Policymakers cling to a 1970s consumer-price index formula that overstates cost increases and drives up automatic spending.

The Social Security Administration looks at year-over-year changes to the CPI-W. It does this specifically for data from the third quarter of the year (the months of July, August, and September). The ...

COLA is 2.8%, but FERS retirees only get 2.0% for their annuities. The "diet" COLA fails to match the 12%+ jump in health ...