COLA 2010:
2008-Dec-18 at 12:27 by Veterans Law Project
With a 5.8% COLA in the bank for 2009, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) promptly tanked to start the new fiscal year. The October CPI dropped 1.3% compared to the September number - the biggest October decline in 61 years. And because the September number, in turn, was lower than the July-to-September average that's the starting point for the 2010 COLA, we start the first month of the COLA year in a 1.5% hole. And with gas prices continuing their steep fall off into November, it looks like inflation will start off FY2009 in an even deeper hole than it did in 2007, when we ended up the year with a 2.3% COLA.
[Source: MOAA Leg Up 21 Nov 08 ++]
