Tag: Social Security

The upcoming hassles over the next federal budget have taken an unfortunate turn.

President Obama has decided against proposing a new method of increasing Social Security benefits for retired Americans.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/198815-obama-abandons-cut-to-social-security

The headlines have suggested the president has “abandoned cuts” to the program. Actually, the term “cuts” is a bit of a misnomer. The idea had been to link increases in SSI to the cost of living index. Thus, Social Security recipients wouldn’t have their incomes reduced — as in getting less money than they were getting the previous year. The increases would be tied to the Consumer Price Index.

Why is this disappointing? I am one who believes serious budget reform has to include changes in discretionary spending. Social Security is one of those programs that has been seen as sacrosanct. You’ve heard it called the “third rail” of American politics: You touch it and you die, politically of course.

The CPI indexing linkage isn’t an unreasonable alternative.

Now it appears that the president has challenged congressional Republicans to battle him straight up in the next budget fight. There will be no pretense of negotiating.

At one level, I appreciate Barack Obama’s frustration with GOP negotiators, who have made it their mission — it seems to me — to stymie virtually every initiative put forth by the White House. Perhaps the president has had enough of it.

I wish he would have stood his ground on another issue. Social Security shouldn’t be treated as the Holy Grail.

This is the latest in an occasional series of blogs commenting on retirement.

I made a decision this weekend that involves my immediate future.

I’ve decided to say that I’m retired — even though I’m still working, sort of.

The decision came from a Facebook notice that popped up. It asked me to update my employment status. I clicked on the “retired” box and then saved it. So now my Facebook profile has me listed as “retired,” although I later — at my wife’s suggestion — entered “blogger” along with it. So it says I’m a “retired blogger.”

This is a big deal in my evolution from working guy to fully retired guy.

I’m working part-time for an auto dealership here in Amarillo. It’s a customer service job; I work about 24 hours a week. My job is to welcome folks who bring their vehicles in for service or who are waiting while they purchase a vehicle. I make them feel comfortable, offer them something to drink or eat, ask if they need a ride somewhere, talk them up a little bit.

The job is so much fun I have a hard time calling it actual “work.” I spend my afternoon with individuals I like in an environment that produces little pressure. My employer asks me simply to treat people with courtesy and respect, which I am able to do.

I have another job. I write a blog for Panhandle PBS’s website. Panhandle PBS is the new name for the site for KACV-TV, the public television station based at Amarillo College. It’s a free-lance gig and, too, is a serious blast. I write about public affairs programming at Panhandle PBS/KACV. I also write about other public policy issues as I see fit. I submit the blogs — titled “A Public View” — as drafts and they’re posted by the staff at KACV.

Check it out here:

http://panhandlepbs.org/news/

So, those are my jobs. They are more fun than I can possibly have imagined having.

My wife says it well. I am getting paid for doing something I love to do: talk to people and write.

Social Security is still down the road a bit. When that income kicks in, then I’ll be able to declare myself officially and fully “retired.”

For now, I’ll settle on pretending to be retired. I’ll get lots of practice. Who knows? When the day arrives, I’ll be proficient in all that retirement entails.

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