Disability Claims Up As Unemployment Benefits Run Out
**Written by Doug Powers
The Social Security Disability Insurance fund will run out of reserves around 2018. As of now over 10 million people draw checks from it, and that number is growing. What could possibly go wrong?
Also, it looks as if claiming disability for mental illness is becoming the new version of extended unemployment benefits:
Being unemployed for too long reportedly is driving people mad and costing taxpayers billions of dollars in mental illness and other disability claims.
The New York Post reported Sunday that as unemployment checks run out, many jobless are trying to gain government benefits by declaring themselves unhealthy.
More than 10.5 million people — about 5.3 percent of the population aged 25 and 64 — received disability checks in January from the federal government, the Post wrote, a 18 percent jump from before the recession.
People who reach the end of their unemployment benefits and end up successfully turning to SS disability usually aren’t counted as jobless again as long as it stays that way.
From a recent Congressional Budget Office report (PDF):
The official unemployment rate excludes those individuals who would like to work but have not searched for a job in the past four weeks as well as those who are working part-time but would prefer full-time work; if those people were counted among the unemployed, the unemployment rate in January 2012 would have been about 15 percent.
Factor in many of the above long-long term unemployed who have been accepted on SS disability and that unemployment number would get even higher.
Can the government implement a system for calculating the real unemployment rate that gives politicians motivation to want to find ways to help get people out of a dependency cycle instead of into it? Just thinking out loud — ignore my unrealistic flights of fancy.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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15 percent? That’s a conservative number! Where is my Obama Money? Oh yeah that’s right, I work and don’t ask the government for anything. Never mind.
Wasn’t there a recent story about all (most) of the State Troopers in CA getting disability right before retirement? There were other outrageous examples of (healthy) people getting disability in other Government operations (NY?) as well.
As a working stiff, if I tried these “entitlement” scams, I would have to hide in the wilderness of Canada because they would be all over me like white on rice.
Sigh…..
I wonder how it breaks down by states, and by cities?
My guess is the blue states have a higher rate than the red states. I’m sure that cities that have long standing Democrat leadership, will also lead the pack. As long as liberals think federal assistance is free money, it will remain so. .
tbear44 is right. 15%????? What’s in the pipe the CBO is smoking? The real unemployment rate is north of 20 and will stay there until business owners are convinced that it makes sense to hire people. And that’s never going to happen with the current cast of characters serving as “leaders.” C’mon. Obama? Biden? Boehner? Cantor? Pelosi? Reid? McConnell? I don’t see any candidates for Mt. Rushmore in that bunch. More like failed contestants on the Gong Show.
We haven’t had anything resembling a “normal” economy in this country for more than 15 years. First it was the dotcom and housing booms that fueled it with irrational exuberance, then for the last 4 years, the inevitable bust when the house of cards finally fell apart. I don’t believe we’ll get back to what makes economic sense within the next generation, if ever.
California doesn’t have state troopers. The amount of money from a disability claim is a fraction of what most officers get at retirement. Many can retire after 50, and seek employment within their areas of expertise. Claiming disability would be a no win situation.
Also, if people think 50 is too young to retire from a police department, they need to ask themselves if they would feel safer having officers in their sixties wrestling around with young violent thugs, or safer with younger officers fresh out of the military?
I can tell you from personal experience, police work can take a toll on the body, and on the spirit.
Great so now the lazies will just make it tougher for people with REAL mental illnesses.
Why didn’t anyone think of putting a grocery bag with eyes and mouth cut out and hung on Barky’s jug eared head before? The Unknown President
On February 19, 2012 at 10:28 pm, OK_Loyalist said:
It wouldn’t jive with his current persona, The Unknowing pResident.
I guess I’ll have to dig for the story. I do remember that there was a connection that tied disability and retirement which increased the overall monthly payments.
I’ll get back to ya….
Fine. Then let those over 50 stay in the office, do paper work, guard prisoners, and answer phones. But there’s no reason to provide them with a retirement that is longer than their working career.
No wonder disability rolls have increased 18%. It means that more people have become dependent on government while, at the same time, it reduces unemployment numbers. That’s a win-win for Obama and for all the other looters and moochers among us who call themselves Democrats.
One question though, do you automatically qualify for mental disability if you tell them you’re planning to vote for Obama again?
