"66% of current Social Security recipients and 69% of those expecting future benefits believe tariffs will push inflation beyond what the annual cost-of-living adjustment can cover. The worry is not theoretical, and the federal data validates it."
"The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, rose from 2.3% year over year in March 2025 to 3.5% in March 2026. That is a 1.2 percentage-point acceleration over 12 months, and it arrived largely through energy and goods costs that a single annual COLA adjustment was never designed to track in real time."
A survey finds most Social Security recipients and future beneficiaries expect tariffs to raise inflation beyond what the annual cost-of-living adjustment can cover. The COLA is set once per year using a backward-looking formula, while tariff-related price increases can occur in real time and concentrate in categories retirees buy most, including housing, healthcare, and food. Federal inflation measures show acceleration, with the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge rising from 2.3% year over year in March 2025 to 3.5% in March 2026. The COLA uses the CPI-W, which does not fully capture healthcare and housing costs that dominate retiree spending. When prices rise faster than the adjustment, benefits lose purchasing power over time. Many retirees also report limited ability to absorb benefit disruptions.
Read at 24/7 Wall St.
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