Obama’s Chained CPI Offer is a Bad Idea

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This is a bit of an obvious point, but I want to make it anyway: pretty much every liberal, even those who generally support the idea of adopting chained CPI as a more accurate measure of inflation, should be opposed to President Obama’s proposal to adopt chained CPI.

The reason is simple: chained CPI represents a cut in the growth rate of Social Security benefits. It’s arguably something that’s worth accepting as part of a larger bargain that would cut benefits a bit and raise taxes a bit in order to improve Social Security’s finances, but it makes no sense on its own. Social Security is separate from the rest of the federal budget, and its benefits should never be horse-traded away for miscellaneous changes elsewhere.

If Republicans are ever in a mood to consider a serious Social Security deal that’s designed to improve its solvency in a balanced way, that’s fine. I’m ready to listen. But that’s not on the table. Until it is, chained CPI shouldn’t be on the table either.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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