'Social Security payments would fall with new inflation gauge'

uncle sam gonna stick it to the old people...........from usa today.........

"A new measure to calculate inflation that's catching on in Washington, D.C., would have a big impact on how much cash is distributed by Social Security. 


More important for politicians debating how to fix the nation's bloated budget: Analysts say it would cut the deficit by $200 billion to $300 billion over the next decade. 


The bipartisan "Gang of Six" plan presented by six senators last week proposed shifting to a so-called chained consumer price index. The traditional CPI simply tracks a basket of goods, everything from cars to kitchen utensils. The basket of goods doesn't change. 


The chained CPI shifts goods in the basket every few years, based on consumer preferences. The idea is that if the price of a good such as beef shoots higher, consumers will start buying more chicken. The basket would then give a larger weighting to chicken than beef.


The result: The inflation rate doesn't rise as quickly because people are buying more inexpensive chicken and less expensive beef"............READ MORE