Posted on 08/22/2011 4:35:26 PM PDT by Kaslin
Economy: In another sign of how lousy the president's so-called recovery's been, millions of desperately unemployed are now threatening to sink Social Security's disability lifeboat.
This year, 3.3 million people are expected to apply to Social Security for disability benefits. That's 700,000 more than in 2008, and a million more than a decade ago. As a result, the Congressional Budget Office expects the program to run out of money in six short years.
Social Security's disability program is meant for those who, because of a serious handicap, are unable to find gainful employment. But Social Security commissioner Michael Astrue is blunt about the cause of the recent application explosion, telling the Associated Press that "it's primarily economic desperation."
This isn't the only sign of desperation out there. Nearly 46 million people are on food stamps — a 74% increase from 2007. The number of discouraged workers — those who've given up looking for a job — is 52% higher today than when Obama took office and 41% higher than when the recession ended way back in June 2009. The unemployment rate among blacks has topped 15% for 24 months — and now stands at 15.9%.
Yet this growing sense of desperation is being met only by increased cluelessness from the White House.
Last week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack argued that the explosion in food stamps will stimulate growth. "Every dollar of (food stamps) benefits generates $1.84 in the economy," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
wow...you know...it almost seems as if the world is going to get desperate for a really charismatic, miracle-working leader to fix all these problems.
The criminally insane are in charge.
Does this mean that I won’t get my “crazy” check?
o.m.g. somebody actually said this?
The criminally insane are in charge.
or the insanely stupid.
Obama and the Democrats want a dependent population.
As often the case, greedy liberals too lazy to work swamp these programs and leave the poor disabled people to writhe in the street gutters.
That is the biggest damn lie I ever heard.
The dollar has to be taken first from someone who has earned it. It probably costs the U.S. government another five dollars to distribute the one dollar in food stamps.
The economy suffers six-fold for every dollar of food stamps distributed because six dollars has to be confiscated from the working taxpayer to distribute the single dollar in food stamps.
His idea was that shelves have to be stocked in stores. Like they are not being stocked now *rme*
Its broke NOW. 43 cents out of every dollar spent is borrowed NOW.
Yeah, because people are trying to treat SSI as the new Welfare. What a deal... your 99 weeks of unemployment running out? No prob, get on SSI and you get a check for life.
I could tell y'all SSI stories from the case files that would having you seeing red and spitting nails.
Suffice it to say, the fraud is just unbelievable. And there's virtually zero accountability.
But nobama's gotta build his underclass of government teat suckers that pay no taxes and walk around every day with their hand out. (Their other hand is busy dialing their taxpayer-supplied cell phone with 250 free talk minutes per month.)
Good point and I would like to add stop giving it to the dopedealer who got shot and now has a colostomy bag and a check on the taxpayer dime OR gets some ghetto doctor to say he has has PTSD from being shot and can’t work.
Or the 400lb sow that spent most of her life on her back, popping out kids and is now diabetic and “too heavy” to work now.
Do you even know the difference between SSI and Social Security Disability?
You can’t get Social Security disability or SSI for any injury incurred in the commission of a crime.
I sure do. But that's okay. Shower me with your brilliance anyway.
This is dead wrong.
There has been no increased cluelessness from the White House.
Fraud is rampant with SSD too. It’s the new AFDC. It’s tough to get cash nowadays and of course your SNAP card can only pay so much, but SSI or SSD is cash money, baby!
“Or the 400lb sow that spent most of her life on her back, popping out kids and is now diabetic and “too heavy” to work now.”
See this article. They had to disable the comments and edit the story because when first posted it said at the end she wasn’t able to work because of her weight and was collecting benefits.
Well, for one, you said that SSI is “the new Welfare,” which I found odd since SSI has always been a welfare program. It’s not paid out of the SS trust, but instead from the regular gov’t operating fund, just like any other welfare benefit. In other words, if we abolished SSI today, it would have exactly no effect on the overall solvency (or lack thereof) of Social Security.
Wasn’t trying to be combative, it just drives me nuts when people use SSI interchangeably with SSDI, retirement or survivor benefits, etc.
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