Social Security benefits going up by 5.8 percent
Social Security inflation adjustment in 2009 will be largest in 27 years: 5.8 percent
MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP News
Oct 16, 2008 07:43 EST
Social Security benefits for 50 million people will be go up 5.8 percent next year, the largest increase in more than a quarter century.
The increase, which will start in January, was announced Thursday by the Social Security Administration. It will mean an additional $63 per month for the average retiree.
The increase is the largest since a 7.4 percent jump in 1982 and is more than double the 2.3 percent rise that retirees got in their monthly checks starting in January of this year.
The typical retiree's monthly check will go from $1,090 currently to $1,153.
But the fatter Social Security check may still seem puny to millions of retirees battered this year by huge increases in energy and food costs who have also watched helplessly as their retirement savings have been assaulted by the biggest upheavals on Wall Street in seven decades.
more...
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/10/social_security_benefits_going.php