If Chained CPI is put in place...

[Harmony Blue]

kiss a lot of jobs goodbye. Supermarkets rely on those with social security spending their incomes on essentials (a.k.a food for those third wayers that don't know what an essential is) at the start of every month. A reduction would funnel most of these customers to make the logical choice. Spend their money as efficiently as possible...and that means Walmart.

Look at prices at Walmart and then compare to a any supermarket. The price differences are apparent from canned foods, produce, and breads, etc. Where does Walmart obtain most of their food items? Not always from the U.S. that is for sure. Supermarket chains are feeling the pressure so they are starting to ship in more and more produce from outside the U.S. like Walmart does. But local produce is often overlooked and ironically can be more cheaper than even Walmart. But Walmarts are oftenlocaed at certain radii from one another so they are easy access for anyone wanting not only to shop for food but for any other items all in one go (or using your gasoline fuel as efficiently as possible).

This is the appeal of Walmart to low income families, and why the majority of Walmart customers are low income individuals. It is like in Europe where you can go to an open air market and finish all your shopping needs all in one go.

That is only looking at the food industry because non essentials like other services provided in the U.S. would see a sharp decline. We are a service sector economy in the U.S. and when the future projections show a lot more people on social security and food stamps it makes no sense to cut their incomes if they can't generate income. Robbing their incomes, robs the incomes of those still working in the service sector at restraunts, supermarkets, clothing boutiques, etc. The effect it will have on the economy will be disasterous. This isn't a guess, because we have seen what happens when people start to spend less the effects on the economy it has. Wall street has been talking about uncertainity for the last 3 years and yet the stock market is soaring while main street is already uncertain of the future. We have a fire still going and throwing in chain CPI is like throwing more gasoline on the fire. Not helping the recovery at all.

Those that don't understand how it is difficult to live on social security income, fail to grasp the economic consequences on everyone.

[randome]

1. Since current COLA calculations don't take health costs into account as much as they should.

It's very possible more recipients will see an INCREASE instead of a decrease using chained CPI.

Plus more prescription drugs will be covered, which could amount to a net increase for EVERYONE.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Got any support for that assertion? SSA says otherwise.

Is it possible for the C-CPI-U to increase faster than the CPI-U?

At lower levels, and for short periods of time, it is possible for the C-CPI-U to increase faster than the CPI-U. That said, the evidence suggests that the C-CPI-U over time will trend slightly lower than the CPI-U.
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpisupqa.htm#Question_6

[Hoyt]

6. Yep. Obama's earlier improvement in Medicare drug donut hole offsets any COLA adjust 10 times over.

If he saves me another $100 in Medicare, or something else, he can cut my SS by another $100 a month. The C-CPI won't apply to those on lower end of scale (the "protections" many ignore), and won't amount to anything near $100 month.

Maybe I can come up with another reason to bash Obama and weaken him further with GOP.

[samplegirl]

2. I get up and read all this and

start my day...very depressed. Just once I would like to get up and read that something that is actually for the good of the middleclass.

[randome]

3. We have some victories.

Health care for pre-existing conditions and contraception, gay rights moving forward, gun control moving...well, at least it's moving...a continued push for more equitable taxation.

We need to push the Republicans out of the House.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Gay rights have been moving forward since Stonewall, kiddo.

Crediting that to straights who just a few months ago stopped opposing equality due to reasons of faith and Sanctity is really whacky stuff. DADT got repealed after hard core activism forced the President's hand, and that's the only new 'right' we got. It is still legal to discriminate in any way you want to against LGBT people in most of these United States, and we are forbidden marriage rights by the federal government.
I might be less snippy if this was not tax time, the time where the laws of the bigots extract from us money we need for medical and dental work, 'cause we lack Sanctity, you see. We have been together for decades, we have to file as singles. That's the 'moving forward' you brag about, a continued exploitation of minority groups that has not been altered by any law. Steal our money, deny our families and yet celebrate your greatness for 'moving forward'? Like some media slogan, 'lean forward' just empty of any real meaning. Any real change.

[randome]

8. It's never enough progress, no argument from me about that.

I'm simply saying that we have had some progress after 30 years of Republican rule. The tide is turning. Not fast enough, granted.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. There you go again. We who make the progress made progress during and in spite of

both Republicans and the Third Way of Clinton, who you seem to forget was part of the last 30 along with the GOP. The progress never stopped. We don't have some now, after 30 years of no progress. That is a deeply self serving statement, and it is just not true.
30 years ago, in 1983, Mario Cuomo signed into law a bill that ended discrimination in public hiring for sexual orientation. 31 years ago, NY State discriminated in hiring. That was just before the AIDS crisis hit hard, and the political organization of the LGBT community began in earnest, because the Republican administration was silent and that reckless silence was a danger to the whole nation. It was a time of great sorrow but also one of great progress, and of political change. The Democratic Party, which in the past had been unwelcoming, also changed and was changed by the times. Bill Clinton was the first nominee to mention gay people as part of the Party in his nomination speech. He did not simply decide to do that, Democratic activists both gay and straight made that happen, guided his hand, gave him good reason to support.
It goes on and on and on. I am more than sick of the claims by straight centrists that Obama started our movement or that before him there was no progress. Yours is not the worst such rhetoric I have read on DU, one ardent poster informed me that before Obama we had not only no progress, but 30 years of 'nothing but losing more rights'.
The things I have seen and the people I have lost in the last 30 years will not allow for any co-option nor rewriting of history nor of steamrolling over the all important facts to make way for momentarily useful tropes of a politician's personal glory. I want you and others here to understand that I personally do not think Barack Obama is of the mind that he started anything,nor that he would approve of these posts that attempt to discredit the history and reward him with the spoils. He's not that unthinking.

[99Forever]

7. Why Walmart?

Aldi Foods kicks Wallyworld's ass when it comes to food prices, by half, if not more. And the quality is 10 times better.

As to your wider point, the economic impact will indeed, be awful.

[onenote]

10. If Walmart already is the choice of low income customers

Wouldn't the impact mostly be felt by Walmart in terms of lower sales?

There are a number of different estimates of the projected impact of switching to Chained CPI. Two of the more commonly cited estimates are $225 billion and $340 billion (both over ten years). The portion of the savings attributable to lower monthly social security checks (because of lower COLA adjustments) ranges from $80 billion to $124 billion. Picking a mid-point estimate of $102 billion, the reduced amount of money Social Security recipients' pockets because of the change will be around $10 billion a year. Given the size of the economy in general, and the total annual revenues of the grocery industry, even if all of the "savings" from the Chained CPI translated into reductions in spending on groceries, it would not have a major impact on either the economy or the grocery industry.

I'm not saying that the Chained CPI is a good idea. Just that claims about its impact on jobs don't seem to match up with reality.