That’s so true about the disability scams. In the ‘90s after welfare reform went into effect, a friend’s sister who had never worked had a problem: Her kids were entering their teens. The social worker coached her about how to get onto disability by claiming she was too depressed to work. My friend was annoyed about this because her sister lived in a beautiful apartment (Section 8) while she was working one full time and one part time job to scrape by.
My neighbor’s daughter who got pregnant and dropped out of high school was also “too depressed to work” when her kids were taken away from her for neglect/drug use. I would see her on her parents’ deck sucking down beers and smoking cigarettes while she laughed her head off. She was not too depressed to party and otherwise enjoy her life among the Taxpayer Funded Leisure Class.
I still wonder to what extent welfare reform was a success and how much of it was really a transfer of the burden to disability.
I don’t think most people scam the system, but there is definitely a block of people who do, and it creates ill will towards those who do need temporary assistance.
The thing is, I have the utmost compassion for those in need. I also recognize that if you take away all the benefits the government gives you precisely when an individual finds work again, you are dissuading them from entering the job market.
I wish legislators would create a tiered/stepped plan, so that individuals and families could get back on their feet before they drop them from the whole benefits package. They could do this for up to three years in my mind, depending on market factors.