Dear Editor:
Christopher J. Tolomeo, Sr., a “notch” baby, is concerned because persons born before 1917 have, through an egregious error in legislation passed by our Congress Representatives and Senate, been given an undue windfall.
He is not concerned, however, that persons born after 1921, like myself, get even less return on our and our employer’s contributions than he does.
And so, the SS. Notch continues to sail, unsinkable, into the 21st century. But the notch-baby grievance is unwarranted.
The roots of the phony notch grievance lie in a good deed. Congress in 1972 decided to link Social Security benefits to the consumer price index to preserve older people’s pursuing power. But an error in the formula meant that ongoing benefits were higher than they should have been.
Congress corrected the formula in 1977; so the windfall affected only retirees born roughly between 1910 and 1916.However lawmakers decided to give a special break to the next group of retirees (who had presumably counted on getting similar benefits) by restoring a proper level of benefits slowly over five years.
Not satisfied with their unwarranted grievance, the notch babies claimed that they also got worse treatment than people who retired later. That’s an outright distortion the transition formula used for figuring notch baby benefits was better than that used for people who retired later.
I’m not going to complain that I’m a New Era notch baby, those born after 1921, and demand that my benefits be as good as those born before 1922.That would be silly!
As so the complaint of Tolomeo.
Frank X. Landrigan