That sounds like my job. Unfortunatly, the job situation in my area is how would you say? Not so good. I’m stuck with it until I can find something better. Retirement? Yeah, right. I will be working until the day I die. The IRS will like that.
little ot, but has to do with lack of money (fed). anyone who filed around 2/4 get their money back (refund) yet? just asking
On February 20th, 2012 at 7:44 am, sonerai32645 said:
Nope and, I have been informed twice that my refund has been slipped -twice. I filed 3rd week Jan and my refund will not be paid till first week of March -
I’m sure our intrepid Congressmen will persevere.
as to returning our money (refund), I guess the fed is really broke
GIMME MINE!
Disability is the last straw for people trying to grasp one more brass ring from government. There are many in my local community, and even my 48 year-old niece in California, that are trying to “get on” disability. These are all people whose primary disability is a crushed spirit more than anything.
This Democrat-run government has devastated their will to work and desire fight on. Now they are working to destroy investors and entrepaneurs to more fully secure their centralized state control. I truly hate these Stalinist Democrats, they are toxic to America and free people everywhere.
Doug: Of course, but as you know, the doctrine of Marxian Democrats is to create more dependency, not less, so as to secure their power permanently.
But I say it again, OUR government is not the problem. Government is merely a social tool. The problem is the degree of power we permit government to have, and those flesh and blood people to whom we give leave to administer that government.
We can win this thing permanently if we get bold and aggressive.
Nope. I’m just glad I adjust my withholding periodically so my refund/payment is close to zero every year.
Even in this climate, government bureaucrats and agencies are still actively soliciting more people to exploit these programs. Listen to the myriad radio and television ads – all paid for by the taxpayer. No doubt the goal is to keep pushing for that social tipping point that will guarantee Democrat constituencies.
I get the short-term strategy here, but the long-term consequences of going on MENTAL HEALTH disability may come back to bite many of these people down the road. Future employment, gun rights, custody disputes, etc may be negatively impacted.
The more complex they make things, the easier it is for people to find a loop hole.
Just ask a tax accountant.
RedDog said,
Or they’re simply out of options? JFTR, many posters here and around the finance blogoshpere have been predicting this shift for years.
As early as 2006 I’d heard this referred to as: Social Security Disability, The New Welfare! Dims use examples such as these as ‘proof’ Capitalism doesn’t work.
C’mon Doug, just think of it as the grading system in public schools.
Last year, I went to my local Social Security Office to give them my paperwork. Yes, I am that old.
I fully expected to see people my age in the waiting room. Nope. What I saw were a bunch of obese women in their 20′s – 40′s. The whole room was full of them. As a matter of fact, I was the only Senior in the whole place.
Watching the latest episode of The Walking Dead last night, the zombies all reminded me of these Obama supporting disability people.
So, you would prefer to basically pay them their patrolman’s salary for doing work the secretaries do? You can’t cut their pay, so what now, fire the secretary whose place they take (who works for a fraction of what patrolmen make?)
Some officers do wind up in the station after 10 to 15 yrs. That is what promotion does. They are still eligible to retire after twenty years of service if they meet the 50 years old requirement.
Few officers I worked with were not capable of handling the drudgery of office work long term. Many could not handle the stress of being constantly scrutinized by “the brass.”
I hypothesize that the brass (the ones that weren’t academics,) had spent much of their career looking for “the bad guys” on the street. Having been removed from said street, they begin looking internally for “the bad guy” where none exist, for the most part. Absent finding anyone to “police”, these badge heavy administrative goons try to create bad guys within their department, in order to justify the close scrutiny, and their officer harassment. The result is that the “stress disability” claims skyrocket.
(There have actually been studies done on officer stress levels, with the number one cause deemed to be “in house” stress, caused by police administrations, and not criminal elements from the street.)
Will the disenfranchised, depressed, mentally ill, and racially angry, become the “Citizen Police Force” envisioned by Barack “Our Arab Spring” Obama, and Van “Give it to them!” Jones? It seems as though they’re prepping the field of possible candidates…
I’m a partner in a financial planning firm, and we do taxes for the public. Its astounding, the corruption among the “regular folks”. A learned behavior, encouraged by the public schools and the government agencies themselves, as well as the Left.
Our planning clients–those who are older, have worked hard and saved, and we are managing their money for income, growth and estate purposes.
The public tax clients? Different story. Continually, we see folks that reach social security retirement age….they separate employment from the employer, then succeed in collecting “unemployment” for a year, to kick off their retirement in style. Or younger folks whose “lifestyle” is work, unemployment, work, unemployment….
