Opinion: Unchain debate on Social Security benefits  social-
security.jpg Social Security cards are shown in a file photo. 
By Steven Pressman  A heated debate is raging under the public
radar. It involves Social Security benefits (on average, $1,230
is paid each month to nearly 54 million Americans) and how much
they should be increased annually. The debate is about whether
we should cut benefits to Social Security recipients.
Originally, Social Security benefits were a fixed dollar amount,
determined at the time people retired (although Congress
periodically gave retirees a benefit hike). Since 1973, Social
Security recipients began receiving cost-of-living adjustments
every January. Benefits rise automatically to compensate for
inflation over the previous year.  The job of measuring
inflation falls to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which uses a
two-step process. It finds out what a typical family buys during
the course of a month, and then determines its cost.  Inflation
is the percentage change in the c