President Barack Obama’s plan to offer Social Security recipients $250 is good politics but not good economics.

Obama proposed the payment as a way to make up for the absence of an increase this year in payments to seniors. Social Security payments didn’t increase because by law they go up by the amount of inflation and inflation was zero or below this year. Those have been the rules for years, and while it may hurt some seniors, the rules should be followed. It’s a different matter if Congress wants to somehow repeal the payment tied to inflation, but to ignore the rule now just isn’t good government or good policymaking.

Seniors, of course, like a lot of other people in this economy, are hurting. They were among the group of Americans given tax breaks by the Obama administration earlier this year as part of the stimulus plan.

Giving $250 to all Social Security recipients would bolster government spending by $13 billion a year. Obama has said he would not take the money from the Social Security Trust Fund, but didn’t say how he would otherwise pay for this bonus. He was reportedly open to the idea of borrowing the money.

With a federal deficit at least three times what it was just a year ago, and into the $1 trillion plus trillion area, we can’t afford more spending now, however well intentioned.

Should Congress and Obama find $13 billion they can cut from some other program, the idea is more palatable, but still, on principle, very lukewarm at best.

The Social Security yearly increase is intended to help seniors to keep up with rising prices. If prices aren’t rising, we don’t see the need for the payment.

That Obama would offer this up leaves one to wonder if he doesn’t take our deficit situation seriously, or if it is a political ploy for what could be a tight midterm election year.

Certainly, those fiscally conservative members of Congress voting against any increase should not be branded enemies of seniors. That would come off as a political ploy on the part of the Obama administration, and would be unfortunate indeed.

— The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.