I could regal you all with stories of abuse of the new car and 1st home tax credits in the last few years. We pretty much got rid of anyone who wanted to–for instance–buy a new rental home for an 18-yr-old child with no visible means of support, other than the parents, but somebody did their taxes….
All that those extensions to unemployment benefits really did–for a large chunk of the population–was successfully extend the duration of the fraud.
Leftism is a corrupt ideology, we all know that. It just interesting how the corruption “trickles down” to individuals who have been trained to conspire with the corruptors.
right_on,
Great insight from the inside. Thanks. What most taxpayers object to is their collecting it the minute they’re no longer of an age to actually patrol.
The trad. arrangement for the Guard & Reserve is to not be eligible to begin collecting until age 60. Even Active Duty military is considering other options under Panetta. So I don’t believe any of us grudge them what’s fair but there’s a pretty clear consensus a State HP pension is commensurate w/ hitting the lottery.
Many seem to differ here but I know a lot of people over 60 from shipyard environments who have been laid off and see no chance of getting a job back due to the economy. They were working with long term injuries they got from the jobs they did but figured they would work as long as they could with them since the pay was still much greater than taking the disability early.
I know others in similar situations outside that industry and they don’t want to have to take the disability but at this point they see no other option.
These people have tried to get employed at much lower paying jobs and simply there is age discrimination excluding them from jobs they could do.
I’m retired. Some people call that “collecting entitlement”. That deeply offends me!! My husband and I worked full time for over 40 years, scrimping and saving, investing and doing without. We put two daughters through college. We took a few trips, but never got to take our kids to Disney World or anything fancy. We DID get to Wisconsin Dells for a weekend! Most of our family vacations were a week at the lake and a visit with Paul Bunyan.
My last job was really getting to me and I retired shortly before my 65th birthday. My point is…We planned our retirement around Social Security because we expected to receive it after putting our money into the pot for a total of 80 years (40 for hubby, 40 for me).
NOW we are told we are sucking on the government t#t. I refuse to feel guilty about that!!
We are better off than a lot of retirees. Our investments are not as successful as we hoped, thanks to Obama. But if they cut our SS benefits, we would survive just fine. We would merely give up our plans to travel, etc. We definitely wouldn’t go out and riot and scream at our government for doing what they had to, like they did in Wisconsin. And I wouldn’t fake mental disability, although there are days I could claim that without lying!
I am sick and tired of being criticized for taking a government check each month that was promised to me, while these deadbeats fake disability and steal from the rest of us!
Hopefully, this will be my only rant of the day, but I’m not making any promises!
Obama is making me mad! Do I qualify?
CommentGuy,
I always took a big part of my role as a fin. planner to be making the most of the benefits one is already entitled to!
Can’t tell you what a pain it is to have to beat up a client that fully qualifies for Disability to fill out the damned paperwork! The workers that should be filing are reluctant and the scammers learn it from other scammers.
***
HI HAPPY_SCRAPPER–#32. Nobody asked if we wanted to “contribute” to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Systems far worse than Ponzi schemes. At least with Ponzi you can refuse to give them money! The original SS was far more limited, and forced the money collected to go in to a separate fund. Liberals / socialists raided the fund–the bucks go into general revenues and are spent immediately. And many more people have been “entitled” over the years.
***
And now that us paying “grey panthers” (aka suckers) have finally reached the SS / Medicare / Medicaid age and can “benefit”–they are going to “means test” (aka reduce / zero pay) us.
***
And our political “betters” set up far better retirement programs for themselves. They own their money and interest–typically $4000. a month instead of the $1900. typical SS maximum SS benefits. They can will it to their family, dog, etc. The Gubmint just keeps the SS money from those that die early–many Black and minority people lose all that they paid in. As Comrade Obama and His Ilk reduce the SS money being collected and cut $500 Billion from the Medicare payments to doctors. Really “heppin out the little people” with their economic plans to pay for their bigger and more corrupt Obama”Care” scam.
***
And then they demonize those who want the same system they have! And brand them as “uncaring fat cats!”. Any private company that set up this type of scam would be shut down and their management put into jail pronto. Like Michael Savage said, “Liberalism really is a mental disorder!”. And it has infected lots of voters who should be smart enough to calculate how these plans rob them of better “golden years”.
