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WASHINGTON — The 60 million people on Social Security will not receive any cost-of-living increase in their benefits in 2016, the government said on Thursday, but because of a quirk in federal law, nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries could see record increases in their premiums unless Congress intervenes. With millions of older Americans on fixed incomes facing that one-two punch, the Obama administration is urging Congress to moderate or stop the health insurance premium increases, which could raise the cost for some Medicare beneficiaries by about 50 percent — the largest increase, by far, in the history of Medicare. But...

WASHINGTON (AP) — There will be no benefit increase next year for millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees, the government said Thursday. It's just the third time in 40 years that payments will remain flat. All three times have come since 2010. And there's more bad news. The lack of a benefit increase means that many older people could face higher Medicare costs, an issue that has advocates lobbying Congress. The main reason for no increase next year is low gas prices. By law, the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is based on a government measure...

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said he and his rich pals should “voluntarily” forgo their Social Security benefits to bolster the health of the retiree entitlement system, declaring “I don’t need mine, by the way.” At a multi-candidate presidential forum in New Hampshire on Monday, Mr. Trump said that for the good of the country, rich taxpayers should sacrifice the benefits from the entitlement system into which they had paid throughout their professional lives. “I have friends that are worth hundreds of millions and billions of dollars and get Social Security. They don’t even know the check comes in,” said...

WASHINGTON (AP) — For just the third time in 40 years, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees can expect no increase in benefits next year, unwelcome news for more than one-fifth of the nation's population. They can blame low gas prices. By law, the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is based on a government measure of inflation, which is being dragged down by lower prices at the pump. The government is scheduled to announce the COLA — or lack of one — on Thursday, when it releases the Consumer Price Index for September. Inflation has been...

The annual cost - of - living adjustment (COLA) to Social Security benefits will likely be zero in January 2016. The COLA will be announced on Oct. 15, when the last data required to compute it becomes available. But the data already suggest that prices have fallen over the past 12 months, removing the need for an adjustment. If prices have fallen but the COLA is zero, the purchasing power of Social Security benefits would increase. The Social Security Administration determines the COLA based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) compiled by the...

Exeter, New Hampshire (CNN)—Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Friday that a New Hampshire audience member would "get over" cuts to Social Security payments as a result of his reform plan -- and the left is already pouncing on the comment. The Republican presidential candidate was asked about entitlement reform during NH1's "Fiscal Fridays" series in Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday, and he said it was something that would have to get done. "We can't balance a budget without entitlement reform. What are we, kidding?" Kasich said when asked about his opponents who say they won't touch entitlements. Kasich said he...

Americans are funny about taxes: When we complain about them, we don’t moan that we are paying too much — we lament that others are paying too little. In a Pew Research Center poll last year, only 27 percent of Americans cited their own tax liabilities among their complaints about the tax code, while 64 percent complained that other taxpayers — the wicked 1 percenters, the dreaded corporations — were getting off too easy. If you’ve ever met anybody who believes that we can balance the budget by cutting foreign aid, that the Social Security “trust fund” is a real...

A high school teacher who has worked in Oregon and Manhattan is determined to pass on his history of the Great Depression. “By the end of Roosevelt’s first two terms in office, nonagricultural private-sector workers had the right to organize unions and the National Labor Relations Board was created to enforce that right,” Adam Sanchez writes in the Fall 2015 issue of Rethinking Schools. “The unemployed had access to a new, permanent system of unemployment insurance, and the elderly could rely on social security.” “Millions of people were put back to work through federal jobs programs.” Sanchez, who teaches at...

"It's very likely the COLA will be zero, given the way the numbers are now," said Polina Vlasenko, senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. The problem: The way the government measures inflation simply doesn't reflect what people on Social Security spend their money on. The elderly simply don't benefit as much from lower gas prices as the average American worker because they're no longer driving to and from work. The falling gas prices are due primarily to oil prices, which are near a six-year low. A surge in U.S. oil production has fed a massive glut...

I like Jake Tapper, but I already was ready to punch him in the ear over the “let’s you and him fight” structure of the debate questions last week when he abandoned all pretense of adulthood and asked the candidates what they’d like their Secret Service code names to be. It was a low, cringe-inducing moment, and the candidates made it lower and cringier with their answers. (“Trueheart”? “Justice Never Sleeps”? Ergh.) Marco Rubio just barely acquitted himself with “Gator,” but the correct answer was: “That’s a dumb question, Jake, and I am not going to answer it. Now, back...

