From George Will's Column (10/23/2009):

"Barack Obama has now established Mills' Social Security COLA as the capstone to the architecture of the entitlement culture that is modern liberalism's crowning achievement: It is an entitlement to which you are entitled even when you are not entitled to it. Obama says 57 million Americans -- every Social Security beneficiary and some other recipients of federal entitlements -- are entitled to $250 apiece to assuage the disappointment of having not been injured by inflation. Because the cost of living declined 4 percent last year, the 57 million are not entitled to the actual COLA, but they evidently are going to be declared entitled to monetary consolation for the misfortune of not experiencing misfortune."
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"But about one thing, they should relax. A president who cannot resist dispensing a semi-COLA after the cost of living declines will not really fund a substantial portion of the new health care entitlement by cutting more than $400 billion from Medicare. "

If everybody buys this baith and switch then the math works like this: If you accept Obama's gift of $250 (out of your own pocket of course) and you feel good about this generosity and support his health care plan then perhaps you will not notice the $7015 per person that will be taken out of medicare.

Nubby