***
John Bibb
***
I have made a decision not to retire when my time comes. I plan to work as long as I am physically able. I would like to retire and I financially would be able to, but it is a question of trust and freedom. I have no trust in the government. Thus, I do not intend to put myself at the mercy of an institution that has no desire to show me any mercy at all.
I will not use or sign up for Medicare or Tricare, even though I am eligible. I simply do not trust either system. If that comes at the cost of my SS benefit, they can keep it. It will not be the first dollars that they have stolen from me.
I do not care if my health Insurance costs me $4,000 a month. I will work and pay for it. If no one will insure me, I will live without it, and pay from my pocket. Freedom is not free. Freedom trumps everything.
I’m going to go against the grain here and suggest another contributing factor in the increase in Disability claims.
MM has already reported that The Obama’s regime rewards offices and states that increase the number of people on their dependency rolls. States are putting out ads telling people about all the wonderful benefits that await them at the government trough. There are all-out recruiting drives in many cities to sign people up for food stamps, welfare, disability, etc.
Yes, these people are more likely to latch on to the government teat if they are unemployed and have exhausted their benefits, but the government is doing everything it can to bring them in as well.
I have a 70 year old Mother who has Neuropathy and other REAL physical problems. She has stinging sensations in her toes, feet, hands and fingers. Now it’s in the stage of numbness to no feelings. She’s been through a heck of a lot more. Who takes care of her? I do. No government program. No nursing home. I take care of my own. I’ll take care of her until its time for professional help. Taxpayers don’t need to pay a dime. It’s MY responsibility. Mom cleaned houses her entire life, paid her taxes and raised six children. No milking the system. We are doing everything we can to avoid government intervention. Once you have a social worker visit, their sole mission is to get you on the Obama
CareEuthanasia program. Fast track to death, as clearly stated by Obama to Jane Sturm. It pisses me off to see so many aholes abusing social security disability. I would love to see statistics on the location of these people by zip code and political affiliated congressional districts.Reason #673 why they want the family unit destroyed.
You mother is blessed to have you.
If 47% pay no taxes, isn’t that pretty much the unemployment rate?
Anyway, as soon as Bush’s third term is over, what’s Obama’s plan?…..
***
HI FLYOVERMAN–#36. William Wallace (Braveheart) would be proud of you! However, I want the bucks I paid in back from the Gubmint. And it probably doesn’t matter too much whether we take them or not. The looming financial disaster will drive our economy over the cliff soon.
***
Not many people in Greece are ever going to get back their money. To me a rational “clawback” plan for shutting down the entitlement programs is needed to put a limit on what can be paid back. The limit would be the amount extorted from and the interest denied to us. With the interest calculated using compound interest based on the Savings Bond rates paid in the past years. Adjusted for the inflation over the years also. And no more “entitlement” programs ever. No payin–no payout. Never gonna happen.
***
John Bibb
***
Public employees in general should get 401k’s rather than defined benefits, in my opinion. Here in Hawaii retirements are based on your “high three” leading the “chosen” to be given preposterous jobs and titles the last three years before squeezing their golden goose.
Have some compassion! If you were unemployed for over two years, you’d be depressed too.
happy2behere: I can’t speak for anyone here but myself. The people that refuse to take government help under any circumstances are the ones I have compassion. An example right here is AmericaFirst. God bless you AmericaFirst for taking care of your Mother.
My parents many years ago took care of my grandmother without any help from the government, and they were working class folks.
They can be depressed and that’s a reaction that a lot of people would have, but we all haave families to take care of and that takes our money.
I can have compassion for other’s stituation, but it doesn’t have to include my money.
Disability Claims Unexpectedly Up As Unemployment Benefits Run Out
FIFY
What is upsetting about this are the number of those returning from Iraq/A’fstan who do have a disability who have been or will be fighting the VA to have their condition service connected.
…who won’t be able to get a job in this economy regardless of Urkels election year stunts.
….while disability is handed out to lazy people to keep unemployment numbers low.
So where are these ‘mentally ill’ jobless folks getting the info that they can file a claim for disability?? Another ACORN type method of milking the taxpayers? Calling Breitbart, sic your undercover reporters on this!
Couldn’t agree with you more Republicanvet. One of the charities that I give to is the DAV. I’ve heard some bad stories about vets returning and trying to get service connected and it’s a real battle. These are the people that truely need some help getting back on their feet, sometimes literally get back on their feet.
Does anyone here have the ability to do an analysis of an average SS contribution over a persons working life, say from age 18 to 68, with the timeline starting in 1960? That would be an ever-increasing contribution to the SS fund for 50 yrs., with a compounded interest rate of 3-4%.