[picture of Robert Creamer] Looks like the Marxist architect of Obamacare also had a major say in putting forth the Iran Deal. Robert Creamer was convicted in 2005 for tax violations and bank fraud. He served time and was under house arrest. While in prison, he crafted the core underpinnings of Obamacare. Creamer is a political consultant who is very close to Barack Obama and is married to Jan Schakowsky, the Marxist Congresswoman from Illinois. While on the inside, he wrote, Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight! How Progressives Can Win. Obamacare was only the first major step in...

The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program commonly known as Social Security, which celebrated its 80th birthday on August 14, is projected to run an $84 billion deficit this year, according to the 2015 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees. […] During 2014, $646.2 billion in payroll taxes was collected from 166 million working Americans. But that was not enough to cover the $859 billion in Social Security benefits that were collected by 59 million people, including 42 million retired workers and their dependents, six million survivors of deceased workers, and 11 million disabled workers and their dependents....

The actual rates for Part B (which covers the costs of doctor visits and outpatient care) will be announced in October and take effect Jan. 1. The boost may be 15% for all participants [$105/month to $121] or a whopping 52% for some [$105/month to $159], depending on whether Social Security recipients see a cost-of-living raise for 2016.

<p>Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee delivered a strong defense of government safety net programs for seniors at a candidate forum in Florida Tuesday, aiming for retired voters in a state rich with them.</p> <p>While former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have called for raising the retirement age and means-testing Social Security benefits, Huckabee called those proposals “absolutely ridiculous.”</p>

As he gears up for another presidential campaign, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is making a big break with the Republican party on the issue of entitlement reform. Meeting with reporters at a hotel in Washington, D.C. this morning, Huckabee strongly criticized New Jersey governor Chris Christie's proposal to reform Social Security and said he would not sign Paul Ryan's Medicare reform into law if he were president. "I don't know why Republicans want to insult Americans by pretending they don't understand what their Social Security program and Medicare program is," Huckabee said in response to a question about Christie's...

<p>LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is introducing himself to New Hampshire voters in a format he knows well - a town hall meeting.</p> <p>The likely 2016 Republican presidential contender drew a capacity crowd Wednesday to his first town hall in New Hampshire, in Londonderry. He opened the event by talking about his life story.</p>

He told ABC five years ago that he supported citizenship, leaving him with two options now. One: Stick to his guns and give conservatives another reason to treat “Christie” as a curse word. Two: Follow Scott Walker’s lead by pleading ignorance in his earlier views and claiming that he’s since seen the light. Actual quote from Christie: “I have now learned some of the ramifications for all of these things.” What those things might be isn’t clear, but it’d be impolite after such an earnest pander to badger the poor guy for details. He’s trying, Republicans. A for effort? This...

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Chris Christie bills himself as the candidate willing to speak the truth even if his audience doesn't want to hear it. Opening his talk at Beck's Sports Grill, he wastes no time inviting a negative reaction. "The last time I was here was to go to the UNI-Dome," he recalls, referring to the University of Northern Iowa's nearby football venue. "Mary Pat and I are alums of the University of Delaware." At this point, those present drown him out with groans in bitter memory of the Blue Hens' elimination of the Panthers in the Football Championship...

Chris Christie can be Hillary Clinton’s running mate. They’re both liberals, they’re both clueless, they’re both egocentrics. And they’re both wrong. We’ll talk about Hillary another day. Today’s subject is Christie. Specifically, his announced intent to “take on” entitlements. He rightly points out that entitlements consume some 70 percent of the federal budget and are a fiscal and social cancer that is destroying America. Entitlements – the “rights” of the welfare state – oblige the taxpayer to fund a limitless number of people receiving a limitless number of dollars over a limitless series of programs. Entitlements are automatic theft, redistribution...

Republican presidential candidates. who have had to seek contributions from a handful of wealthy contributors, want to cut Social Security. Average Americans love the program; the superwealthy don’t. Something strange is happening in the Republican primary — something strange, that is, besides the Trump phenomenon. For some reason, just about all the leading candidates other than The Donald have taken a deeply unpopular position, a known political loser, on a major domestic policy issue. And it’s interesting to ask why. The issue in question is the future of Social Security, which turned 80 last week. The retirement program is, of...