Social Security Payments Flat for 2010

Perhaps you've already heard the news that Social Security payments won't be going up in 2010. Whether you're receiving SSDI or SSI, you'll get exactly the same amount next year as you got last year.

Well, what's going on here? Don't Social Security payments go up every year? Not exactly. In fact, it wasn't until 1973 that Congress passed a law that subjected Social Security payments to an annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) -- but only if the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) goes up. Specifically, Social Security compares the averaged CPI-W for the third quarter of this year to the averaged CPI-W for the third quarter of last year. And whaddya know, that number actually went down, from 215.459 in 2008 to 211.001 in 2009.

Don't we sound smart, throwing lots of numbers around?

The bottom line is that according to the feds, the consumer price index did not increase from 2008 to 2009, and therefore Social Security checks won't increase for 2010.

But here's an interesting twist on the story: just yesterday President Obama proposed giving a one-time payment of $250 next year to everyone on Social Security. "Even as we seek to bring about recovery, we must act on behalf of those hardest hit by this recession," Obama said. Of course, that's just his proposal; it needs Congressional approval. We'll keep you posted.

Here is a CNN story on this issue.