(VOR News) – On Thursday, the Social Security Administration announced that a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment will be implemented in January for millions of Social Security recipients.

The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, provides retirees with an average monthly increase of over $50, according to agency officials.

Social Security benefits are received by approximately 72.5 million individuals, including retirees, incapacitated individuals, and children. Nevertheless, retirees expressed concern that the increase would not be sufficient to counteract the increasing costs even before the announcement.

Sherri Myers, an 82-year-old retiree from Pensacola City, Florida, is currently seeking an hourly position at Walmart in order to supplement her income. “I am unable to consume nutritious food, despite my desire to do so.” While at the grocery store, I simply disregard vegetables due to their exorbitant cost.

The woman commented, “Even McDonald’s is expensive, so I have to be extremely selective about my food choices.” In 2024, recipients experienced a 3.2% increase in benefits, following an unusually high 8.7% increase in 2023 as a result of the highest inflation rate in 40 years.

Moderating inflation is indicated by the reduced increase in 2025.

Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley anticipates that the impending increase will provide recipients with some relief, as the agency is currently managing a record number of retirees, while funding is at an all-time low and inflation has decreased.

We tell those who believe the Social Security adjustment is insufficient, “You are not wrong.”

He pointed out that “in their older years, they have to spend their money on a different array of costs and expenses, including prescription drugs.” “I’ve heard the stories and it is a struggle for seniors,” said the representative.

He asserted that the actions taken by the Biden-Harris administration should result in a reduction in prescription drug expenses for a significant number of individuals.

The organization will commence informing beneficiaries of their revised benefit amount via letter in early December. Approximately 7.5 million recipients of Supplemental Security Income will commence receiving adjusted benefits on December 31.

It is anticipated that payroll taxes, which are withheld from employees and their employers to support the program, will increase to $176,100. The utmost earnings that were subject to payroll taxes from Social Security in 2024 were $168,600, a rise from $160,200 in 2023.

The announcement is being made in anticipation of the significant financial deficit that the national social insurance plan is expected to encounter.

The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report, which was released in May, indicates that the program’s trust fund will be unable to sustain full payments beginning in 2035. The research indicates that the government will be able to cover only 83% of the scheduled payments if the trust fund is depleted.

Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP, stated in a statement, “There is more we must do to ensure that older Americans can continue to rely on Social Security.” AARP continues to advocate for Congress to collaborate across party lines in order to strengthen Social Security and establish a sustainable long-term solution for the nation.

Social Security proposals from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump differ.

Harris and Trump were interviewed by AARP in late August to ascertain their strategies for protecting the Social Security Trust Fund.

Harris pledged to compensate for the deficit by ensuring that billionaires and large corporations pay their equitable share of taxes and allocate the proceeds to the long-term protection and enhancement of Social Security.

Trump declared, “We will safeguard it through expansion.” I have no inclination to participate in any activities that are associated with the process of aging. That is not the course of action I will take. I was there for four years, as you are aware, and I never gave it a second thought. I will refrain from implementing any modifications to Social Security.

O’Malley asserts that there is a movement to implement an alternative index by the Social Security Administration that evaluates price fluctuations by analyzing the spending patterns of older individuals on commodities such as food, medicine, and health care. Subsequently, this index would be implemented to ascertain the increase in the cost of living.

The COLA is currently calculated using the Consumer Price Index, which is a market basket of consumer products and services. O’Malley asserts that lawmakers who advocate for the modification are “promoting an exceptionally sound policy.”

SOURCE: AP

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Melinda French Gates Will Give $250M To Women’s Health Groups Globally

(VOR News) – Melinda French Gates will give $250 million to worldwide women’s health initiatives through a charity grant application call.

The announcement on Wednesday marks the start of Melinda French Gates’ new philanthropic phase after leaving the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this year. The offer continues her $1 billion, two-year commitment to global women and families from May.

Haven Ley, Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures chief strategy officer, called the grant competition a “curtain raiser” for global women’s health financing. Before this, Pivotal largely sponsored US women’s empowerment groups.

According to Ley, Melinda French Gates has “expanded her definition of women’s power to include a precondition that women must have their health to be powerful” by prioritizing women’s health, particularly through the Gates Foundation, which has provided funding for global health initiatives for 20 years.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s charity arm, Lever for Change, manages the Action for Women’s Health award competition.

Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott, a billionaire novelist and philanthropist, collaborated

It will provide $40 million to US women’s organizations in 2019. Scott held a similar open call in March and donated $640 million to local charities.

A minimum of 100 charities worldwide will receive $1 million to $5 million in unrestricted financing through this open request. There is no limit on group size, but it will favor those for whom the money will make a difference. The open call is open until December 3rd for nonprofits, and applications, reviews, and decisions will take place until 2025.

A panel of outside experts and peers assess applications during the lengthy process.

Lever for Change CEO Cecilia Conrad said, “Most philanthropy remains invitation-only decision making behind closed doors.” “And what we have created is a method for conducting an open call, a way to increase accessibility to charitable opportunities, and a procedure that is fair and compassionate.”

She said their first business plan needed donors to spend $10 million over five years to build a solution, but they now assist contributors to scale a field.

Pivotal carefully considers a wide range of Melinda French Gates women’s health interventions, including menopause and mental health, says Ley. According to her, they hope to help Pivotal design its new plan by identifying finance and resource gaps and opportunities.

Professor Sarah Baird of George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health studies how therapies affect teens, particularly girls, and what makes them and their children healthy over time.

She advises funders to go through established organizations and focus on multiple diseases. She mentioned the underfunding of gender-based violence, mental health services for men and women, and the economic benefits for women-if they can work—produce.

Ms. Gates stated, “We’re not going to get very far if we just focus on those things.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds Associated Press coverage of Africa, while Pivotal Ventures funds coverage of women in statehouses and the workforce.

French Gates announced her $1 billion contribution in May, coupled with $200 million in new support for women’s rights organizations to expand their power. She also vowed to openly request $250 million this fall and gave 12 people $20 million to use as they please.

She wrote in May’s New York Times opinion post, “I hope to lift up groups with personal connections to the issues they work on,” concerning the open call. I should be among those who provide frontline workers with time and money.

Historically, less than 2% of Melinda French Gates US charitable donations went to women’s and girls’ groups. On Tuesday, the Women & Girls Index reported that these groups received $10.2 billion in charity funding in 2021, the most recent year for which detailed giving data is available.

The number is a milestone in raw money, according to Indiana University’s Women’s Philanthropy Institute interim director Jacqueline Ackerman. Donating to women and girls has never climbed faster than overall giving in her ten years of tracking these gifts, she added.

“To exceed that entails increasing contributions from all individuals concerned about these issues, regardless of their income and wealth levels, not solely Melinda French Gates,” he asserted.

SOURCE: USN

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Viktor Bout, the infamous Russian arms dealer who was exchanged two years ago for Brittney Griner by President Biden, has reportedly returned to arms trading, as detailed in a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Vikto Bout, infamously dubbed the “merchant of death,” is seeking to facilitate the sale of small arms to the Houthis. A report indicates that Houthi representatives met with Bout in Moscow in August to discuss the acquisition of $10 million in automatic weapons.

Nonetheless, the anticipated arms deal remains unfulfilled, as indicated by the report.

Reports indicate that the weapons being discussed do not encompass larger systems such as anti-ship or anti-air missiles, which could represent a considerable risk to U.S. military operations in the area.

Requests for comment from the WSJ regarding Bout’s alleged involvement in the arms trade went unanswered by the Kremlin and Russia’s Ministry of Defense. Steve Zissou, an attorney who provided legal representation for Bout during his time in U.S. custody, refrained from commenting on the possibility of Bout’s meetings with the Houthis.

Viktor Bout released in 2022

Bout, who became affiliated with Russia’s Kremlin-loyal Liberal Democratic Party following his release in a prisoner swap in December 2022, has kept a low profile since his return.

Bout was taken into custody in Thailand in 2008 and subsequently extradited to the United States, where he faced conviction in 2012 on charges associated with arms trafficking, resulting in a 25-year prison sentence.

For almost twenty years, Bout stood out as one of the globe’s most notorious arms dealers, providing weaponry to unrecognized governments and insurgent factions throughout Africa, Asia, and South America. The activities he conducted served as the basis for the 2005 film Lord of War.

Even after his conviction and imprisonment, reports indicate that Bout’s network persisted in its operations, contributing to conflicts in some of the globe’s most perilous areas.

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