I’m curious to see what the individual’s approximate total contribution range (with earned interest) would be. I’ve seen e-mails recently making certain claims about the expected amount, but don’t have the necessary skills to do an analysis.
On February 20, 2012 at 09:28 am, AmericaFirst said:
Sounds similar to my mother who wanted to keep working, and did for years with a bad hip, and just retired at almost 80.
She worked because she wanted to and to keep her health insurance as long as she could.
While watching the place she worked for hire Indians (some program paid part of their pay) from the reservation who would work long enough to get a paycheck, then quit.
Every time I see a Democrat proposing a large amount of money to be spent on this or that, I know that it is done so that other Democrats can profit from the programs administration. Just look at TARP, and the Stimulus; actually, how much of that “targeted” money ever reached the intended recipients, and how much is unaccounted for?
I had an economics professor tell me, well over thirty years ago, that conservatives make money by hard work, long hours, and personal initiative, but liberals make money by administering Democrat social programs. Oh, how true that now seems.
Actually, in observing the LAPD, it seems that minorities with ties to local gangs, seem to have priority over our military vets, unless they happen to be minorities with ties to local gangs.
So true. More programs, more clients of programs, more government employees needed for operating the programs,and justification for bigger budgets year after year.
So not only do you get no incentive for getting people to get off dependency on the government, you get the incentive for a growing dependency on growing government beauracracy.
Lets assume a base pay of $5000 in 1960 (not unreasonable) and a averge wage increase of 5% per year. In 2010 the final wages would have been $54,607 for total wages of $1,046,740. If the total SS contribution was 12.4% for the entire period (employee and employer combined) the sum payed in would be $129,796.
If that SS contribution was deposited in a bank account every year with an interest rate of 3% you would have $226,175 in the bank. If the rate was 4% you would have $281,179. Anybody here that wouldn’t rather be doing this than turning their money over to the govt and putting it in the trust fund?
(Excel is great. Fortunately for the Dems most people can’t use it very well or even do basic math.)
– From Hot Air.
How significant is this?
Romney is fighting for Michigan as the GOP voters are turning further away from him. And how many times have we heard the pundits say that it was a done deal for Romney? I would say that if Romney loses in Michigan, he should just drop out of the race.
I have an old friend who went on disability 12 years ago for having MS. Seems reasonable. However the year he turned 65, his MS symptoms went away. Rather amazing isn’t. He went off all his medications (7 different pills).
“Let them ski, let them ski, let them ski!” (To the tune of “Let it snow…”)
Our very own royalty – sans Pippa.
Disability??? What disability? Disability pay has become a joke,especially when the individual is able to work at another job. Paying people to do nothing is pathetic. If someone is truly disabled and incapacitated, then fine…. have a safety net. Disability pay is not a retirement plan!
I’ve got an former buddy that has claimed disability for his back for the last 5 years. Prior to that while he was in rehab for a DWI wreck he met a new crutch that showed him how the disability gig works I guess (she was in for pills).
His ex tell me they combine for $84k now to not work and if his new wife gets cleared to work will be eligible for a pension through NASA.
My husband and I were talking about this last night. He remembers how his parents took in his grandparents and took care of them. It was common in his small town for 2 or 3 generations to live together under one roof. Of course, you have to be unselfish, loving, caring and respectful to make that work. And they don’t seem to be raising kids to be that way these days.
Now, if you have to take in a parent out of necessity, there will be discord, arguments and anger about it, instead of feeling the privilege of paying back your parents for all they have done for you.
Both our daughters have said they would take us in without any qualms and would love it. One daughter actually has a big house in a small town that would be comfortble for us. I hope it won’t come to that, but I am proud of our kids. We must have done something right!
I heard Romney the other day tell some mean and vicious LIES about Santorum. I have lost all respect for him. He is no better than Obama. Gingrich is the same. They are dishonest and even smear their own GOP “friends”. Sorry, that is not necessary to win and hopefully will be the end of those bozos.
California doesn’t have state troopers.
Your right they’re not “state trooper”, they’re highway patrol. It’s a state agency anyway you look at it. Same job essentially, different name. I too retired as a cop after 28 years on the job and the job didn’t place any more “toll” on my body than most jobs. It’s a screwed up profession and absolutely nothing like TV or the movies. However, smart cops plan on retirement with the idea of doing something different with their lives. All law enforcement agencies have different types of retirement. Some retire at 50 others not. However, the smart ones who retire at 50 have already planned something out to do with their lives to remain productive and disability doesn’t even enter into the picture. I think we called it personal responsibility in my day.
