Memorial Day 2019

Why Let The Facts Stand In The Way Of The Story You Want To Present?

     From National Public Radio:

During and after the Great Recession, people turned to disability rolls in large numbers to make ends meet. This accelerated what had been going on for a generation, as the federal government's disability insurance program saw steady growth.

But now, for the first time in decades, the disability rolls are shrinking. More people with disabilities are returning to work and holding on to their jobs. With unemployment at a nearly 50-year low, companies are struggling to find workers. And that means people who had trouble finding a job in the past are suddenly in demand. That includes people with disabilities. ...

It's still unusual for people to leave the disability program and return to work. Less than 1% of recipients do so each year. But the numbers have been growing as the job market has improved. In 2017 more than 51,000 people traded disability checks for paychecks, up from about 32,000 four years earlier. ...

At the same time, aging baby boomers are moving from disability into retirement, and the government has made it harder to qualify for disability benefits. ...

When jobs evaporated during the Great Recession, many people turned to disability as a kind of de facto unemployment insurance. By 2013, nearly 1 out of every 4 workers in parts of Alabama was collecting a disability check. ...

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     NPR presents it as a fact that Americans are leaving Social Security disability benefits to go to work but then presents evidence that, in fact, very few people are leaving Social Security disability to go to work. There's been an increase but it has had only a trivial effect. They then present it as an established fact that during the Great Recession people turned to disability benefits as "de facto unemployment insurance" with no proof. Their own graphic demonstrates there's been almost no change in the labor force participation rate by disabled people over the years which completely undermines the story they're presenting. It's like they gathered the evidence about what happened and then decided to ignore it in favor of the simplistic story they wanted to present.

     I mean, just look at their chart! How do you look at that and then say that disabled people are streaming back to work?

At Least He Had A Good Reason

     From the Sacramento Bee:

A 97-year-old Arizona woman was last seen in December 2018 — and now local authorities have figured out where she went.

Daniel Shannon, 66, buried his mother Leonie Shannon in the backyard of a San Tan Valley home after the woman died on Dec. 21 rather than reporting his mother’s death, according to a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office news release. That meant that he could keep collecting his mother’s VA and Social Security benefits even though she had died, deputies said.

Shannon was arrested Wednesday on charges of fraud and concealment of a body, though he could face further charges in the ongoing investigation, deputies said.

“Shannon told detectives that he needed to keep getting the benefits to help pay for the patent on his invention,” authorities said.

Asked what the patent was for, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Navideh Forghani wrote “here is the invention” in an email to McClatchy and shared a link to a 2008 news article with the title “Man invents self-closing toilet.”

That article in the Loveland, Colorado, Herald-Reporter said that Shannon “created a self-closing, self-contained toilet seat, the Smart Lid, which is powered by kinetic energy from lifting the lid, requires no electricity and can be installed like any standard toilet seat.” ...

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article230757574.html#storylin

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article230757574.html#storylink=cp

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article230757574.html#storylink=cpy

On This Day In History

Benjamin Cardozo, author of Helvering v. Davis

     On this day in 1937 the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Social Security Act.

Black Nomination Advances

     The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously yesterday to report out favorably the nomination of David Black to become the Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. I have no idea what the schedule will be for consideration by the entire Senate of this nomination or that of Andrew Saul to become Commissioner of Social Security. That's up to the Senate Majority Leader.

Black Nomination Advances

     The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a meeting today to consider reporting out the nomination of David Black to become Deputy Commissioner of Social Security.

Resumption Of No Match Letters

     From the New York Times:

The Trump administration is notifying tens of thousands of employers that the names of some of their employees do not match their Social Security numbers, a move that is forcing businesses across the country to brace for the loss of thousands of workers who lack legal status.

The Social Security Administration has mailed “no-match letters” to more than 570,000 employers since March, sending shock waves through the hospitality, construction and agriculture industries, which rely heavily on undocumented workers. The letters have left many employers conflicted, uncertain whether to take action that could result in losing workers or to risk fines down the road. ...

“There is a high level of anxiety over these no-match letters,’’ said Angelo Amador, regulatory counsel at the National Restaurant Association, which represents about one million food-service establishments. He said the association has been barraged with emails and phone calls from concerned companies. ...

The government officially suspended the use of no-match letters in 2012, although the practice had actually been discontinued years earlier, after the government faced litigation. The resumption appears to be a response to the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order signed by President Trump to protect American workers and reduce illegal immigration. ...

Mark Hinkle, the Social Security Administration’s acting press secretary, did not respond to a question about whether the administration was sharing its data with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. ...

That New Obesity Ruling

     It's hard to evaluate the new Social Security Ruling on the evaluation of obesity on its face. It's only precise when it sets forth what Social Security won't do -- find any particular level of obesity to even be a severe impairment much less an impairment that significantly affects function or exacerbates the effects of other impairments such as osteoarthritis. This is the sort of thing that's standard in these Rulings. The agency wants to say something on a subject but also wants to be very sure that no one can say that the agency has established a standard that it can be accused of not having followed.

     To find the real intent of this Ruling, you have to contrast it to its predecessor, Social Security Ruling 02-01p. When you do, you notice a couple of things that were in 02-01p that didn't make it into 19-2p. The old Ruling specifically said that failure to follow prescribed treatment would rarely, if ever, be grounds for denying a claim based upon disability. That language didn't make it into the new Ruling. Also, the old Ruling said that "... if the obesity is of such a level that it results in an inability to ambulate effectively, as defined in sections 1.00B2b or 101.00B2b of the Listings, it may substitute for the major dysfunction of a joint(s) ... and we will then make a finding of medical equivalence." Again, that language didn't make it into the new Ruling. 
     The problem with the old Ruling is that it established standards that the agency could be accused of not having followed. They couldn't have that so the Ruling was changed.