This COLA has no Fizz

[GregLee]

[mod edit - Post moved to here]

 

[harley]

Well, it certainly shows there isn't much interest, since I just pointed out that it isn't a matter of grammar. Clearly, no one is listening.

[mod edit - Post moved to here]

You should feel right at home, after 40 years teaching grammar.

So, how 'bout that COLA? Not much fizz there, eh?

 

[Texas Proud]

[mod edit - Post moved to here]

 

[eytonxav]

[mod edit - Post moved to here]

 

[Nords]

How about each time you come across things like this you create a new thread in the "Other" forum. I have no problem with this practice and as shown in the thread on the spacing between sentences there are others that are happy to discuss these issues. It is diverting threads like this from the main subject that is particularly annoying to many members.

That sounds like a fine suggestion. In fact you wouldn't need to create a new thread every time. Maybe have a thread called "Grammar" that you can add to as posts of interest come up. If the thread became really popular and well used, we could even "sticky it" for reference and easy access.

Best of all, the posters who "could care less" can put the entire thread on "Ignore"...

 

[Alan]

I have started a new thread on Grammar and Logic, and copied the appropriate posts into it.

Please continue that discussion there and leave this thread on topic.

Thanks folks.

 

[ziggy29]

Logic (not philosophy). A premise can be converted into an "if" antecedent by the logical rule of implication introduction, or an antecedent into a premise, by the logical rule of modus ponens. So there's a relationship. But they're not the same, because statements (where antecedents are) are not logically like arguments (where premises are). You can attack an argument by showing that its premise is false, but you can't appropriately attack an implication statement by showing that its antecedent is false. This is why I disagreed with the contention that the article under discussion had a false premise.

Please note Alan's post above yours. Thanks!

 

[Alan]

Please note Alan's post above yours. Thanks!

Thanks Ziggy.

All relevant posts have now been moved to the new thread.

 

[GregLee]

So, how 'bout that COLA? Not much fizz there, eh?

Since seniors will have more to spend with the COLA than they would have without it, the economy should be stimulated by the COLA, as compared with its more depressed state without the COLA. But not by much, since the amount of the COLA is so small, just as the article says. I don't really see the relevance of whether the COLA was intended as a special measure whose main purpose was to stimulate the economy.

 

[Chuckanut]

All the bleeding heart media likes to concentrate on the 80 year old widow, drawing $700 a month, with a drug bill the size of a new car payment. And while I have sympathy for anyone in that situation, I don't think it's typical. This year's COLA is appreciated by many of us.

BINGO! I have a retired friend with a 26 foot motor home who gets free admission to the National Parks because of his age. Meanwhile, the guy with family and a tent, pays $10 a day!

 

[REWahoo]

BINGO! I have a retired friend with a 26 foot motor home who gets free admission to the National Parks because of his age. Meanwhile, the guy with family and a tent, pays $10 a day!

Once that "guy with a family and a tent" pays fed income taxes for 40+ years to support those Nat Parks, he'll also be eligible for free admission.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Kelsey Grammer used to be a lot funnier.

 

[youbet]

Best of all, the posters who "could care less" can put the entire thread on "Ignore"...

+1

 

[JPatrick]

+1

and another +1 comes to.......umm.....solar powered calculators really suck on a cloudy day....there it is +2.

 

[Leonidas]

Best of all, the posters who "could care less" can put the entire thread on "Ignore"...

DING! DING! DING! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

 

[W2R]

I am *thrilled* about the COLA. Honestly, I am. Personally I will be getting less than $20/month extra. Still, the idea of getting a COLA is awesome.

I promise not to spend it all in one place....

 

[youbet]

I am *thrilled* about the COLA. Honestly, I am. Personally I will be getting less than $20/month extra. Still, the idea of getting a COLA is awesome.

I promise not to spend it all in one place....

That's a great attitude! Perhaps you could add this to the "Say Something Positive" thread.........

 

[Independent]

False premise. COLA is never meant to jump-start the economy. It offsets some price increases. That's all.

Correct. All we should expect out of the COLA is that seniors continue the same level of real spending. There is a tiny impact on timing since the COLA happens after prices went up - so it just offsets the small negative from the earlier price increases.

 

[Independent]

You'd think that somebody writing stuff like this for the WSJ:

The intent of COLA was to make sure that seniors’ Social Security benefits kept up with the rising cost of living. If the government is serious about protecting seniors’ buying power, and helping the economy as well, it will base its adjustments on the increase in their actual living costs.

would at least know that the gov't has been tracking an "elderly" set of price weights for more than a decade. The result is:

Table 2 shows the behavior of the CPI-E, CPI-U, and CPI-W for selected expenditure
categories for the period December 1997 through December 2009. Over this 12-year
period, the reweighted experimental price index for older Americans (CPI-E) rose 36.1
percent. This compares with increases of 33.9 percent for the CPI-U and 33.8 percent for the CPI-W.

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpieart2009.pdf

In other words "no big deal".

Techies in this area say that a "chained CPI" would be slightly more accurate than the current method, and the chained CPI is a little lower. Putting the two refinements together results in no net change.

 

[W2R]

Correct. All we should expect out of the COLA is that seniors continue the same level of real spending. There is a tiny impact on timing since the COLA happens after prices went up - so it just offsets the small negative from the earlier price increases.

Yes, exactly. In my case, the $17.73/month could be applied to the increase in cost of health insurance, gas price increases, food price increases, and so on, from 2009 through the end of the year. These prices have already risen quite a lot for all of us.

 

[powerplay]

I'll join W2R with being thrilled about getting a COLA.
This will be my first one in retirement and who knows what future years will bring.

 

[Nords]

Thanks for giving the grammarians their own sandbox, guys.

I was going to make a comment involving the words "grammar", "logic", and "oxymoronic", but I decided to just give the thread a star and an "Ignore"...

Yes, exactly. In my case, the $17.73/month could be applied to the increase in cost of health insurance, gas price increases, food price increases, and so on, from 2009 through the end of the year. These prices have already risen quite a lot for all of us.

So... maybe you'll be spending it all in one place after all!

 

[W2R]

Yes, exactly. In my case, the $17.73/month could be applied to the increase in cost of health insurance, gas price increases, food price increases, and so on, from 2009 through the end of the year. These prices have already risen quite a lot for all of us.

So... maybe you'll be spending it all in one place after all!

I just might! But it's nice to have, in any case.

 

[Dreamer]

I am looking forward to receiving the COLA also! It is very much appreciated.

 

[rescueme]

I was going to make a comment involving the words "grammar", "logic", and "oxymoronic", but I decided to just give the thread a star and an "Ignore"...

Nothing wrong with the thread subject; that's why I have the offending poster an ignore (for all posts) ...