Mr. Mish needs a lesson in generalizations and what they are, along with being given a heaping dose of empathy, forced if need be!
The following paragraph was written as a comment to the following blog:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/03/unwilling-to-work-1-in-4-in-hale-county.html?#echocomments
Do not assume that because unemployment is running out that everyone who follows with a claim of disability is a fraud! My husband lost his job in Sept 2011. It was a combination of bad economy, and worse management. He’d made it through cuts for two years prior. My husband also has an inherited condition where he makes way too much cholesterol. With out medication and today’s technologies, he’d be dead. His father died at 34 of his third heart attack. His older brother died at 46. Many others in the family have issues related to this same disease. Loosing his job meant loosing health insurance.
Losing health insurance meant we could not afford all our medications. In Oregon, being unemployed does not get you into state health care. A year and half after loosing his job his chest started hurting with exertion. Keep in mind, the man had a 4-way (fixing 6 blockages) bypass in 2006 and went right back to work! Just as unemployment payments were running out, he was finally getting tests that found out he has a 100% blockage on one of his grafts. He’s not faking that! His medications make him dizzy, he can’t even tarp a wood pile or play with the dog without pain. And social security says because he is only 49, and has 13 years of education (not a degree), he can go and get a job! He can’t drive. He can’t run around a gas pump. He can’t go back to truck driving because he is insulin dependent.
You can have your theory, but there will always be those stories that don’t fit. To generalize a sector of the population as fraudulent is to show people your own lack of empathy and puts down those who are legitimately ill. Take into consideration also that the population is aging in greater numbers than ever before in history, and you’ll soon see a lot more troubles than a lot of people being put on disability. How about housing… we’ll dig ourselves out of that mess, only to crash again because of all the houses hitting the market as we age out and leave our homes behind. There is more to this story than you are willing to look at. To be fair, you should take it all into consideration. There is an awful lot of shades of gray out there in the real world!
Now, I’ve had my say, Mr. Mish!
