The Big Con: Disability Edition
By Via Gary Farber, the disability-support infrastructure of the United States government seems to be breaking down:
More and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing, say lawyers representing claimants and officials of the Social Security Administration, which administers disability benefits for those judged unable to work or who face terminal illness.
The agency’s new plan to hire at least 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than President Bush requested this year and still more in the future. The plan has been delayed by the standoff between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations.
Let’s review: Modern conservatism is built around the idea that collective, government sponsored solutions to social problems can’t work, and operates by making certain that those solutions won’t work. It’s a well conceived strategy, especially when combined with the fiction that tax cuts enhance revenue. As the article points out, disability problems in the US population are only going to grow as the average age of American’s increases.
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