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   XPost: alt.politics, alt.health, sci.med.psychobiology   
   From: arwingnutte@gmail.com   
      
   WND EXCLUSIVE   
   'DISABLED' OUTNUMBER WORKERS IN U.S. MANUFACTURING   
   Bankruptcy now looming for another social help program   
   Published: 16 hours ago   
     JOHN BENNETT   
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   The stories are many, and this is just one:   
      
   It seems there was a psychiatrist who reported about a woman who was   
   “disabled” when a casino money cart fell on her leg in Reno.   
      
   She still managed to play basketball, crawl about under her car, carry   
   heavy groceries and tote luggage around. But she developed a limp and   
   used a cane just in time for a hearing on her disability benefits.   
      
   There currently are 14 million Americans on disability payments, up   
   from 4.3 million in 1990.   
      
   The program is paying out $200 billion per year, and according to the   
   Congressional Budget Office, as of 2009, Social Security Disability   
   Insurance pays out more than it takes in from payroll taxes.   
      
   SSDI is slated to go broke in 2016.   
      
   Now from across the political spectrum, experts are warning of   
   problems ahead, not just economic but societal, as one of the products   
   of the decades-old SSDI system is that it has fostered a standard of   
   long-term dependency.   
      
   MIT economist David Autor tells WND, “As currently designed, the SSDI   
   program spends too few societal resources helping individuals with   
   disabilities to remain employed and too many resources supporting the   
   long-term dependency of individuals who could be self-sufficient with   
   the appropriate accommodation and support.”   
      
   Autor is sympathetic to the plight of those on disability, noting that   
   many workers with non-medical problems have turned to SSDI as a “last   
   resort” in the face of a dismal economy.   
      
   Mary C. Daly, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of San   
   Francisco, tells WND, “Disability insurance has turned into a long-   
   term unemployment benefit program, which taxpayers have to pay for.   
      
   “SSDI is reducing the nation’s potential workforce as people move onto   
   the program,” Daly says.   
      
   She “doesn’t like the word dependency because it is pejorative,” and   
   instead criticizes the structure of the disability system for   
   incentivizing continued use without any constructive route into work   
   for those who are able.   
      
   Others are less sympathetic: SSDI “has become a voluntary life   
   sentence to idle poverty,” concludes the Washington Examiner.   
      
   And a consensus is emerging that SSDI is not being used for its   
   intended purpose, which was to support those who are unable to work.   
      
   Cornell Professor Richard Burkhauser, a disability policy expert,   
   warns, “SSDI is increasingly being used as a long-term unemployment   
   program for workers who, given the appropriate rehabilitation and   
   accommodation, could work.”   
      
   The sheer number of people on disability is staggering, without even   
   considering the policy’s other consequences. The number of people on   
   disability, 14 million, is “more than the total number of employees in   
   the manufacturing sector of the economy,” observed Nicholas Eberstadt   
   of the American Enterprise Institute.   
      
   The government spends more on disability than it does on both food   
   stamps and welfare combined, according to a blockbuster NPR report.   
   The dependency trend and fiscal trajectory continue their death   
   spiral, unmoved by the supposed economic recovery.   
      
   The recession officially ended in 2009. Since the recession ostensibly   
   ended, the number of SSDI enrollees is double the number of jobs   
   created, as Investor’s Business Daily reported.   
      
   The current unemployment rate would necessarily be higher if some of   
   those on disability were instead seeking work. Aside from the economic   
   consequences, SSDI could lead to a destructive self-fulfilling   
   prophecy.   
      
   Self-fulfilling prophecy   
      
   Going on to SSDI creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, according to Dr.   
   Marvin Fischbach, a psychiatrist who works directly with patients on   
   disability.   
      
   Fischbach generated controversy with a powerful opinion piece,   
   charging that the disability system creates “a vested financial and   
   psychological interest in not getting better while still applying for   
   disability.”   
      
   He told WND, “The system is a crisis for the individual,” and “many   
   should never have applied for disability.”   
      
   He describes a pattern that deeply concerns him: “Patients come to me   
   with mild to moderate symptoms of depression, that will get better,   
   and do get better. But they get on disability and many are lost   
   forever to gainful employment, lose their self-sufficiency, and lose   
   their self-esteem.”   
      
   He acknowledges, “Some beneficiaries are severely mentally ill and   
   truly disabled, but I’m not talking about them.”   
      
   He describes a pattern of generational dependency that is reminiscent   
   of pre-reform welfare.   
      
   “People on disability develop a lifestyle, then their children are   
   acculturated into the disability way of life.”   
      
   And “the child begins to see this as normal.”   
      
   From Fischbach’s vantage point, “once you’re on the program, the   
   government doesn’t encourage you to work, and there seems to be no   
   verification that you are still disabled.”   
      
   He believes “abuse is common, and the system is enabling people to   
   abuse themselves.”   
      
   His conclusion is stark. “The effect of the system is destructive to   
   individuals and society.”   
      
   Even for those who are psychologically unaffected, SSDI may encourage   
   undesirable aspects of human nature. The Wall Street Journal described   
   a truck driver with herniated disks who got on disability and then   
   thought about seeking work.   
      
   But, he said, “I don’t know anything but driving a truck.”   
      
   Crisis long time coming   
      
   SSDI began in 1956. Most media coverage has placed the SSDI   
   controversy in the context of the recent recession. However, the   
   growth of SSDI was a clear problem well prior to the recession. Autor   
   and Mark Duggan have been warning about the growth of SSDI since 2003.   
   Between 1984 and 2001, the number of working-age adults receiving   
   disability rose 60 percent to 5.3 million people.   
      
   Also, the fiscal crisis in SSDI is nothing new. Autor and Duggan   
   warned in 2006 of a “fiscal crisis unfolding” in SSDI.   
      
   While economists tend to focus strictly on the incentive structure of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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