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5.4 Million Join Disability Rolls Under Obama
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY ^ | 04/20/2012 | JOHN MERLINE

Posted on 04/22/2012 2:17:58 PM PDT by daniel1212

A record 5.4 million workers and their dependents have signed up to collect federal disability checks since President Obama took office, according to the latest official government data, as discouraged workers increasingly give up looking for jobs and take advantage of the federal program.

More than 5 million people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, nearly twice the previous high set in 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since the recession ended in June 2009, the number of new enrollees to Social Security’s disability insurance program is twice the job growth figure.

In just the first four months of this year, 539,000 joined the disability rolls and more than 725,000 put in applications. As a result, by April there were a total of 10.8 million people on disability, according to Social Security Administration data released this week.

Even after accounting for all those who've left the program — about 700,000 drop out each year, mainly because they hit retirement age or died — that's up 53% from a decade ago.

...the explosive growth in enrollment is not only increasing the financial strain on the Social Security Disability Insurance trust fund — which is scheduled to go bankrupt in 2018 — it's boosting costs for Medicare as well, since SSDI enrollees can qualify for Medicare after two years. SSDI now accounts for more than 16% of Social Security's budget and more than 15% of Medicare's.

The main causes of this broader trend, according to a study by economists David Autor and Mark Duggan, are the loosening of eligibility rules by Congress in 1984, the rise in disability benefits relative to wages, and the fact that more women have entered the workforce, making them eligible for disability.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: entitlements; socialsecurity; ssi; welfare
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To: TwelveOfTwenty

As compulsory irresponsible sharing your wealth is the liberal ethos.


21 posted on 04/22/2012 2:58:55 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a damned+morally destitute sinner,+trust Him to forgive+save you,+live....)
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To: daniel1212

22 posted on 04/22/2012 2:59:27 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (void where prohibited.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Actually, yes!


23 posted on 04/22/2012 2:59:51 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a damned+morally destitute sinner,+trust Him to forgive+save you,+live....)
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To: pallis
When people can’t won't find work, they seek out disability.

allow me.

24 posted on 04/22/2012 3:00:52 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (void where prohibited.)
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To: GOPJ

>Liberal lawyers have sent up shop in every major city - offering to help YOU get what YOU deserve.<

Its not only them, but partially in response to congressional mandates, SSA was spending roughly $8 million a year by 1995 to find new beneficiaries.


25 posted on 04/22/2012 3:01:47 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a damned+morally destitute sinner,+trust Him to forgive+save you,+live....)
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To: Graewoulf

Compulsory sharing your wealth with those who do not even try to be productive and responsible, in order to subsidize such rather than penalize it.


26 posted on 04/22/2012 3:05:50 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a damned+morally destitute sinner,+trust Him to forgive+save you,+live....)
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To: daniel1212

SSI is just another check that the entitlement class adds to all their other government freebees. Their goal is to build up enough handouts so they dont have to work. It is a way of life for way too many people — black and white.


27 posted on 04/22/2012 3:11:17 PM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: daniel1212

This article does not raise one very important question: how many recipients of Disability, SNAP, etc, are committing fraud? There are legitimately disabled people who have worked and put into the fund for many years. They are set to have their benefits bankrupted due to the many claimants who should never be approved. It used to be only 1 percent of first-time disability applicants were approved, the government screeners were so strict and the medical documentation required was significant. Seems we need to take some workers out of the application process and put them in the investigation process.


28 posted on 04/22/2012 3:12:53 PM PDT by baa39
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To: daniel1212

Karl Marx put it this way: “From each, according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

BTW, Democrats put some camo paint on it by calling it “Re-Distribution of Wealth.”


29 posted on 04/22/2012 3:13:07 PM PDT by Graewoulf ((Dictator Baby-Doc Barack's obama"care" violates Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND U.S. Constitution.))
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

And the victim entitlement came form the original “occupy movement,” that of the devil seeking to occupy the throne of God, (Is. 14:13,14) trying to “climb up some other way” (Jn. 10:1) to position, apparently with 1/3 of other angels concurring, that God should “share the wealth,” that of His power.

And who later, in the Garden, the devil sought to instill the victim entitlement mentality into Eve, that God was not dealing with her fairly, by not “sharing the wealth” of His knowledge, thus justifying her rebellion. (Gn. 3)


30 posted on 04/22/2012 3:26:29 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a damned+morally destitute sinner,+trust Him to forgive+save you,+live....)
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To: daniel1212

Using television as a babysitter hinders language development. Lazy child rearing practices foster poor language skills and thus a learning disorder “disability”.
Same goes for the rise in autism, now expanded to include so-called uncontrollable cussing and poor impulse control. Failure to discipline leads to unmanageable kids - who are now classified as mentally ill and the family gets more money.
What you subsidize is what you will increase.


31 posted on 04/22/2012 3:27:28 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: baa39

Well, as my supplementary material states,

Easy-to-fake learning, behavioral, and mental disorders are the most common “disabilities,” especially among children, who comprise 55 percent of all cases.

Prior work has shown that accurately diagnosing some types of mental impairments is a complex and often subjective process for SSA, which can sometimes be vulnerable to fraud and abuse. [Should their claims be denied, claimants can pursue several layers of appeal; 80 percent of appeals are now ultimately successful. (CATO, 1995]


32 posted on 04/22/2012 3:28:08 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a damned+morally destitute sinner,+trust Him to forgive+save you,+live....)
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To: daniel1212
and America takes 5.4million more in the........

33 posted on 04/22/2012 3:30:02 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: pallis

Depression at the inability to find work now qualifies one for SS disability / welfare.


34 posted on 04/22/2012 3:30:27 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: tbw2

Now you are on to something. The same hand that hugs must also spank.

How “cruel’ (in the eyes of some) the Truth can be, but beneficial.

The liberal mind seeks a fantasy in which man is not prone to sin, and in which discipline or wars are never necessary, or sexual morality and marriage.

They want a Garden of Eden without God and His authority and laws. It is an ideology only realized somewhat by drugs, but which is now attempted by legislation, its pushers now being in the establishment.

They imagine a Woodstock, but which beyond a few days ends up being Haight-Ashbury.


35 posted on 04/22/2012 3:41:09 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a damned+morally destitute sinner,+trust Him to forgive+save you,+live....)
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To: pallis

Taxpayers have a right to know what they are buying with their tax dollars. Taxpayers have a right to know who is drawing paychecks for disability. A list of our disabled dependents should be posted online, so we can see who we are subsidizing.


36 posted on 04/22/2012 4:17:27 PM PDT by abclily
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To: EGPWS

vuala=voila


37 posted on 04/22/2012 4:41:36 PM PDT by EnigmaticAnomaly ("Mantra of the left: 'It's only okay when WE do it.'")
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To: daniel1212

I keep wondering how long the madness can go on. I’m frankly surprised each day that passes and there is any semblance of normalcy.


38 posted on 04/22/2012 5:03:39 PM PDT by gloryblaze (Don't forget to donate and keep FR going strong!)
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To: daniel1212; Grampa Dave; tubebender; hedgetrimmer; forester; calcowgirl; BOBTHENAILER; ...

Yep! He’s the Disability-Foodstamp-Debt King of a Posturing President in Denial!!!


39 posted on 04/22/2012 5:05:50 PM PDT by SierraWasp (Negativity must die because it's self-fulfilling!!!)
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To: All

40 posted on 04/22/2012 5:08:05 PM PDT by Hotlanta Mike (Resurrect the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA)...before there is no America!)
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