The ‘Good Life’ On Social Security
From the Social Security Administration FAQs: the maximum you could be paid on Social Security in 2012 was around $30,000/year. The minimum is $1. The average payment is about $14,500/year. A full-time minimum wage [$7.25/hour] job pays $15,000/year. People receiving Social Security make less on average than high school students flipping burgers, but they are somehow responsible for the deficit.
I have already talked about chained CPI, and why it wasn’t relevant to Social Security recipients, especially when the Bureau of Labor Statics tracks the CPI-E [Consumer Price Index for the Elderly]. Social Security recipients are already losing ground using the CPI-W [CPI for Workers in metropolitan areas], so the chained version makes it even worse. What sort of changes do the Villagers think that a group that makes less than minimum wage will be able to make?
Update: From Duncan, the median annual payment for Social Security is $13,500. Half the people make less than that and half make more.
Also the current Federal Poverty threshhold for an individual is $11,490.
