Obama's vote-buying at the senior center

If a politician proposes to give an extra, unearned $250 to each member of America's highest-voting age group, is it vote-buying or just pandering? President Obama's call for a $250 federal check to be written to every person on Social Security is a disappointment to followers who thought he was not the politics-as-usual type. It may also be a disappointment to a cohort who will not get a vote for a long time — our grandchildren, who will be required to pay for this $13 billion in additional federal borrowing.

Obama says his one-time payment is meant to make up for the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment in this year's Social Security checks. Since 1975, a COLA has automatically been added to Social Security checks each year, based on the rate of inflation for the preceding year. This year, inflation was essentially flat; therefore, no COLA attained.

But, oh, the outrage! The federal government could not allow senior citizens to go a year without a pay raise! The government could, however, allow senior citizens to receive a 5.8 percent pay raise (as it did last year) while other Americans were seeing no raises, pay cuts or job losses. Since Social Security recipients received that generous adjustment, prices for most products have actually fallen. By making the COLA automatic for Social Security and congressional pay, Congress has avoided embarrassing annual battles over pay raises. It's the easy way out, but if the COLA is fairly calculated and if it is allowed to go down as well as up, it's fair.

Politicians and senior advocates like to talk about people who are living on a "fixed income," but since 1975 Social Security has not been "fixed." COLA increases have come every year, like clockwork, a benefit few workers in private industry have enjoyed. Some pensions and investments retirees depend on for income are "fixed," but Social Security is not in that category. Its benefits increase with the cost of living.

Obama's transparent appeal to elderly voters will have the primary effect of pushing the already-soaring federal deficit to a higher level. The president calculates that the consequences of spending more than you have (higher inflation, a weaker dollar, higher taxes in the future, perhaps even a lowering of the federal government's credit rating) are worth it in order to keep older voters happy. And the people who'll have to pay for this generosity aren't eligible to vote yet.