So Many Outrages, So Little Time, etc

This post is about disability. If the government is going to take Ned's BP dividends to pay motel owners in the Gulf, he wants to talk about people on disability. Now, maybe there are lots of people who deserve disability payments, which are basically payments in lieu of work. Blind people (that is, people who cannot see at all) deserve disability payments. People without arms and legs deserve disability payments. But if you are going to extort Ned's BP dividends to free up money to pay someone disability, he want to make damn sure they deserve it. And he suspect many on disability do not, and are in fact scamming the system. Here are some numbers:

There are about 18 million people drawing disability payments, which are basically for life, from the Social Security System. And lots more from local police and fire departments. The average payments on SS are $14,000 a year. Not enough to live on, but a nice subsidy if you have some other scams going on, or some under the table part time work. Ned suspects millions of those on disability are scamming the system. And remember, about 2.5 million people apply for disability each year. Most of them are denied the first time, but they keep trying, and why not? It's free money.

But it's just more hypocrisy from the bankrupt American entitlement system. So many people cry about taxes and government waste, and then cash their disability check each month. Ned'll bet everyone who reads this blog knows somebody on disability, who seems able bodied in every other respect. One of his wife's relatives is on disability, and routinely takes long trips in his RV, loading it with heavy boxes and driving thousands of miles. He also has health care from several different sources, but expressed concern that the country "couldn't afford" universal heath care. And it should go without saying that this guy is a fundamentalist Christian!

So, if you are going to take Ned's BP dividend, Mr President, check all those people who are scamming the system by claiming disability, will ya? And get back to us on that.