UConn James Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Link Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs. The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants — many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved — and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years. I really feel for the people with severe conditions who actually need SSDI --- those who are actually physically incapacitated and can't earn an income. But what we're seeing here is only (possibly) the last vestige of a program where people look to suckle at the teat of government. I'm not going to say it's collapsed entirely because of illegal immigrants who are coached on every in-and-out of collecting checks from the U.S. Treasury, people who file fraudulent claims, greasy SS lawyers, people who file for conditions that make you want to slap them across the head --- as if getting a stipend that allows one to remain a shut-in will cure depression or PTSD. (Not that some cases of depression, PTSD, etc. aren't serious, but conditions where the person can physically function should not be covered by SSDI!)... But all of this **** surely hasn't helped. What really sticks in the craw, though, is this: The trustees who oversee Social Security are urging Congress to shore up the disability system by reallocating money from the retirement program, just as lawmakers did in 1994. That would provide only short-term relief at the expense of weakening the retirement program. This system is probably going to go bust, followed relatively shortly by the Social Security that we all know and love and/or hate. But they're quick to want to siphon money from the one where citizens pay in and half-expect vaguely hope to receive some portion of again... someday. (After having been taxed when they earn it, then taxed again as they receive it, but that's another thing ). Now, I understand that Social Security is a third rail of politics. Touch it at your peril. We all knew these days were coming. And it's time now for this program to be fundamentally overhauled or start de-accessioning it, reducing the amount people of these later generations pay in, and reducing the amount people who have paid in collect, and when. I ain't a good judge on how, but that would seem to be a more fair option than it just ending abruptly when the money runs out (or worse, putting yet more $ on the federal credit card to continue this government-run Ponzi scheme). And then, when FDR's liberal utopia dream finally has its headstone carved (because, to be expected, pols couldn't keep their grubby hands off of all that money that was just sitting there, literally begging to be spent on other crap the govt "needed")... keep some % of the SS tax in place to fund a tightly-controlled SSDI-like program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 No big deal. A tax on corporate jets will fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drinkTHEkoolaid Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Everyone in the 57 states just has to pay their fair share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_In_Norfolk Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Hey, this is easy to fix, we'll just get our capitalist "jobs machine" engine to produce more jobs! Oh wait.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booster4324 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Everyone in the 57 states just has to pay their fair share Hey Pooj? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCinBuffalo Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Hey, this is easy to fix, we'll just get our capitalist "jobs machine" engine to produce more jobs! Oh wait.... Yes, let's ignore the terrabytes of empirical data we have that says that's the only way to get the economy working... and instead... cling to the distortions and flat out lies that the New Deal fixed the Great Depression, and didn't prolong it, and WW2 had nothing to do with it. Amazing what happens when the rest of the world is in full war material production, and then in 0 production, leaving our economy as the only large producer of consumer goods for a 20 year period. But why bother with historical, economic fact when we have myths and FUD to spread? Hell, Nixon imposed price and wage controls! That means they work! Because Republicans did it, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magox Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Yes, let's ignore the terrabytes of empirical data we have that says that's the only way to get the economy working... and instead... cling to the distortions and flat out lies that the New Deal fixed the Great Depression, and didn't prolong it, and WW2 had nothing to do with it. Amazing what happens when the rest of the world is in full war material production, and then in 0 production, leaving our economy as the only large producer of consumer goods for a 20 year period. But why bother with historical, economic fact when we have myths and FUD to spread? Hell, Nixon imposed price and wage controls! That means they work! Because Republicans did it, too! You can't reason with people who place blinders over their eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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