Disabled, or just desperate? Rural Americans turn to disability as jobs dry up.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2017/03/30/disabled-or-just-desperate/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.82ca6e99fa9d

The lobby at the pain-management clinic had become crowded with patients, so relatives had gone outside to their trucks to wait, and here, too, sat Desmond Spencer, smoking a 9 a.m. cigarette and watching the door. He tried stretching out his right leg, knowing these waits can take hours, and winced. He couldn’t sit easily for long, not anymore, and so he took a sip of soda and again thought about what he should do.

He hadn’t had a full-time job in a year. He was skipping meals to save money. He wore jeans torn open in the front and back. His body didn’t work like it once had. He limped in the days, and in the nights, his hands would swell and go numb, a reminder of years spent hammering nails. His right shoulder felt like it was starting to go, too.

[Cripplecreek]

Get taxes and regulations out of the way and men will return to finding their own way. The only real difference between rural and urban in this case is availability of jobs. Even in the best of times, jobs have become something we leave the rural area to do.

A bit more than a century ago my great great grandfather made his way in life without ever having an employer. When he had a family he settled into farming near Mancelona Mi. and during his winters he made and sold furniture made from lumber he harvested on his own property. You can't do that without government regulating and taxing it so much as to make it meaningless.

I've got an uncle willing to invest 6 figures into me running a business out of my garage. We've been looking at something along the lines of a UPS store but the regs are nearly insurmountable without UPS money and a blessing from the USPS. We've been studying it for months and every time we find a way forward we hit another wall of regulations.

I knew a mexican migrant family that when they became citizens and bought a house, they spent nights assembling parts for factories at home. Sometimes it was snapping wire leads into automotive wire harnesses and other times it was cutting felt circles and gluing them into lens caps for binoculars. Once a week pa Jimenez would go to town and get a truckload of parts and at the end of the week he would take back finished parts and collect a small check.

[XenaLee]

All of these cases of people getting onto disability over the past eight years need to be re-examined for fraud.   I find it hard to believe that such a "rash" of disability cases broke out under the Obama administration.  I mean, hell... it's not like it's a communicable disease.  Investigate and vet.  Throw anyone that is on it off that doesn't qualify as truly "disabled".  Add to that, a new jobs problem FOR the truly disabled. 

[truth_seeker]

People with very low IQs can start disability when children. I think 70 may be the cut off.

Which childrens does one suppose would be overrepresented in that category ??

[kevindavis007]

Get taxes and regulations out of the way and men will return to finding their own way. The only real difference between rural and urban in this case is availability of jobs. Even in the best of times, jobs have become something we leave the rural area to do.

A bit more than a century ago my great great grandfather made his way in life without ever having an employer. When he had a family he settled into farming near Mancelona Mi. and during his winters he made and sold furniture made from lumber he harvested on his own property. You can't do that without government regulating and taxing it so much as to make it meaningless.

I've got an uncle willing to invest 6 figures into me running a business out of my garage. We've been looking at something along the lines of a UPS store but the regs are nearly insurmountable without UPS money and a blessing from the USPS. We've been studying it for months and every time we find a way forward we hit another wall of regulations.

I knew a mexican migrant family that when they became citizens and bought a house, they spent nights assembling parts for factories at home. Sometimes it was snapping wire leads into automotive wire harnesses and other times it was cutting felt circles and gluing them into lens caps for binoculars. Once a week pa Jimenez would go to town and get a truckload of parts and at the end of the week he would take back finished parts and collect a small check.

Even back in the day the rural areas never had a lot of jobs.

[Cripplecreek]

Even back in the day the rural areas never had a lot of jobs.

Exactly, but people could make their own way a lot better because they didn't face the taxation and regulation we do today. There were considerably more jobs a century ago but they needed to do things local because a 20 mile trip to town every day was out of the question.

A lot of the jobs simply disappeared. My house sits on the site of the former ice house and that's a job that is gone for good. Seed cucumbers were a big thing here a century ago but the loss of the railroad sent those jobs to someplace closer to good roads.

Looking at our local history book I see my neighbor's great grandfather was one of those guys who did everything. He built the first dam and did all the stonework for the bridge and mill. He managed the ice harvest and managed migrant labor getting off the trains. He was a coon hunter and cleared downed limbs and trees from the roads using pulling ponies. He was also the local sextant (Grave digger)

[sneakypete]

All of these cases of people getting onto disability over the past eight years need to be re-examined for fraud.   I find it hard to believe that such a "rash" of disability cases broke out under the Obama administration.  I mean, hell... it's not like it's a communicable disease.  Investigate and vet.  Throw anyone that is on it off that doesn't qualify as truly "disabled".  Add to that, a new jobs problem FOR the truly disabled.

