Some Old Poll Results -- Great Prognostications!

Below are the results of a couple of polls that appeared here in September and October of 2007.

I will do a new poll after the Republican convention asking whom you think will win the general election, but the results of these polls suggest that no one should not put much faith in the prognosticating ability of the readers of this blog!

Who Will Win The Democratic Nomination?
Who do think will be win the Democratic nomination for President in 2008?

Joe Biden (0)	0%
Hillary Clinton (79)	65%
Chris Dodd (4)	3%
John Edwards (13)	11%
Mike Gravel (3)	2%
Dennis Kucinich (2)	2%
Barack Obama (11)	9%
Bill Richardson (2)	2%
None of the above (2)	2%
Don't know (6)	5%

Total Votes: 122

Who do you think will win the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination?

Sam Brownback (3)	4%
Rudolph Giuliani (34)	45%
Mike Huckabee (5)	7%
Duncan Hunter (2)	3%
Alan Keyes (3)	4%
John McCain (2)	3%
Ron Paul (5)	7%
Mitt Romney (11)	15%
Tom Tancredo (2)	3%
Fred Thompson (8)	11%

Total Votes: 75

Scurrying To Address Individual Cases, But Not Addressing The Real Problem

There have been a number of stories over the past year or two about the hardships faced by Social Security disability claimants. Recently, there have been media reports about action taken by the Social Security Administration in the cases of claimants featured in these news reports .

I have received enough reports privately from attorneys representing claimants who have been featured in media reports that I can say with some confidence that there has been a high level decision at Social Security to do everything possible to expedite the case of anyone featured in a news report. This is new. In the past, when I have had clients who were featured in media reports as best I could tell, there was no concerted effort to expedite things. If anything was done to speed up things, it was all a local decision. Now, orders are coming down from on high to make dramatic efforts to expedite review for individuals featured in media reports. Somewhat distressing is one report I received that an attorney whose clients were featured in a news article received an unsubtle threat of retaliation from the Social Security Administration.

While I am glad that these individuals are getting relief, this does not promote justice and equity. Most Social Security disability claimants do not want to talk with reporters. I have more compelling cases than any featured in media reports, and so does any other attorney with a full time Social Security practice, but those clients do not want to talk with the media. Even if all those with the most compelling cases were willing to talk with reporters, the media can only report on so many cases anyway.

It seems obvious to me that this response to media reports is happening now because of the political campaign. What we are seeing is politicization of Social Security -- or perhaps what we are seeing is evidence that Social Security is inherently political.

This is one of many things which suggests to me that Michael Astrue's horizon does not extend past the election. This does not mean that he will leave as Social Security Commissioner after the election, even if Obama is elected, but he is intensely focused upon the very short term and nothing else.

This is one more proof that the concept of Social Security as an independent agency is a failure.

A Democratic Theme

A major theme of this blog is the undeniable deterioration of service at the Social Security Administration. However, Social Security's problems are just one example of a larger issue which is being addressed by Democrats.

Thomas Frank wrote in The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule that conservatives actually want poor government service because to them "effective government [is] somewhere between impossible and undesirable." For them poor government service just "leads to "another sour truckload of the mother's milk of conservatism, cynicism toward government."

Barack Obama, in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, echoed this theme telling us that:

... if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And you know what — it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

Social Security Checks Delivered Early

From a Social Security press release:

The Social Security Administration announced that benefit checks are being delivered to Gulf Coast residents today and tomorrow, before the arrival of Gustav and ahead of the regular payment date. Nearly 400,000 people in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida will receive their Social Security checks August 29th and 30th, rather than on September 3rd, the regularly scheduled payment day.

SSI Monthly Stats

The Social Security Administration has issued its monthly package of statistics on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

OMB Clears Proposed Regs On Representation

On August 27, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared "with change" proposed regulations it had received from Social Security to "recognize entities as representatives, mandate the use of Form 1696 to appoint or revoke the appointment of a representative, define the roles of a principal representative and a professional representative, require professional representatives to file Form 1696 electronically, and require a representative to keep paper copies of certain documents ..."

Normally, proposed regulations appear in the Federal Register within a few days after OMB clears them, although the proposed new mental impairment listings were cleared by OMB on July 9 and have still not yet appeared in the Federal Register.

In Kind Support And Maintenance: Loans To Minors

I am not even going to try to explain why this matters. Those who know, know, and those who don't, probably aren't interested. From an opinion by Social Security's Acting Regional Chief Counsel for Region VII:

State law generally provides that a minor may enter into a bona fide loan agreement with an adult, but the minor maintains the right to disaffirm the agreement upon reaching the age of majority, absent factors such as the minor's own misrepresentations concerning his or her age and good cause reliance by the adult, or emancipation by marriage.

State law provides parents have a legal obligation to support their children. Therefore, a parent may not loan an apportioned share of household expenses to a child he or she is already legally obligated to support. Guardianship and foster care cases must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine if an in kind loan is proper.

Good News For One More

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Here's a good news update on one of our stories from last week.

A man who's been waiting more than three-and-a-half years for a hearing to determine if he'll get disability payments is finally scheduled to see a judge next month. Since David Hintz first applied for disability three-and-a-half years ago, Social Security has lost his file, transferred it around the state or just let it sit idle, according to Hintz and his attorney. ...

Here's what happened to Hintz: at the end of July, the Social Security Administration called Hintz's attorney to schedule a hearing. A judge would finally determine if the 39-year-old man was eligible for disability payments.

I am glad these people are finally getting relief, but is it all accidental that things happen for them just after their names are in the paper?