Meet Rand Paul

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Straight from the lips of Rush Limbaugh. FWIW, everybody who gets a steady check/benefits from the government ultimately depends on it to some degree, from farmers to oil companies to the military/industrial complex to homeowners with their mortgage deductions.

No shit. Although 5 below is calling the perps of this sinister plot "government" so maybe he's including the GOP and teabagger members as co-conspirators. If that's the case...maybe I'll go along with him on this one...but just a smidgen.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

The surplus FICA money was never anything but a disguised income tax, and a very regressive one.

Brought to you by the Gipper and Tip.

John

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by MikeG22

Ugh I can't even say it satirically without being sick to my stomach.

You haven't put that clown on "Ignore" yet?

John

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Interesting, Dave. I actually spent the first 6 years of my social work career counseling mostly single mothers in a welfare to work program. This was back in the Clinton years when the new TANF programs were being rolled out. In my experience it was always tough getting a mother to go pick up an entry level job that would be giving her 75 bucks a month less in income than she had on the public aid, that she couldn't afford to lose. But we worked hard on helping her buy in to the possibility of having more income down the road than she would ever have on the TANF.

The other thing we found in our research was that the "hard core/long term" public aid recipients were often legitimately disabled and should never have been on welfare in the first place. Over 25% of the women in our program who had been on public aid for more than three years ended up being identified through the SS disability determination process as having deficits (intellectual, mental health, physical or some combination of these) significant enough to qualify them for SSD if they had enough quarters of work history, or SSI if they did not.

My work has taken me away from this population for probably a decade now, but I don't suspect that this has changed much. The government isn't interested much in helping identify disabilities, and if you've ever walked a client through the disability determination process you know that the government has gone out of it's way to make the process as difficult as possible for those who need it most. Particularly the people who have a combination of intellectual impairments and mental health problems...and for whom it's impossible to get through the disability determination process without some professional help.

In New York State:I believe the better paid workers, especially those in a union, have consistently beat the system with disability.

It is the Firemen, Policemen and railroad workers. We have had a sordid history of these players. Their doctors and lawyers are a union.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1700139

Last month a doctor got 8 years for his part in the infamous one billion dollar Long Island Rail Road disability scam

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crim...icle-1.1628516

[djv8ga]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

In New York State:I believe the better paid workers, especially those in a union, have consistently beat the system with disability.
It is the Firemen, Policemen and railroad workers. We have had a sordid history of these players. Their doctors and lawyers are a union.

Yup. It's the same out here.

[icenine]

I don't know.....lowballing firemen and policemen on wages and benefits does not make me feel safe. And it can be a factor in corrupition. I sort of side with paying them well.

[MrPots]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Entitlements are what the federal budget should be about. Health care, social security benefits, all the health and human services programs and infrastructure, highways and bridges, are where our tax dollars should be going.

I think it's all well and good that we should be concerned with the suffering in the world. And we should do something about it...after we do something about the suffering, and general safety here. Not that conservatives care much about the poor and middle class...who are paying the highest percentage of their income of any of us, and who are providing all the cannon fodder for our rich man's wars.

Well said.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

In New York State:I believe the better paid workers, especially those in a union, have consistently beat the system with disability.

It is the Firemen, Policemen and railroad workers. We have had a sordid history of these players. Their doctors and lawyers are a union.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1700139

Last month a doctor got 8 years for his part in the infamous one billion dollar Long Island Rail Road disability scam

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crim...icle-1.1628516

Goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway...my clients were single mothers on public assistance, most with a HUD housing subsidy, and barely making it. A measured IQ in the 60's is functionally low. A measured IQ in the 70's combined with a diagnosis of clinical depression or anxiety leaves a client with similarly low functioning.

The only help these people had on the case was their clinical counselor or their case manager to get them through the process. Although every now and then when a client had really been fucked with by the people at SSD determination, and their lump sum payout was going to be big enough, we were often able to get a good disability attorney to take the case. Generally when a speci@list attorney is on it, and it goes to a hearing officer, the client is almost guaranteed to get their determination...and the lawyer to get a third of the lump payout.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

And what really burns my butt is the increases in FICA tax that are justified as insuring the 'future solvency' of the program. The money has always been spent immediately, some for current SS benefits, and the rest to help finance the current deficit. The surplus FICA money was never anything but a disguised income tax, and a very regressive one. It never did a damned thing for future benefits.

Exactly.

In fact the revenue generated by the excess Social Security taxes was used an excuse to reduce the Federal Income taxes of the uber rich. A fucking shell game is what it was.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Not that conservatives care much about the poor and middle class...who are paying the highest percentage of their income of any of us, and who are providing all the cannon fodder for our rich man's wars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQ50W7E-gc