Reply #12: Nevertheless, its a significant mistake

[bhikkhu]

It has been pointed out elsewhere as well. In the segment you quote from, again, it should read "COLA increases would be almost 6 percent lower after 20 years" instead of "Benefits would be almost 6 percent lower after 20 years", and so on.

The change being discussed is a different formula for calculating the cost of living increases, which are supposed to increase the total benefit payments. Using the chained-CPI formula reduces the increases slightly - it doesn't reduce the benefit that the increase goes to at all.

In any case, social security has no contribution to the budget deficit - its not even a part of the calculation. Medicare I don't know that much about, but I know that Social Security was set up on its own balance sheet. Maybe changes to Medicare would affect the budget deficit, but, as you say, that's a rotten way to go when corporate profits are so high, the rich are getting richer, and global war is fully-funded.