>> There are people who truly need to be assisted...the program does need some scrutiny....but it's not necessarily parallel to health services or unemployment and certainly not SS.
The programs are structured differently, but there are a couple of common threads:
a) These programs, none of them, are self-funded, and will, if allowed to, grow without bound; and
b) These programs have created a dependent society that would simply prefer to work less and let the rest of us pick up the slack.
My friends for 4 decades now, R1 & R2, are a case in point. R1 had polio as a child, but mostly overcame it. She became an excellent RN and made good money for most of her working life. Now 60, the polio has taken its toll and she is in a wheelchair, certainly could not work, and is on disability. Obviously, a genuine case of disability. R2 is a another type of medical professional who, 10 years ago, was making 250K.
They liked to gamble. A lot. In fact, at some point, they decided to relocate to gambling mecca so they wouldn't have so far to drive. It was all weekend every weekend, then all day every day. Long story short, a bankruptcy ensued, at which point they were well advised to relocate to a bankruptcy friendly state which, luckily, was not a gambling mecca. They were dead broke. R2 got a new job, but found he was unable to work because of an alleged previous back injury; this, I'm not too sure about. Now, he, too, is on disability, at age 60 (they have both been on it for maybe five years).
They're great friends and I think no less of them, they're great liberals, and I wouldn't think of being critical to them personally. But really. Their situation is what it is. Should they be left to languish in abject poverty? How much is enough? I just question whether early retirement was the right thing to have provided them with at the time.
This system doesn't work because it is run by government. If you fuck with a private disability insurer, they'll pursue the situation aggressively. The government, once you're on it, you're on it. NO MATTER WHAT.
You cannot just give money away. Period. My good friends, at least R2, could be doing SOMETHING productive, but the disability check is there, why bother?
This kind of story isn't isolated. It isn't always fraud; sometimes it is a borderline case. But if you're giving money away, you are GOING to have people who take advantage of it.
My son told me last week of an acquaintance of his, about whom we've all been concerned, because he was effectively living on the street. He got on food stamps. He got $400 worth of food stamps his first go around -- which is more than he could legally have gotten. What happened to those food stamps? Sold for $200. TAXPAYER MONEY. This kid has no physical problem, he's apparently not a drug addict, he's just lazy.
This is money that came out of your kids' pockets. |
