1998 RISE OF 2.1% IN SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS LOWEST IN 10 YEARS.Byline: Lawrence M. O'Rourke Scripps-MccClatchy Western Service The average Social Security check for 44 million retired Americans will increase by $16 a month next year, the government announced Thursday. The 2.1 percent increase will be the lowest since 1987. Social Security Administrator Kenneth S. Apfel hailed the tiny uptick Uptick A transaction occurring at price above its previous transaction. In order for an uptick to occur, a transaction price must be followed by an increased transaction price. as a positive sign for the U.S. economy and retirees. ``It's the direct result of low inflation and that is extremely good news for all Americans, particularly those on fixed incomes,'' he said. The 1998 ``cost-of-living adjustment'' increase for Social Security beneficiaries is the second-lowest since the creation of the COLA system in 1975. Under the automatic plan, benefits are adjusted every year to keep pace with inflation. Next year, the average benefit check for retired workers will grow from $749 a month to $765. For a typical elderly couple, the checks will increase from $1,261 to $1,287. For the average senior widow or widower widower n. a man whose wife died while he was married to her and has not remarried. WIDOWER. A man whose wife is dead. A widower has a right to administer to his wife's separate estate, and as her administrator to collect debts due to her, generally for , there will be a $15 increase, from $716 to $731. The annual cost-of-living calculation has ramifications ramifications npl → Auswirkungen pl for 144 million working Americans, too. Earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes will increase from $65,400 to $68,400. However, the tax rate will remain the same: 7.65 percent, or 15.3 percent for self-employed people. The Medicare tax will remain unchanged: 1.45 percent on unlimited earnings. The new COLA also will provide a 2.1 percent benefits boost for 6.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income Supplemental Security Income A Social Security program established to help the blind, disabled, and poor. , known as SSI (1) See server-side include and single-system image. (2) (Small-Scale Integration) Less than 100 transistors on a chip. See MSI, LSI, VLSI and ULSI. 1. (electronics) SSI - small scale integration. 2. . The $10 increase will bring their average check to $494 a month. For couples, the standard SSI payment goes from $726 to $741 a month. The annual adjustment also means some retirees will be able to earn more without losing some of their Social Security benefits. At present, a person 65 to 69 can earn up to $13,500 a year without penalty; after that, $1 in benefits is withheld for every $3 in earnings. Starting Jan. 1, the same person may earn $14,500 before the penalty is applied. Despite next year's small cost-of-living boost, some economists believe even 2.1 percent overstates the actual rise in prices paid by retirees. During negotiations this year between President Clinton and congressional leaders, some advocated substantially reducing the amount. A bipartisan commission headed by Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. economist Michael Boskin Michael Jay Boskin is the T. M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He also is Chief Executive Officer and President of Boskin & Co., an economic consulting company. Boskin holds bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. said the Consumer Price Index overstated o·ver·state tr.v. o·ver·stat·ed, o·ver·stat·ing, o·ver·states To state in exaggerated terms. See Synonyms at exaggerate. o inflation by up to 1.1 percentage points. Although that idea ultimately was rejected, the two sides agreed to continue studying the proposal - perhaps in connection with a longer-range examination of how to save the Social Security system from bankruptcy. The leading edge of the baby boom generation turns 65 in 2011, beginning a fast drawdown Drawdown The peak to trough decline during a specific record period of an investment or fund. It is usually quoted as the percentage between the peak to the trough. Notes: of the Social Security trust fund that is expected to drain it by 2035. However, efforts to limit cost-of-living increases are certain to be opposed by many retirees. |
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