2015 Social Security COLA updated for July CPI-W

I would like to see the people in government live on 1400.00 a month, pay rent,gas,phone etc and after all of this live on 200.00
for food and meds. that is what is left after all bills are paid. Question I have been paying for Medicare for years but never used it why not reduce Medicare for those who never use it and put the money back into the person account. Even if it is just a few
dollars ever penny counts. When you are young you have know say in anything and when when you are old you still have know
say in anything. Years ago the Government put a freeze on food prices why not today, maybe a loaf of bread would not have to
cost 3.00 dollars . Think of the seniors who can’t afford much food one day you to will be a senior.

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Also, those months are when food at harvest time goes down. Clothing overall prices drop because of back to school sales, autos drop as they retool and clear inventory to make room for the next year’s model. Gasoline goes down because August is when they clear summer inventory from storage to make room for the winter blend fuels. But, the largest expense for all of us who do not own our own houses outright is shelter. The CPI claims to use shelter as 31% of the CPI calculations, but in fact they do not even look at house prices or rents. What they do is a telephone survey in which they ask homeowners what they would expect to get if they rented out their house, or had to rent a similar house. These are owners who are not even in the rental market, yet their survey answers determine a third of your COLA. Rents in this region are up by at least 40% in the last two years, and most of that in the last few months. I could get a 30% COLA and still be worse off than I was in 2010. Food, also up by 40% at least, meat has doubled in the last two years and some meats have tripled (Safeway rib steaks $18.99 per pound, Hillshire Farms sausages went from $2.50 for 16 oz. to $4.99 for 12 oz. = 15.6 cents per ounce then and now 41.6 cents per, a difference of 260%. Tuna doubled (if it even is tuna in the can, they can now use 14 different species of fish and label it tuna) and the can shrunk from 5.75 ounces to 5. Ice cream used to be half a gallon, now a quart and a half. Coffee used to be 3 pounds/can, now 1 pound 15 ounces. But, there is no inflation so our inability to get by has to be our own fault right? Car insurance up 28-55% in Oregon this year depending on which company you are with. Avista is raising gas just in time for winter by 11% even though natural gas prices have dropped by more than 55% from their peak a few years ago. Levis went from $42 to $67 this year, and that is the frightening thing, it is not just a few bucks more but the speed and scope of the inflation, butter last month $2.18, this month same store same brand $4.89. This is a lot worse inflation than I remember in the 70’s and that was really scary. This is more like the start of hyperinflation.

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