It seems the only area of growth in the Obama economy is the number of Americans on disability.
Had the stock market grown like the disability lines, we might all be thinking about retiring soon. And if the number on disability is growing rapidly, you can bet that the number of Americans unable to find work is also very high.
The Social Security Administration announced in July that the country hit a new high for the number of people on federal disability payments: 8,753,935. That's up from the previous high in June, 8,733,461.
President Obama has been agonizing over how to get more government money flowing to workers so they can spend it and, in his view, stimulate the economy. Simple: continue with his tax-and-spend economic program and millions more Americans will take a chance on being declared disabled.
As CNSNews points out, if those on disability were a state, it would be the 12th largest state in the country.
Congress created the disability insurance program some 58 years ago, putting it under the Social Security program, and paying for it with a 1.8 percent payroll tax, split between the employer and employee.
In 1967, there were 65 workers paying into the SS disability fund for every one on disability. By 1987 the ratio had declined to 1 to 41. When Obama came into office it was 19 to one. By last June, it was 16 to one.
Ironically, Obama's reelection campaign could benefit from the growing number on disability.
To be considered unemployed a person must be looking for work, but a lot of unemployed people have become discouraged and stopped their search. Those who can go on disability are no longer looking for work; they're getting a monthly check (albeit small) and health insurance from the government.
Thus that rising number of Americans on disability is likely keeping the unemployment rate lower than it should be. But don't expect to hear much about the disability explosion from the president. That's one of his "achievements" he'll likely want to keep to himself.
July 24, 2012