Superlative CPI. Obama's version of Chained CPI. From ABC in December.

[madfloridian]

Last edited Sat Feb 23, 2013, 11:13 AM - Edit history (1)

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/12/social-security-cut-of-130-per-year-seen-in-cliff-proposal/

Depending on how the fiscal cliff negotiations end, Social Security benefits might wind up in chains.

House Republicans have proposed indexing federal benefits, most notably Social Security, to a slower inflation rate known as the “chained Consumer Price Index (CPI).” That would slow the growth of Social Security benefits, which increase periodically with Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs), the next of which is scheduled for January.

The president has countered with his own inflation offer, a “superlative CPI” that the White House says would shield the neediest beneficiaries from the change. Liberals have cried foul about all of it.

...The best number to know is $130: That’s how much a typical 65 year-old would lose in yearly benefits, three years from now, under the GOP’s “chained CPI” proposal.

Whatever you call it, it means cuts in Social Security.

Thanks, Manny, for bringing that term to our attention. I had not heard it before.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2416400

[woo me with science]

1. It's superlative!

Orwellian as hell.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Was 'Doubleplusgood CPI' already taken ? n/t

[HiPointDem]

5. +1

su·per·la·tive
/səˈpərlətiv/
Adjective
Of the highest quality or degree: "a superlative piece of skill".
Noun
A superlative adjective or adverb.
Synonyms
supreme - paramount

so i guess it's a 'highest-quality' cpi?

whatever

[madfloridian]

15. That's funny. Too true to be comfortable.

They spin us like crazy, they think we are stupid.

[woo me with science]

20. +100000

[Skittles]

3. get ready for the Social Security dog and pony show

with the outcome already determined

[Jersey Devil]

9. I'm afraid you're right

Down the line, whether it be with the "sequester" or the next manufactured "crisis" it is going to happen. Obama and Pelosi already told us that during the last "crisis". I still haven't gotten over Pelosi looking into the camera with a straight face and saying chained cpi was "not a cut".

They realized we're not falling for that baloney so they'll wring their hands and grimace and tell us how they were dragged kicking and screaming into doing it or the world would end.

[woo me with science]

4. K&R

[newfie11]

6. Considering what raises we've had this sucks

Raise the damn cap!

[JaneyVee]

7. Anyone who doesn't think this is that big of a deal...

I dare you to go to Walter Reed and ask veterans with missing limbs how they feel about it.

[madfloridian]

8. Just edited to add the link from ABC. It was there when I previewed the post last night.

There was a blank space this morning.

I can seldom get the link button to work, but it did last night. Wow, that really surprised me today to have to add it.

I do believe there is a problem with that button.

[MotherPetrie]

10. K&R Obama really must own stock in Little Friskies

[Robb]

11. I believe the idea was to chain to a better version

...of the consumer price index, which most progressives realize is a horribly flawed indicator tonite to SS benefits. This new, better, indeed superlative index would have better accounted for real world cost increases. In other words, iirc, we're talking about benefits rising, not falling, and in real adjusted dollars.

However I believe the offer was understandably refused by the GOP, who of course want to destroy the safety net, not improve it.

[madfloridian]

13. No, we are not talking about benefits rising. That is spin.

Here are several links for you.

http://www.nwlc.org/chained-cpi-what-it-and-what-it-means-women

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022024868

http://washingtonpolicywatch.org/2012/12/17/how-the-chained-cpi-is-a-stealth-cut-to-social-security-benefits/

[Robb]

16. None of these links even define the proposed CPI replacement.

Wouldn't you prefer tying SS benefits to an index that reflected increased costs of goods and services? Because that's precisely what POTUS proposed.

"Chained to an index" is bad if the index goes down, like being chained to an anchor. But if it's one more likely to rise, as Obama wanted, it's a good thing, right?

That's not spin, unless somewhere you have seen the replacement index Obama proposed.

[Robb]

12. Kick. Where'd everybody go?

Am I remembering this wrong?

[madfloridian]

14. People just get tired of arguing against spin.

We are all still here, and we are right. They are planning to cut Social Security while calling it something else.

Just like they are privatizing public education while calling it reform.

Same song, different verse.

[Robb]

18. I think you are misunderstanding the two proposals.

Both want to change the way SS is adjusted for things like inflation. The GOP wants to use the core Consumer Price Index, which ignores realities as simple as the price of milk. Democrats want to use an index that includes the price of things SS recipients are more likely to need to buy.

Chaining to the standard CPI is a mistake, because it excludes things like the price of food and therefore rises at an artificially low rate -- so would SS. However the Democrat-proposed index would rise at a quicker pace that reflects the rising costs of more things.

I'm out of ways to explain this. Does this make sense now?

[reformist2]

17. Mr. President, with all due respect, please cut the crap!

[madfloridian]

19. Many places refer to superlative and chained cpi as the same.

I found a bunch of links that equate them as the same thing. I see no reason to cut Social Security benefits at all except to please the twisted right wing. So it doesn't matter to me so much.

But this post at DU in Oct last year referred to them as the same. What's the difference and why does it matter. I don't trust much anyway since they are privatizing education while pretending it is reform.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021450521

"The chained CPI or also called the superlative CPI that’s being proposed by some members of the “super committee” and has been discussed in the deficit reduction discussions, that alternative simply does not pass the smell test. It would only make a situation we have today worse. We are not adequately in my opinion and in the opinion of others adjusting for inflation. Today the chained CPI, if it’s implemented, will further reduce benefits. A woman who retires at age 65 living ’til age 75 will get a benefit of about $600 less in real dollars 10 years later at age 85, about $950 or so less at age 95 – if she lives so long – it would be roughly $1,400 less than it would have been if the chained CPI is put into effect. "