Last year a dozen eggs cost me $1.29 at my supermarket. Oddly, I keep track of this stuff in my head. Yesterday I paid $2.39. Folks, that's a 53% jump! While prices at the gas pump have fallen recently, they're still well above what we've seen over the last five years. And, does anyone believe they'll stay lower?

Now, I don't argue that cost of living increases should be tied to eggs. In fact, the Feds, in calculating the Consumer Price Index (CPI), tell us that they weigh a whole market basket of goods and services. The problem is that these numbers can be manipulated, and are manipulated, to achieve political objectives, not to benefit retirees receiving social security. Food and energy are excluded from the CPI calculation because they are so "volatile". What does that tell you? It's just part of a lie the government foists upon us.

In fact, one reason for lying to us about inflation is to keep a lid on payments to grandma and grandpa. Cheating senior citizens is nothing new. And, in past years, whatever increases were logged, have been offset, in large part, by increases in Medicare premiums. There's some indication, however, that there will be no Medicare boost for 2009.

It's illegal for businesses to cook the books, but the government has a free reign to do just that. In the final analysis, older Americans are being cheated out of billions of dollars. I guess that in light of the current, mounting financial meltdowns, that can be viewed as a good thing. Right?

Robert G. Knechtel