The UnCola

--Food Prices, Luojie (China Daily)

Don't piss down my neck
and call it rain
--The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree.
There'll be pennies from heaven
for you and me
--Pennies from Heaven, Bing Crosby
___________________

Though 2011 will be the third consecutive year Social Security recipients will receive no Cost of Living Increase (COLA), the Consumer Price Index rose 1.5% and 2.7% in 2010 and 2009, respectively. "About 80 percent of the increase was due to an 8.5 percent rise in the gasoline index, ... the sharpest increase in 18 months" (Consumer price index jumps on costlier gas.)

If this increase is correct -- and IF we are a nation of law -- then why have S.S. recipients not been receiving our legally-mandated COLA increases? The government's excuse is that the cost of living has not risen, yet the items most affecting those on a fixed income -- gasoline and food -- have increased over the past several years. If the nation truly cared about the needs of its citizens, it would consider the commodities most consumed by Social Security recipients.

Your USDA website presents a rather benign outlook for the first paragraph, until one actually reads the statistics, which all indicate increases, whether larger or smaller. An excerpt:

Beef prices increased 0.2 percent in November and are 6.2 percent above last November, with steak prices up 5.4 percent and ground beef prices up 7.4 percent. Pork prices decreased 1.9 percent in November but are 12.9 percent above last November’s level. Poultry prices decreased 0.9 percent in November but are 2.1 percent above prices last year at this time, with chicken prices up 1.9 percent and other poultry prices (including turkey) up 3.2 percent. For most of 2009, retail meat prices were lower than the previous year due to weak demand stemming from the global recession. However, with rising commodity prices and input costs over the past 6 months, beef and pork prices are now significantly higher than in 2009. Increased inflation for beef and pork products is expected in the first half of 2011, as reflected in ERS's forecasts—beef prices are now projected to increase 2.5 to 3.5 percent and pork prices 3 to 4 percent in 2011.

Egg prices increased 10.6 percent in November (following a 9.6-percent decrease in October), so that egg prices are 4.7 percent above the November 2009 level.

Dairy prices were unchanged in November and are 3.8 percent above the November 2009 level. Within the dairy category, prices changed as follows in November: milk prices were up 0.6 percent and are 5.8 percent above last November’s prices; cheese prices were down 0.3 percent but are 5.4 percent above last November’s level; ice cream and related product prices were down 0.3 percent and are 1.1 percent below last November's level; and butter prices decreased 1.6 percent this month but are 32.1 percent above last November. In 2009, dairy prices were down 6.4 percent from 2008 (the largest annual decrease since 1949). However, higher projected prices for farm milk will lead to increases of 1.5 to 2.5 percent for dairy products in 2010 and potentially higher inflation in 2011 (Food CPI and Expenditures).

Food and petroleum -- the bread and butter of the average Social Security recipient's life. The government projects inflation to increase in 2011; there will be pain, even beyond that felt in the average year by a person reliant upon this stipend.

And where are the Gray Panthers in all of this, the nations largest special interest group? Social Security used to be the sacrosanct entitlement -- hands-off for every representative lest his halcyon days at the feeding trough of public largesse be cut short tout de suite. Three years running and NO increase? This is unprecedented.

How can the U.S. spend money on elective wars and pay sandbox nations hundreds of billions of dollars to pretend to be our friends while I cannot get a measly 1.5 or 2.7% increase in my Social Security check (while my daily expenses rise)? We print money and throw it everywhere except at our retirees, who spent their working lives anticipating this stipend. My life, work and contributions to my country deserve more consideration.

Ranger thought: If you are going to fuck me, have the courtesy to use lubricant.

No COLA For You

Since a politician never believes
what he says, he is quite surprised
to be taken at his word
--Charles De Gaulle

A dream is a wish your heart makes
when you're fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep
--A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes,
Cinderella

The shape of things to come
--advert for TR-7 (1974)
___________

The story of postage hikes to take effect Jan. 2012 just reminds us of the imbalance in our current abysmal economic climate.

Fighting to survive a deepening financial crisis, the Postal Service said Tuesday it wants to increase the price of first-class stamps by 2 cents — to 46 cents — starting in January. Other postage costs would rise as well.

. . .

The price to send periodicals would go up about 8 percent, and other rates for advertising mail, parcels and services would rise by varying amounts. ... [P]ostage costs would rise an average of 5 percent (Stamp Prices Going up Again -- 46-cent Rate Asked).

The USPS is a microcosm of things to come. At our local postal station, waits can be upwards of 45 minutes, even during off-ours. This is due to staff reductions -- a cost-saving measure you see implemented at numerous businesses. Now, we get to pay more money for a reduction in services.

Meanwhile, Social Security recipients suffer no Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2010 or 2011. The story is, there is no inflation, even though the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 5.9 percent in fiscal year 2009 -- the index which COLA is usually tied to. This is the first time in 35 years there has been no COLA.

Sadly, the official line is belied every time one empties one's basket and runs one's good through checkout in the supermarket. But politicians don't engage in such quotidian tasks, so -- pity -- they don't understand the hits the average consumer feels on a daily basis.

Why does the USPS get, in effect, a COLA because they cannot make it, yet the fiction is imposed that a COLA is not needed by Social Security recipients?

No COLA for You

Consumer Price Index --Inflation Forecasts

I do believe in spooks!
I do believe in spooks!
I do! I do! I do!
--Wizard of Oz (1939)

Drinkin' rum and Coca-Cola
Go down Point Koomahnah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee dollar
--Rum and Coca Cola, Andrews Sisters

War is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it
must try to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves
--Leo Tolstoy
_______________

Ranger has been receiving notices from Social Services, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense explaining there will be no Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for 2010, and possibly 2011. The official line is, There is no inflation according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), so -- voila! -- no COLA.

Why aren't we getting COLA? If we can siphon off hundreds of billions of dollars for a phony war in Afghanistan, surely we must have enough to help our own citizens?

This doesn't seem correct since everything is costing more. How can things cost more if there is no inflation? The undeniable fact is, the tab at the grocer's rises weekly, as does the cost of fuel, and taxes and other sundry official fees. The states, many of which are cutting public services precipitously in order to stay afloat, have been rapidly increasing all types of taxes.

The inflation forecast according to the Federal Planning Bureau, which updates it's data the first Tuesday of each month (so these are today's figures): "Based on the monthly inflation forecasts, average consumer price inflation should be 1.6% in 2010, compared to -0.05% in 2009 and 4.49% in 2008. The average growth rate of the so-called "health price index", used for the price indexation of wages, social benefits and house-rent, should be 1.2% in 2010, compared to 0.59% in 2009 and 4.22% in 2008."

So, if the inflation forecast for 2010 is 1.6% (revised upward from last month's figure), why are we not receiving lawfully-mandated COLA increases? 1.6% is not ZED.

There is money for wars and health care reform, but NADA for COLA. This amounts to thievery and deceit, as it imposes a hidden tax upon a sizable portion of our society. Yet nobody even whimpers. Why is Glenn Beck not blubbering Walrus tears over this outrage?

Are we so used to being officially screwed that we are happy when the tiniest bit of lubricant is used? The lubricant is the lie that there will be no inflation in 2010. We all know that we are spending more to get less of the items that are essential to maintain our lives.

1.6% rate of inflation means $127.50 is being clipped from my entitlements, and therefore, stolen from my accounts each month. Multiply this across the board and we are talking serious money. And Bernie Madoff sits in jail. What did he do that government is not doing to all of us?

We working folks are so used to being trick fucked that we do not even bother to complain anymore. We're just happy when it's only the head that gets stuck in our asses.