Ron Paul: “Chaining” Taxpayers
One of the least discussed, but potentially most significant, provisions in President Obama’s budgYou must Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.
One of the least discussed, but potentially most significant, provisions in President Obama’s budgYou must Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.
9 comments
“Thus, the government decides your standard of living is not affected if you can no longer afford to eat steak, as long as you can afford to eat hamburger.”
My favorite part of the current CPI calculations is that when poor people get to eating cat food more consistently, inflation will still be recorded as low.
Paul almost got me this time. I’m reading along, nodding my head, thinking to myself, “Maybe this blind hog has finally found a chained CPI acorn!” But, rather than coming to the defense of seniors whose standard of living would be eroded by using chained CPI to calculate future cost-of-living increases in their Social Security benefits, he veers off into “free markets” and “fiat money”.
He does not recognize that chained CPI is a way to cut the social safety net, but sees it as a devious way to mask to mask inflation.
Keep snuffling along, Ron, maybe you will find an acorn someday.
My thoughts exactly. I was expecting him to mention something, anything about SS, but nope. I have to wonder if Paul even gives a shit about that.
Wow, how embarrassing for you too eh?
“The goal of chained CPI is to decrease the government’s obligation to meet its promise to keep up with the cost of living in programs like Social Security.”
Looks like you didn’t read all the way through.
You don’t need to read all the way through when you get your talking points from the MSM. You just press play on the tape deck in your bobble head.
“Peter Schiff correctly calls chained CPI a measurement of the cost of survival.”
That’s some serious shit.
Well, Ron Paul is on to something. The CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers) is rigged to keep the cost of living adjustments low for social security retirees by cooking the books showing real price inflation rates. The Chained CPI-U (a different set of criteria used apart from the above CPI-U) is further cooked to show lower than actual increases (inflation) in determining cost of living increases for retired workers. In South Carolina, per the State Retirement System Preservation and Investment Reform Act of 2005, all cost of living increases for retirees in the myriad of taxpayer funded retirement systems do NOT use the CPI-U or the Chained CPI-U in determining living standard increases to keep up with inflation, they use the CPI-W (Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers)
A brilliant, insightful article. Now if the mainstream media paid more attention to these issues, educating and reporting the facts to the people, rather than which celebrity is wearing what or shagging who. Unlike the central banking school of politico-economists such as Krugman and Blanchflower, Ron Paul really cares about the poor.