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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Social Security Checks Getting Bigger
Aired October 17, 2003 - 07:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: News for social security recipients. There will soon be a little extra something in those checks.
Andy Serwer, my check's in right now, minds your own business, and his as well.
Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: And yours, too.
HEMMER: Yes, thanks.
SERWER: And Soledad's.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
HEMMER: All of ours.
SERWER: You're welcome. Good morning.
The federal government giveth, the federal government taketh away. That's the lesson here. Social security payments will be going up next year. Forty-seven million Americans are recipients of this program.
Let's take a look at how much it's going to go up, $19, not so much. That's 2.1 percent. I'll do the math for you, Bill.
HEMMER: And?
SERWER: And that's, you know, based on inflation which is, of course, pretty low right now. That's the good news.
Let's go to the bad news, which comes from Medicare premiums. They are also up. Now, this is, of course, money that comes out of your pocket that you have to pay, and so that's up 13.5 percent.
So, what you have to really do is subtract one from the other -- meaning, if you're a senior citizen on Medicare and getting social security, you're really only going to be getting $11 more a month, which does not go very far in this world these days.
HEMMER: Atlantic City, what's happening?
SERWER: Well, Atlantic City, you know, the reason we're putting these stories together is because a lot of seniors enjoy going to Atlantic City. HEMMER: That's true. That's true.
SERWER: And if you go early in the morning like this, you will find a lot of seniors there, you know.
HEMMER: Ching, ching, ching.
SERWER: Yes, pulling those one-armed bandits. Atlantic City, it's interesting, like Las Vegas, they tried to appeal more to families over the past decade or so, but it really fell very flat. I mean, these places are not really family destinations. I mean, you can bring your families there.
So, they're rolling out a new slogan in Atlantic City. It was "America's favorite playground." It's now called, the new slogan is, "Always turned on." And -- yes there's a little double entendre there. In fact, the head of the convention visitor center said what we're saying is you'll find -- whether it's cotton candy, golf shopping or fishing, you'll find it here. And he said, we had the rollout and no one mentioned drugs or sex. Well, you just did, but...
O'BRIEN: It's all about cotton candy and what?
HEMMER: That's a good thing, right?
SERWER: Yes, thank you. I didn't even think of cotton candy and golf.
HEMMER: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: I was down there recently at the Borgata...
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: ... which is this giant casino that just opened up a few months ago.
SERWER: Right.
HEMMER: And it's Vegas caliber.
SERWER: Right.
HEMMER: And they're going to build a couple of new places down there. They're trying to get a revival going there right now.
SERWER: They keep trying. The Borgata was $1 billion property.
HEMMER: Wow!
SERWER: It's $1 billion.
HEMMER: It's huge. SERWER: And, of course, Atlantic City has always been a little long on the tooth or has been for decades, so much so that your favorite guy, Bruce Springsteen...
HEMMER: Yes.
SERWER: ... wrote that kind of depressing little tune.
HEMMER: A little bit, yes.
SERWER: Yes?
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Things always come back or they don't come back. Come on.
HEMMER: Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies some day comes back. So, it may...
SERWER: He needed some happiness pills before he wrote that tune. Anyway, so they're trying in Atlantic City. They're working it.
HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: OK, see you later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
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Aired October 17, 2003 - 07:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: News for social security recipients. There will soon be a little extra something in those checks.
Andy Serwer, my check's in right now, minds your own business, and his as well.
Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: And yours, too.
HEMMER: Yes, thanks.
SERWER: And Soledad's.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
HEMMER: All of ours.
SERWER: You're welcome. Good morning.
The federal government giveth, the federal government taketh away. That's the lesson here. Social security payments will be going up next year. Forty-seven million Americans are recipients of this program.
Let's take a look at how much it's going to go up, $19, not so much. That's 2.1 percent. I'll do the math for you, Bill.
HEMMER: And?
SERWER: And that's, you know, based on inflation which is, of course, pretty low right now. That's the good news.
Let's go to the bad news, which comes from Medicare premiums. They are also up. Now, this is, of course, money that comes out of your pocket that you have to pay, and so that's up 13.5 percent.
So, what you have to really do is subtract one from the other -- meaning, if you're a senior citizen on Medicare and getting social security, you're really only going to be getting $11 more a month, which does not go very far in this world these days.
HEMMER: Atlantic City, what's happening?
SERWER: Well, Atlantic City, you know, the reason we're putting these stories together is because a lot of seniors enjoy going to Atlantic City. HEMMER: That's true. That's true.
SERWER: And if you go early in the morning like this, you will find a lot of seniors there, you know.
HEMMER: Ching, ching, ching.
SERWER: Yes, pulling those one-armed bandits. Atlantic City, it's interesting, like Las Vegas, they tried to appeal more to families over the past decade or so, but it really fell very flat. I mean, these places are not really family destinations. I mean, you can bring your families there.
So, they're rolling out a new slogan in Atlantic City. It was "America's favorite playground." It's now called, the new slogan is, "Always turned on." And -- yes there's a little double entendre there. In fact, the head of the convention visitor center said what we're saying is you'll find -- whether it's cotton candy, golf shopping or fishing, you'll find it here. And he said, we had the rollout and no one mentioned drugs or sex. Well, you just did, but...
O'BRIEN: It's all about cotton candy and what?
HEMMER: That's a good thing, right?
SERWER: Yes, thank you. I didn't even think of cotton candy and golf.
HEMMER: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: I was down there recently at the Borgata...
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: ... which is this giant casino that just opened up a few months ago.
SERWER: Right.
HEMMER: And it's Vegas caliber.
SERWER: Right.
HEMMER: And they're going to build a couple of new places down there. They're trying to get a revival going there right now.
SERWER: They keep trying. The Borgata was $1 billion property.
HEMMER: Wow!
SERWER: It's $1 billion.
HEMMER: It's huge. SERWER: And, of course, Atlantic City has always been a little long on the tooth or has been for decades, so much so that your favorite guy, Bruce Springsteen...
HEMMER: Yes.
SERWER: ... wrote that kind of depressing little tune.
HEMMER: A little bit, yes.
SERWER: Yes?
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Things always come back or they don't come back. Come on.
HEMMER: Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies some day comes back. So, it may...
SERWER: He needed some happiness pills before he wrote that tune. Anyway, so they're trying in Atlantic City. They're working it.
HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: OK, see you later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
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