Unfit for Work - The startling rise of disability in America

[sharkhawk]

I have a feeling this is going to be a big bonfire.  How dare NPR question their benefits.

Liberal_in_LA (28,048 posts)

Unfit for Work - The startling rise of disability in America

Unfit for Work
The startling rise of disability in America

In the past three decades, the number of Americans who are on disability has skyrocketed. The rise has come even as medical advances have allowed many more people to remain on the job and new laws have banned workplace discrimination against the disabled. Every month, 14 million people now get a disability check from the government.

The federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled former workers than it spends on food stamps and welfare combined. Yet people relying on disability payments are often overlooked in discussions of the social safety net. People on federal disability do not work. Yet, because they are not technically part of the labor force, they are not counted among the unemployed.

------------------

Sonny Ryan, a retired judge in town, didn't hear disability cases in his courtroom. But the subject came up often. He described one exchange he had with a man who was on disability but looked healthy.

"Just out of curiosity, what is your disability?" the judge asked from the bench.
"I have high blood pressure," the man said.
"So do I," the judge said. "What else?"
"I have diabetes."
"So do I."

-----------------------

I talked to lots of people in Hale County who were on disability. Sometimes, the disability seemed unambiguous.

"I was in a 1990 Jeep Cherokee Laredo," Dane Mitchell, a 23-year-old guy I met in a coffee shop, told me. "I flipped it both ways, flew 165 feet from the Jeep, going through 12 to 14,000 volts of electrical lines. Then I landed into a briar patch. I broke all five of my right toes, my right hip, seven of my vertebrae, shattering one, breaking a right rib, punctured my lung, and then I cracked my neck."

Other stories seemed less clear. I sat with lots of women in Hale County who told me how their backs kept them up at night and made it hard for them to stand on the job. "I used to cry to try to work," one woman told me. "It was so painful."

People don't seem to be faking this pain, but it gets confusing. I have back pain. My editor has a herniated disc, and he works harder than anyone I know. There must be millions of people with asthma and diabetes who go to work every day. Who gets to decide whether, say, back pain makes someone disabled?

http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/

Of course it is the fault of the rich.

upaloopa (1,623 posts)
1. Romney doesn't work and he gets tax breaks that are unfair.

Why should investment income be taxed at a lower rate than my earned income? Before we start a war among workers over disability lets close the 1% ers loophole and tax money in over seas accounts.
The1% want us to fight over the crumbs they leave us.

[sharkhawk]

Sorry forgot the link.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022552456

[jtyangel]

Ummm. Moron with a question about tax on investments: why are people who get the eitc 'bonus' not taxes on that money at all? Lets say they made that 4 grand more a year at their job they would be taxed on that so why is someone given a Pass who gets 4 grand in that credit versus someone who actually earns that 4 grand in income? Remember that's basically additional income now so going by your standard it's still income. Don't hurt yourself trying to be consistent or anything though.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

upaloopa (1,623 posts)
1. Romney doesn't work and he gets tax breaks that are unfair.

Why should investment income be taxed at a lower rate than my earned income? Before we start a war among workers over disability lets close the 1% ers loophole and tax money in over seas accounts.
The1% want us to fight over the crumbs they leave us.

You have to earn it, where it is taxed, before you can invest it on something that may lose that money only to see it taxed again if it pays off.

[Wineslob]

The1% want us to fight over the crumbs they leave us.

Show me "crumbs"!

Eff'n BS.

[chitownchica]

What in hell's bells does Romney have to do with disability? It's always the same old tired excuses and lack of reason with DUmmies.

[JohnnyReb]

What in hell's bells does Romney have to do with disability? It's always the same old tired excuses and lack of reason with DUmmies.

Because he has lots of money the DUmmies think he should support several families of do nothing deadbeats.

[I_B_Perky]

upaloopa (1,623 posts)
1. Romney doesn't work and he gets tax breaks that are unfair.

Why should investment income be taxed at a lower rate than my earned income? Before we start a war among workers over disability lets close the 1% ers loophole and tax money in over seas accounts.
The1% want us to fight over the crumbs they leave us.

Why should welfare benefits be tax free, dummie? It's income, unearned at that, ain't it?

[JohnnyReb]

Why should welfare benefits be tax free, dummie? It's income, unearned at that, ain't it?

Call it a "Windfall Profit" and tax hell out of it......90% should do.

[marv]

upaloopa (1,623 posts)
1. Romney doesn't work and he gets tax breaks that are unfair.

Doesn't work? I guess turning companies around and preserving jobs doesn't count 'cause he wore a white shirt and tie.......

Dummies have to realize that you won't get anywhere if you won't cut chips.

[ChuckJ]

Doesn't work? I guess turning companies around and preserving jobs doesn't count 'cause he wore a white shirt and tie.......

Dummies have to realize that you won't get anywhere if you won't cut chips.

Yeah. They seem to think that running a business is just fun and games. Just sitting around and enjoying life.

Before I went into business for myself I was essentially in charge of a larger company. Not a huge company. It only fluctuated between 5 to 7 employees. I didn't have to do any physical labor. I did some computer work. Did scheduling. Gave bids. Ordered supplies. Dealt with clients and potential clients. Dealt with the employees. Handled problems.

I did this for between 10 to 19 hours a day. Five days a week. I was usually more completely exhausted at the end of the day than I'd ever been doing physical labor. By the time I quit I was on Zoloft and Xanax. I gained a ton of weight because I didn't have any time at the end of the work day to do anything and was too tired on the weekends to do anything.

Yeah. Running a company is a laugh a minute.

[I_B_Perky]

Call it a "Windfall Profit" and tax hell out of it......90% should do.

I'd be happy if they would just tax it at the standard income rate. Welfare parasites would dump the dems when it started taking money out of their pocket!!!!

[Evil_Conservative]

I had someone with a disable placard cutting me off and tailgating me in traffic today.  I was so close to making him so disabled he would no longer be able to drive a car.

[BlueStateSaint]

I had someone with a disable placard cutting me off and tailgating me in traffic today.  I was so close to making him so disabled he would no longer be able to drive a car.

I tend to give tailgaters a brake from time to time . . . a big one.

[DumbAss Tanker]

What in hell's bells does Romney have to do with disability? It's always the same old tired excuses and lack of reason with DUmmies.

1 + 1 = Potato.  The foundational core of all their economic, tax, and policy thinking.

 

[67 Rover]

I tend to give tailgaters a brake from time to time . . . a big one.

I use the handbrake no tail lights and not recorded in the cars Black box in the event of an accident.

[Evil_Conservative]

I tend to give tailgaters a brake from time to time . . . a big one.

I would have if my daughter wasn't in the backseat.  I need my rear bumper re-painted anyway.  Some of the clear coat is coming off.

[Dori]

I would have if my daughter wasn't in the backseat.  I need my rear bumper re-painted anyway.  Some of the clear coat is coming off.

If it's during the day, just put your headlamps on.  When your rear tail lights light up they will back off and you don't have to change your speed.   

[GOBUCKS]

I use the handbrake no tail lights and not recorded in the cars Black box in the event of an accident.

Even if the guy is tailgating, if you do something deliberately to cause an accident you've committed a felony.

I saw a show on TV about a scam urban democrats are running, where they hit their brakes to cause accidents to defraud the insurance company.