Letter to the editor: Inflation measure would cut Social Security benefits

I’m sure many North Dakotans who rely on Social Security to make ends meet welcomed the Social Security Administration’s recent announcement that there will be a cost-of-living adjustment next year. It’s the first one since 2009.

Ironically, as part of a political deal to address the nation’s debt, some of our elected officials want to permanently reduce Social Security checks for today’s seniors and future retirees. As part of a deficit reduction deal, many are calling on Congress’ debt supercommittee to consider a new way to calculate the COLA, which would cut Social Security benefits by $112 billion over 10 years. This so-called “chained consumer price index,” measures inflation at a lower rate. Through compounding, it would cut seniors’ benefits by thousands of dollars over their lifetimes — and the older one gets, the larger the cut.

It’s time for North Dakotans young and old to let our congressional delegation know that they should not be cutting Social Security benefits. It keeps many of today’s seniors out of poverty and one day may help keep younger generations out of poverty as well.

Dick Weber

Bismarck

Tags: social security, opinion, letters