious that its supporters — among the Obama administrationÂ’s closest allies on health issues — got about 30 minutesÂ’ notice of the funeral. On Friday afternoon, the Department of Health and Human Services released a report that said there was ‘no viable path forward’ to implementing the CLASS Act, a major — if little-advertised — piece of the administrationÂ’s signature Affordable Care Act. The news was a slap in the face to CLASS advocates, who knew a report was imminent but did not suspect it would be a death certificate. ‘I donÂ’t know what happened,’ said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), a champion of the program. ‘I didnÂ’t find out until a half an hour before it came out.'”
I don’t know what happened? Obama, Pelosi, Reid lied; that’s what happened. Before it’s all said and done, nothing that they said about the Obamacare bill is going to turn out to be true. Plain and simple.
Misery Index Rises to Highest Since 1983RUSH: “An unofficial gauge of human misery in the United States rose last month to a 28-year high as Americans struggled with rising inflation and high unemployment. The misery index — which is simply the sum of the country’s inflation and unemployment rates — rose to 13.0, pushed up by higher price data the government reported on Wednesday. … The last time the misery index was at current levels was in 1983. But in 1984 an improving economy probably helped President Ronald Reagan win reelection.”Probably? He won a landslide, for crying out loud. He won 49 states in 1984. This is a Reuters story, and of course the message here is, “Well, yeah, misery index right now is 13%, but it was the same thing Reagan faced. And Reagan, look, he won 49 states, rebounding economy.” They’re out there holding out hope at Reuters that history is going to repeat itself.“While the misery index rose in September, many economists expect some respite in coming months, driven by softer inflation. Wednesday’s price data showed inflation outside food and energy,” and who needs that? “rose at the slowest pace in six months in September.” So if you throw food and energy out, inflation is no big deal. It’s really no big problem ’cause we don’t need to eat and we don’t need to get anywhere. So it’s not a problem. Everything’s looking rosy.
DOE Altered Loan Program BulletinsRUSH: Andrew Stiles, National Review Online: “It appears as though the Obama administration has been caught red-handed trying to cover up evidence in relation to the ‘green’ loans programs that helped finance Solyndra. CNBC reports that a number of press releases posted by the Department of Energy have been retroactively altered to remove the name [of] a solar company thought by many to be the next ‘green’ failure: The changes occurred in two press releases from the Department of EnergyÂ’s loan guarantee program — the same program that has been the center of controversy surrounding the failed solar company Solyndra. Both were changed to remove the name of a company that has received negative press attention in recent days, SunPower, and replace it with the name of another company, NRG Energy.”
So they’re retroactively altering loan program documents. “NRG recently finalized its acquisition of the California Valley Solar Ranch project from SunPower in September. However, at the time of the press release in April, SunPower still controlled the project.”Anyway, Mr. Stiles goes on to document all of the changes and all the alterations that are taking place here. Just blatantly discoverable. They’re not even bothering to hide it, because they know that nobody’s gonna press ’em, particularly in the media. Nobody’s gonna demand answers. They’re not gonna have to explain themselves here. It’s just gonna be little old Darrell Issa, as far as they’re looking at it. That’s not my characterization. That’s the way they’re looking at it.
