Born in 1960? Expect a Big Social Security Cut

[CaptTom]

By all means, keep us posted and let us know if there's anything we can do.

The way I read it, R's would face a strong backlash for doing anything that smacks of bipartisanship. I don't know how we'd break that barrier. Especially if the D's load the bill up with unrelated stuff. Too bad they can't all look out for their constituents, instead of their parties.

[Focus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERObjd I will be writing to my rep on Monday yes as luck would have it I was born in 1960.

Good luck with that. I wrote my two senators and representative, and I linked to specifics. Only two got back to me with long boilerplate responses along the lines of "I'm a big supporter of Social Security." When I tried to get them to respond to the issue at hand, crickets.

[Leo1277]

When this topic first came up on this forum, I followed the suggestion to contact my senators and representatives, and took the liberty of pleading the case both in my northern and my southern state. Today, many months later when I had already given up on hearing from anyone, I got the following email:

Quote:

Dear [...], Thank you for contacting me about the impact of the pandemic on the Social Security benefits of people who turned 60 in 2020. I agree with you that we must protect Social Security, one of America’s most successful programs, for those receiving it now and in the future. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Average Wage Index (AWI) will most likely decrease for 2020, which will lower lifetime Social Security benefits for the more than 4 million retired workers who turned 60 in 2020. I strongly support the Protecting Benefits for Retirees Act, which would instruct the Social Security Administration to calculate benefits with a flat AWI if the AWI measurement would otherwise be less than the preceding year. I am committed to protecting Social Security, which is why I am a member of both the Expand Social Security and the Senate Defending Social Security Caucuses. As member of the Senate Finance Committee, I will continue to fight to ensure fair benefits and protect retirement security of all Americans. Thank you again for contacting me. Please continue to keep me informed about issues of importance to you and your family. Sincerely, Debbie Stabenow United States Senator

Looking up the name of the Senate act, the "Protecting Benefits for Retirees Act", which is S.4180 introduced during the last congress, I found this link where one may be able to follow its progress, for what it's worth: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4180 Looking in the list of co-sponsors, one finds Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA]*, so this may be a sign for fledgling bi-partisan support.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo1277 When this topic first came up on this forum, I followed the suggestion to contact my senators and representatives, and took the liberty of pleading the case both in my northern and my southern state. Today, many months later when I had already given up on hearing from anyone, I got the following email: Looking up the name of the Senate act, the "Protecting Benefits for Retirees Act", which is S.4180 introduced during the last congress, I found this link where one may be able to follow its progress, for what it's worth: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4180 Looking in the list of co-sponsors, one finds Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA]*, so this may be a sign for fledgling bi-partisan support.

So we would go from a current estimate of -0.5 to a flat zero. Somewhat better, although less than the typical 2+% increase.

[Leo1277]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail So we would go from a current estimate of -0.5 to a flat zero. Somewhat better, although less than the typical 2+% increase.

I have not seen the detailed figures of this estimate of -0.5% that has been mentioned, but if you just look at the numbers of people actually on payroll after Covid started versus before, and that many of those who kept their employment got salary and wage cuts, that drop in AWI appears to be much larger than that. About the actual bill, I would still think the sensible thing would be to tie the minimum AWI increase to some CPI, for example just to what's used for the annual social security increases. Oh well.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo1277 I have not seen the detailed figures of this estimate of -0.5% that has been mentioned, but if you just look at the numbers of people actually on payroll after Covid started versus before, and that many of those who kept their employment got salary and wage cuts, that drop in AWI appears to be much larger than that. About the actual bill, I would still think the sensible thing would be to tie the minimum AWI increase to some CPI, for example just to what's used for the annual social security increases. Oh well.

That is a logical substitute.

[rrppve]

While CPI might be a logical substitute, the no downward adjustment seems to be much more likely. Of course, CPI is still used to adjust the annual payment amounts. The other systemic fix would be to use an average of say the highest 3 years AWI.
I’ve been told that the actual AWI won’t be released until October. I’m trying to find some independent economists who might have an estimate of it. Please let me know if you have any economist friends who might be able to address this. Remember this affects lifetime income for 4 million of us.