Are most of us living on a fixed income even though we never looked at it that way...

[WCGreen]

I wonder.

With the slow down of the economy, how many of us have gone without a raise over the last three or so years.

How many of us have wages that have stagnated while everything else keeps going up up and away...

I wonder.

I have a little control over what I charge my few remaining clients, but not much.

Mrs. WCGreen has gotten exactly one 3% raise over the last 5 years.

My SSI payments have remained the same for two years now and it looks as if there will be no upward COLA next year.

So how many people are living on a fixed income and don't realized it?

Certainly not the bankers, the captains of industry and professional sports figures.

But the rest of us...

Well, I think it is a disaster for the middle class that prices keep edging higher and higher and wages and salaries have all but stagnated.

When will people say enough is enough this living with less and less....

[ohheckyeah]

1. I always wondered just whose

income isn't fixed. How many of us could demand and get a pay increase whenever we wanted? And the rate of increase most people get is about the same as the Social Security increases (when they get them) are.

[raccoon]

7. Amen to that! When almost anyone talks about "people on fixed incomes," they are

often thinking about retirees.

As if all, or even most, working people still got annual raises as they did in the Golden Age.

Kudos to the OP for pointing this out.

In my department we used to get longevity raises. That stopped a long time ago.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I guess it doesn't really matter if you're already well off...

The super rich already are there. So even in the very unlikely chance that their income didn't rise, they wouldn't care...

They've already got theirs.

There are probably a few of us who don't belong in that stratospheric group, but whose income hasn't risen much. Still, we're OK. And we're lucky.

I would be scared and pissed off if I were in the lower income group...

How does it get better for them?

Their fixed incomes are truly under attack. If Obama's plans work, things might start getting better...

Time will tell.

[DesertFlower]

3. hubby has gotten 1% and 1-1/2% salary increase

each year for the past few years. my social security has remained the same. the only reason he got the increases is because he's a top performer. most got nothing.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Wish I was living on a fixed income

My pension has been reduced in some way just about every year. Either with increased costs to my medical benefits or cuts to my pension.

The dream of being on a fixed income was the good old days.

Don

[Mugweed]

5. Mine is reducing

Promoted to manager of an engineering department in Jan 2009, no increase in pay but now responsible for about 5 professionals and productivity. 10% pay cut in March 2009 to help keep the company alive, lost 2 staff to layoffs (same amount of work to do with fewer people, of course). An additional pay cut a few months later to make it a 12% cut. Hours reduced to 36 a week a few months after that, an additional 10% pay cut (because suddenly salaried people were now being paid by the hour).

[Historic NY]

6. I was celebrating my $21 a month raise in my pension check until I got my school tax bill..

The coutyn & locals taxs bills should be coming just in time for Christmas.