When asked why he robbed banks, Slick Willie Sutton famously answered, “Because that’s where the money is.” Today, millions of Americans appear to have jumped onto our disability rolls for the very same reason. Today, 8.8 million Americans – nearly 6 percent of our workforce – claim they are physically incapable of working.
Add in dependents, and the figure swells to nearly 10.9 million. The number has grown every month since January 1997, when there was a small dip, and has grown faster than the number of added annually to the workforce. For the United States, this is an expensive proposition. The Social Security Administration spent $137 billion on disability last year; Medicare costs for this group tack on another $80 billion, since folks on disability automatically qualify for Medicare.
Read more at The Disability Scam: A Great Government Freebie
I think it's just time we realized that some people, for whatever reason, would rather live in poverty, skim by, barely make do -- than actually work for a living. And let them have at it. We'll probably never have full employment in our country; so those people who'd rather scam the system, work out of the back of trucks, drive cabs and double-dip into SS disability? I say let them have at it. We're better off paying them to stay in the sidelines than treating whatever psychological problem they have that makes them too damned lazy to work a real job. I just hope the rich can continue paying them their benefits.
If you think it's bad now, just wait until the CDC's decision to list obesity as a disease takes effect and the 30% of the population that's obese see a shot at free money in their future.
I think it's just time we realized that some people, for whatever reason, would rather live in poverty, skim by, barely make do -- than actually work for a living. And let them have at it. We'll probably never have full employment in our country; so those people who'd rather scam the system, work out of the back of trucks, drive cabs and double-dip into SS disability? I say let them have at it. We're better off paying them to stay in the sidelines than treating whatever psychological problem they have that makes them too damned lazy to work a real job. I just hope the rich can continue paying them their benefits.
And the litigation attorneys see yet another way to earn 30% of awards. Ha! The rich had better continue getting richer; they're going to have to.
Attorney fees are now capped at $5,000 for SSI disability claims.
If you think it's bad now, just wait until the CDC's decision to list obesity as a disease takes effect and the 30% of the population that's obese see a shot at free money in their future.
I seriously doubt it. They aren't advertising on national television for clients for $5,000 a pop. Oh, I don't doubt that's what it looks like. I just doubt that's what it is.
Hell I am one of those guys. I have fought weight most of my life. I even had lap band surgery 2 years ago and managed to drop 80 pounds. I have not had a soft drink or beer in 2 years now. My health screening is tomorrow. They check waist size, sugar, cholesterol, BP, and triglycerides. If I hit on more than two I have to call or email a counselor twice a week for 90 days. I work out every day on an elyptical and bowflex when home, elypitical when I can on the road.
Last year waist size was the only ding I got, but it is disgusting and frustrating to fight something this long and still be losing.
I hear you, and God love you - as I've said on another thread previously, the food processing industry is like the tobacco industry in the 50s, pumping deadly chemicals and metabolism and brain chemical bombs into our food in the name of making it "tastier" with a longer shelf life. I doubt I'll see it in my lifetime, but I sure hope there's class action lawsuits and the government practically bankrupts the people who are making us fat.
Nice political fodder but there really is more to the story
Disability Rolls and the Makers/Takers/Fakers Nonsense | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy
Yay juvenile agitprop!
:roll:
What did you expect after posting that nonsense link?:shock:
If you think it's bad now, just wait until the CDC's decision to list obesity as a disease takes effect and the 30% of the population that's obese see a shot at free money in their future.
Nice political fodder but there really is more to the story
Disability Rolls and the Makers/Takers/Fakers Nonsense | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy
He lied
His 1st graph still shows it nearly doubling as a % of the work force since 1990. His second graph shows that awards have nearly doubled per worker since 1990. In otherwords, his data is completely supports the OP, even as he desperately attempts to show otherwise. What a total fail. :hitsfan:
As Kathy points out, the number on the DI rolls has doubled since 1995 while the working-aged population has only grown by about a fifth. Sounds bad, right?
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