<VV> "Fixed Incomes" - NO CORVAIR

[Sethracer at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/6/2009 8:04:21 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
tony.underwood at cox.net writes:

Because  there was no increase in the cost of living.

???
(wondering if I  heard that right)


tony..      




Tony - You probably know this, but the ??? requires an answer.
The COLA - "Cost of Living Allowance" of most inflation adjustments, such  
as Social Security and many Union wages is based on an index, which includes 
a  lot of different costs. Among them are housing costs -including housing 
prices,  fuel costs, including gasoline, and a lot of others. For 2010, the 
cost of fuel  went down - from $4/gallon to, about $2 early in the year, now 
about $3. Housing  prices collapsed in most areas. Now, your costs may not 
have dropped, I own  (most) of a house, and I am not buying another house 
very soon, so I don't see  that drop.  And there are other items not 
necessarily included in the  COLA index. But the folks who complained about not 
seeing a raise when the index  stayed put, (or dropped) were not complaining when 
the COLA index raised their  pay as the housing bubble raised the perceived 
cost of housing, they took  the money. As I mentioned before, Congress has 
usually stepped in to keep the  downward adjustment from shrinking the 
"widows pension" Social Security checks.  (Public Relations, you know!) 
 
 
Seth  Emerson

C's the Day! - Corvair, Camaro,  Corvette