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In the past three decades, the number of Americans who are on disability has skyrocketed. The rise has come even as medical advances have allowed many more people to remain on the job, and new laws have banned workplace discrimination against the disabled. Every month, 14 million people now get a disability
Their gravy train will run out soon, as the funding for social security disability will not be able to meet current needs by 2016. I would bet that the vast majority recieving social security disability will magically be "cured" and be able to work when the payments are markedly reduced.
I heard that piece on NPR. States are hiring private companies to push people onto federal assistance to avoid having them on state assistance. The system is clearly broken.
This should be an obvious sign that gainful employment that provided private retirement and healthcare for the common man has gone down considerably over the past 30 years. Many people simply give up and go on the dole because it makes more sense than trying to unsuccessful make it on minimum wage.
We don't currently have enough jobs, not gainful jobs, just jobs for everybody in the country. If we took all those that could work off of the working dole, ie pointless gubment jobs, SSDI, and welfare, the unemployment rate would at least be in the neighborhood of 50%.
Just look at all the real jobs that make an economy work that we've bled in this country since 1960, our population's increased 75%, and the cost of living has outstripped wages, and it's no wonder why so many have turned to the dole. I don't find it shocking that we have a lot of people on SSDI, welfare, food stamps, and working for the government. It's all part of the decaying American economy.
I don't think that when their "gravy train" runs out that they'll instantly be cured, return to work, and it will be a boon for the economy. They'll be cast into the great pool of unemployment, and without them buying goods, services, and all the other people that will lose their jobs that manage their cases and keep them on disability, it will hurt our present economy because we make nothing. Our entire economy is based on consumerism, cheap credit, fiat currency, government work and a society selling beers, burgers, and haircuts to each other. That isn't a sustainable model, and sadly the very people you've pointed out actually help our current economy the way it's run.
Until we return to self sufficient farms, much less government, families with one bread winner, and producing durable goods for our own consumption and export, we're just going to continue to be a declining nation consuming foreign products until we finally disappear into the third world and or a socialist nation.
It's a sad fact of life that I personally find depressing, and SSDI is but one symptom of a complex problem that's not going to go away.
Last edited by bolillo_loco; 03-27-2013 at 07:08 AM..
Reason: No Rhodes scholar here
America's standard of living is declining. We don't see it because there is so much government money going to people.
There are 83 means tested social welfare programs giving money to people to subsidize their living as well as SS and medicare.
Nearly 60% of Americans receive some type of government payment now from one or more of these programs and that includes SS and medicare.
that's a very good in-depth story from NPR, i listened to that program over the weekend.
the most interesting part to me was the discussion of the lawyers who've jumped aboard this gravy train.
Quote:
There is one man who takes much of the credit for this industry: Charles Binder. "When we started," Binder told me, "I don't think anybody else was advertising." What's more, most people who applied for disability were denied and never had a hearing. Binder, and the lawyers who followed him, changed that. "I've created some of the problems for the government because so many people appeal," Binder says.
When he started in 1979, Binder represented fewer than 50 clients. Last year, his firm represented 30,000 people. Thirty thousand people who were denied disability appealed with the help of Charles Binder's firm. In one year. Last year, Binder and Binder made $68.7 million in fees for disability cases.
The way Binder tells it, he's is a guy helping desperate people get the support they deserve. He is a cowboy-hatted Lone Ranger going to court to fight the good fight for the everyman.
Who is making the case for the other side? Who is defending the government's decision to deny disability?
If you look at charts from any of the social welfare programs you can see they greatly increased since 2008.
Many of the restrictions were laxed during our "Great recession" which gives the illusion that everything is hunky dory and the recovery is on track.
Couldn't be further from the truth IMHO.
Denial ran deep from 1929-1934 as well only we didn't have all those social programs back then to cover the signs.
It's not state assistance that is completely broken, it is private companies themselves discriminating against sick people.
If you get sick, unless your boss is a great person, you might as well quit and look for another job when you are well again. I've seen it happen more then I like to think about, including almost having it happen to myself. I went in for urgent (not emergency) surgery in a job soon after college and told my boss I would need some time off for it. I had worked there for a bit, had some time, but my boss said in no uncertain terms that if I took more then one day off for recovery then some one else would have my job. Similar with an interview, where I was brought in because the woman I was to replace had cancer. She wasn't dying, wasn't missing a lot of work (from the interviewer) but she might possibly prove unreliable due to illness so they wanted to get rid of her and bring in some one else. Kind of backfired as I was a witness in the ADA case against them.
I've seen the same in people with cancer, broken bones, car accidents, epilepsy...even if the person doesn't miss a day of work or has anything to do with their injuries. If you get sick in this country to the point where it affects your job at all then it can be a slow death sentence.
I heard that piece on NPR. States are hiring private companies to push people onto federal assistance to avoid having them on state assistance. The system is clearly broken.
I listened to that NPR report, also. I was unaware, until then, how agressively states were pushing people off of state programs and onto federal ones. I was left with the impression that some of what the "consulants' working on behalf of the states are engaged in is fraud.
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The video is a perfect example of people who want nothing more than a free ride. I know a few myself.
