In case you missed it, Social Security benefits could surge this year. Link at Yahoo!Finance.
Senior citizens and disabled workers could be looking at the biggest boost to their Social Security benefits in decades next year — thanks to hot inflation now.
Beneficiaries could see their benefits increase by 5.8% in January 2022, according to a Bank of America analyst note, which would be the biggest boost since 1983. That’s also quite a bit more than January 2021’s increase of 1.3% to the cost-of-living adjustment or COLA that hasn’t been enough to keep up with this year’s inflation.
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TCM
Wow, what a treat. I happened to catch the Coen Bros Blood Simple last night. I had seen the movie years ago but had forgotten much of the movie, but some scenes will never be forgotten. It's not a movie my wife could / would watch.
But about a third of the way into the movie, it became obvious that David Lynch was greatly influenced by this movie, and at about two-thirds of the way into the movie, I about fell off my chair. A scene was so reminiscent of Mulholland Drive, I googled to check if anyone else had noted the similarity between Blood Simple (1984) and Mulholland Drive (2001). Except for one other person, the search was unproductive.
I now forget which scene startled me the most with regard to connecting the two movies, but I think it was the scene in which Frances McDormand looks into the mirror. There is a remarkably similar scene in Mulholland Drive.
It will be interesting to watch this movie (Blood Simple) again and really see how much of Mulholland Drive I see in the Coen Bros movie.
Best part of all of this? The introduction by the presenters. Without question, the introductions are getting better and better on TCM.
Blood Simple was the Coen Bros first film; not only has it held up very well, but one can argue it's still one of their best. I think it was Frances McDormand's first film; she got the part when her roommate who was penciled in for the part was not able to take the role.
Frances McDormand has won three Academy Awards for Best Actress, 1996, 2017, and 2020/2021.
I may be reading the wiki entry incorrectly, but only one woman has won four Best Actress awards: Katharine Hepburn.
Only one woman has won three Best Actress Awards: Frances McDormand.
Twelve women have one two Best Actress Awards (this list of twelve is in addition to the two previously mentioned).
If I'm reading that accurately, I wonder how many folks realize that Ms McDormand has more wins in this category than Meryl Streep?
I am in the Camp of belief that when the Government reports the adjustment to COLA due to inflation they are only covering about 80 % of the Real Consumer inflation. The current method was changed approximately 10-15 year ago. The Government if they can Adjust All COLA's downward by 20 % from Real inflation save a Zillion Dollars in expense for the Government. don
ReplyDeleteEvery individual's experience is different. I doubt I will experience any inflation at all, with some exceptions.
Delete1. I almost never drive any more. I walk and or bike everywhere. I think my gasoline bill this month will be one tankful of gasoline.
2. I'm not buying a new house, and my apartment lease is good for one year. It will go up next year, but it will be incredibly competitive.
3. Due to the pandemic, May and I learned to not go out to eat. We haven't gone out for sushi in over a year. We generally budgeted one sushi dinner every week at $50 / lunch / week.
4. I just reduced my internet - wi-fi - television package by more than 50%. We went from around $300 to $150 / month due to competition and better streaming packages.
5. As we age, our grocery bill has plummeted. I feel badly for families with teenagers, especially XY children playing football.
6. I am not paying any college tuition. I am not buying any new appliances. We bought a new washing machine when we moved to the new apartment some months ago; maybe $400 and it will last the rest of our lives. I absolutely won't be buying any more television sets for awhile. I don't need new Apple computers, but I will be upgrading because the prices are coming down and capabilities just keep surging.
7. So, it's all very different for everyone. The bigger question is why I qualify for Social Security in the first place, along with Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, Mike Bloomberg, et al.
8. The bigger issues I have to contend with are RMDs. But inflation? Like CNBC said, for some folks it's actually good. LOL. Wow, CNBC really got hammered for saying that.
9. Oh, my hunch is that most folks in their senior years who are in good health do not need the same size house they had when they were in their 40s and raising a family of two to six kids. One wonders how much these folks pay for property taxes and utility bills. I think utility bills will increase more due to regulations, "clean energy," etc. than due to "inflation" that folks talk about. Our electric bill last month -- one of the hotter months so far -- was $94. We don't have natural gas -- just electricity -- so by keeping a/c off we keep utility costs very, very low.
10. Again, I'm not disagreeing with you regarding how the government calculates COLAs but it's a tough issue to solve. At one time there was no social security at all; now the debate is about the COLA. That seems like a much better problem to have (vs not having social security in the first place).
I forgot. I haven't been to a barbershop since February (maybe, March) 2020. Generally, I went once a month, budgeting $20/month/haircut.
DeleteMy most expensive indulgence is .... potato chips, and I'm already cutting back on those.