Federal Disability Insurance Drives Chronic Unemployment

The progressive socialist agenda in a nut shell - force as many people into dependence and poverty to insure they will always vote Democrat so the can continue to receive benefits. That the Democrats can't guarantee that this money will continue isn't necessary, all the have to do to keep the dependent voting the right way is to promise that they will.

If this sound familiar, all one has to do to see the similarity is to listen to Mr Obama over and over promising to do everything for everyone. That nothing has been accomplished to help our country recover from a multitude of disasters for the last five years doesn't register with the public. It seems the general public is ready to except a life style that is less dynamic or rewarding without question.

Remember the frog in the pot of water, swimming around having a good time, but then the heat was added and the fun and games came to an end. Do you make the connection here?

Federal Disability Insurance Recipients Often Could Be Working
Source: Luke Rosiak, "Exography: Many Disability Recipients Admit They Could Work," Washington Examiner, July 30, 2013.
August 5, 2013

Recipients of federal disability checks often admit that they are capable of working but cannot or will not find a job, that those closest to them tell them they should be working, and that working to get off the disability rolls is not among their goals, says the Washington Examiner.

More baffling, most have never received significant medical treatment and not seen a doctor about their condition in the last year, even though medical problems are the official reason they don't work. Those who acknowledge they're on disability because they can't find a job say they make little effort to find one.

• Unearned disability, called Supplemental Security Income (SSI), is for individuals who have petitioned to be classified as disabled. Many of them have never worked and have never paid into Social Security.
• Earned disability, or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), is for those who have held jobs for significant periods of time and paid at least partially into Social Security before becoming disabled.
• Those collecting government checks in the unearned program are in less pain than their counterparts who paid into the system, the analysis showed. They are typically overweight, uneducated and from broken homes.

But the analysis also revealed more practical barriers to weaning recipients off the disability rolls: The jobs they'd be candidates for often don't provide health insurance, which is essential for those with medical problems, and they'd rather receive the federal benefit. Many also say they don't have transportation to work.

In 2009, the Social Security Administration conducted a detailed study of disability recipients' characteristics, desire to work and their impediments from doing so. The survey included responses from 2,300 disability benefits recipients. There are approximately 11 million SSDI recipients and approximately 7 million SSI recipients. Among the most notable results of the survey:

• Returning to work is not a goal for 71 percent of SSDI recipients and 60 percent of SSI recipients.
• Seventy-five percent of SSDI recipients don't see themselves returning to work within five years and 65 percent of SSI recipients don't.
• Seventy-two percent of the small number of SSDI recipients who started a job while on disability got cash under the table, as did 70 percent of the small number of SSI recipients who started a job while on disability.
• Twenty-four percent of SSDI recipients lack even GEDs, as do 43 percent of SSI recipients.