…and, initiative. Amen to that!
#49 On February 20th, 2012 at 12:33 pm, right_on said:
I see that jsr gave you an answer in #54. I will give you an analysis I did a few years ago and have updated since then.
Assume that the first Baby Boomer born in January of 1946 enters the workforce in January of 1964. The maximum wages subject to FICA that year is $4800, the percentage total between employer and employee for FICA contribution is 7.25% and the average CD rate for 1964 is 4.3%. The Boomer’s employer would have paid FICA for him of $174 and he would have paid $174 for a total of $348. If the Boomer were instead given the $348 to invest in a CD, he would have earned $14.96 in interest and would have $362.96 in his account.
The Boomer stays constantly employed, he always pays FICA on the maximum wage amount, and if he had been given the FICA deductions to invest for himself, he would have always put it into a CD and never takes anything out.
Fast forward to 2010. The Boomer is now 64 years old. The maximum wages subject to FICA withholding is now $106,800, the percentage of withholding between employee and employer for 2010 is 12.4%. The Boomer’s employer pays FICA for him of $6621.50 and he pays $6621.50 for a total of $13,243. The average CD rate for 2010 is .64%. Even at the terrible CD rate of .64%, his hypothetical CD accounts would have earned $16,337.75 during 2010.
At the end of 2010, the total cum for the Boomer and his employer paid into FICA would now be $260,167.90. If he would have been given all the FICA withholding and allowed to put it into CD’s over the years, the value of the CD accounts would be $572,052.20.
This Boomer needs to live approximately 10.8 more years to get back the total of what he and his employer paid in FICA. If he would have been given the withholding and allowed to invest in CD’s, depending on future rates, the same amount could be deducted monthly and could last 35 to 40 years. If the Boomer dies one month after age 65 the remaining $259,000 of FICA belongs to the government. If the Boomer had a CD account instead of Social Security and he died at anytime, the CD accounts would go to his designated heirs or to a benefit of his choosing.
My last position was as temp. No jobs. No unemployment.
I’m glad to know at least I’m not the only one this situation is driving crazy.
He evidently found a magic elixir that magically transforms one’s physique. Look for it on the shelves at pharmacies everywhere or from MLM folks.
/sarc off
Fifty years ago, free loaders (as contrasted with the unfortunate few who really needed a helping hand) were given a boot in the a$$, and ostracized. Now they are coddled and celebrated, while they demand their freebies. RIP America.
***
HI JSR–#54. And HANNIBAL–#64. Good jobs on the estimates and math. However, the inflation rate over the 40 years or so needs to be factored into these estimates also. Today’s dollars buy a lot less than they did 40 years ago. Slow steady inflation is built into our economic system and robs us of buying power when we reach retirement age.
***
And also–there is no such animal as a Unicorn–or a Social Security “Trust” Fund. It used to exist before President Lyndon Johnson and his House / Senate stole the money to fund the Vietnam “War” that he lost. The SS witholding money just goes into the general revenue fund and is spend immediately. The “fund” is just a bunch of IOU’s in a really big shoebox! It did exist in the original SS plan from the 1930′s.
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John Bibb
***
No one was promised compounded interest, EVER, from Social Security, they were told they would keep the elderly from Poverty. Whatever that means. They did not mention vacation homes, retirement trips, things people use their own money for, and they intended to keep the elderly out of poverty in their waning years when they could not work anymore. The elderly did not support a household, and have autonomy like they do today.
I am disabled and should be able to collect disability.
You see, I’m a non-crony and a US Citizen.
I can’t work for the government because I’m not a crony. Government policy says government jobs are only for cronies.
I can’t work for the private sector because I’m a US Citizen, and official government policy says that:
* All IT jobs are to go to H1B visa holders from India
* All call center jobs are to go to India
* All manual labor jobs are to go to illegal aliens
* All factory jobs are to go to China
* All construction jobs are to go to illegal aliens
As a result, I am not able to have a job. I am disabled.
So therefore, I should be allowed to collect disability. I am disabled because I have two unrecognized disabilities: US Citizen and non-cronyism.
(should I really put a /sarc tag on this post or have I crossed into actually having a real legal argument?)