Triggered by national inflation rates, it’s likely that 43 million Social Security recipients will get a 2.6 percent increase in benefit checks.

Unfortunately, the impact of the increase, set to begin in January, will hardly be recognizable by those people it’s meant to benefit.

For one, the increase will be the second lowest increase in the cost of living allowance (COLA) in the past 21 years. Proposals aim to raise monthly Social Security checks $11 to $18 more than the current average of $702. Not much to get excited about, especially since inflation can be likened to a runaway train.

Secondly, the simultaneously proposed Congressional cuts of Medicare will hardly be offset by such a meager COLA. With less money to take care of what’s necessary, how in the world can Congress expect seniors to get by?

Rather than reallocate responsibility of who should be paying their proportionate share in financing governmental activity, Congress is missing the point. Balancing the budget is indeed necessary, but this doesn’t mean senior citizens should be increasingly burdened to pay for what they cannot.

That’s the whole point of programs like Social Security in the first place — to insure that one’s financial needs are met. With such a small COLA, seniors are very likely to fall short in taking care of business.