Matt Bruenig — Data Contradicts Washington Post’s Social Security Disability Welfare Cheating Story

The welfare-cheat model suggested by the piece is supposed to be that you have an adult who is on disability; they then realize that if they claim their kid is disabled, they can get more benefits; so they do that. But this model would predict the opposite of what you see in the last graph. The likelihood that a “disabled” child is in the same household as a disabled adult should go down as you climb the income ladder because there is no way to cheat welfare money when your household income puts you above the SSI eligibility thresholds. Instead, the likelihood goes up and up and up even as the incentives to spoof your kid’s disability go down and down and down.

Short article.

Naked Capitalism
Matt Bruenig: Data Contradicts Washington Post’s Social Security Disability Welfare Cheating Story

Kenneth Thomas — New Social Security Crisis Set for 2016

The House Republicans, in their eagerness to find a way to cut Social Security benefits, on Tuesday passed a new rule preventing the reallocation of monies between the Social Security Trust Fund and the Social Security Disability program. 

No, don't let your eyes glaze over! This is a big deal. The disability portion of Social Security, with 11 million beneficiaries receiving an average $1146 a month in benefits, is expected to exhaust its separate trust fund in late 2016.…

Middle Class Political Economist
New Social Security Crisis Set for 2016
Kenneth Thomas | Professor and Research Fellow, Center for International Studies, University of Missouri at St. Louis