Sorry, this is very embarrassing to admit, but one must come clean. That last Social Security post, with its rather sensational claims, was wrong. Future initial benefits are set not by adjusting present benefits by the CPI; they’re set by the retirees’ recent average wages. Those initial benefits are then adjusted for inflation over time. So, shifting to the chained index would lower the cost of living adjustment over a retiree’s lifetime, but it wouldn’t affect initial benefit levels. But the effects of the switch would still be significant. The currently used index,… Read More