@XenaLee

I suspect it is more of a case of industries shutting down and all the young and healthy people leaving to find job,more than anything else. When the economy was booming and there were plenty of jobs even in rural areas,most of the people applying now were young,healthy,and working. The fact that they and even their parents were still working meant there were plenty of "down line" jobs older or injured people could do,like wait help in restaurants,drive taxi's,delivery driver,etc,etc,etc. When the economy tanked due to the asshat Bush Crime Family and their accomplices in both branches of the Dim Party selling out industries to Asia and letting in millions of illegal alien Mexicans to do the menial work for cash money,those jobs all dried up just like their knee joints.

The 40 and older crowd can't move away because they have no skills that wouldn't have them competing for illegal alien wage jobs,and nowhere to go. They have no cousins with rented houses that will let 30 of them sleep on the living room floor,and no desire to sleep on anyone's floor,so they put in for the disability most could have probably applied for earlier,but wouldn't and didn't.

[sneakypete]

Even back in the day the rural areas never had a lot of jobs.

@kevindavis

Maybe some places,but I have mostly lived in rural areas,and never had any trouble finding jobs until  I got old and all crippled up. None of those jobs are available anymore. Rural America is closing up shop because all the factory jobs like furniture plants closed.

I went to High Point,NC 5 or so years ago,and it is a freaking ghost town compared to what it used to be. All the furniture factories as sitting closed and locked up,and all those jobs are gone forever and not coming back. Yeah,High Point is a city,but a lot of those jobs were filled by rural workers who now have no jobs and no prospects of getting one. And High Point Furniture was known world-wide. Furniture buyers from Europe used to visit the showrooms to buy furniture.

All the hosiery mills,towel mills,and carpet mills are shut down,too,and no jobs are coming in to replace them. Perfectly good mills in excellent condition are sitting closed and locked up with no one interested in leasing or buying them.

In the big farm states,automation and illegal alien labor took all those jobs. Since the vagrant workers are only there for the picking season,there are no "support businesses" there to service them. Those jobs are gone,too.

[roamer_1]

Get taxes and regulations out of the way and men will return to finding their own way. The only real difference between rural and urban in this case is availability of jobs. Even in the best of times, jobs have become something we leave the rural area to do.

I think this has more to do with making narcotic pharm nearly impossible to get... No more candy... here comes the pain...

[kevindavis007]

I think this has more to do with making narcotic pharm nearly impossible to get... No more candy... here comes the pain...

I think the rise of Narcotic Pharm is a serious problem than the illegal drugs..

[libertybele]

Robotics is next on the horizon for killing jobs. 

[kevindavis007]

Robotics is next on the horizon for killing jobs.

Even farms will be automated too as well..

[Cripplecreek]

I think the rise of Narcotic Pharm is a serious problem than the illegal drugs..

I hadn't really thought about it but I do know a few people who are on disability and are prescription drug addicts. They may have had legitimate injuries at some point but its the drug addiction that made them permanently unemployable.

There are a couple of these guys that I call for cheap work on my car or help with construction projects. They just don't show up till they're broke and sober.

[kevindavis007]

http://gizmodo.com/13-fascinating-farming-robots-that-will-feed-our-future-1683489468

[libertybele]

I hadn't really thought about it but I do know a few people who are on disability and are prescription drug addicts. They may have had legitimate injuries at some point but its the drug addiction that made them permanently unemployable.

There are a couple of these guys that I call for cheap work on my car or help with construction projects. They just don't show up till they're broke and sober.

Drug addiction is a serious illness and becoming an epidemic.  We have those that are addicted to illegal drugs and we have those that are addicted to prescription drugs.  Neither should be considered anymore acceptable than the other; the only difference is, those that have a prescription aren't seen as committing a crime and those that don't have a prescription are seen as the criminals and the addicts.  Both groups are addicts.  IMHO, we need to take a look at what they did in Portugal; the decriminalized all drugs from marijuana to heroin.  When you are caught under the influence or in personal possession; you are given the choice of either going to jail or going through a treatment plan.  The success rate has been very good. The rate of deaths due to overdoses has gone down significantly. People are able to get the help they need rather than jail time.  I'm all for it. 

According to government data released Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 50,000 in 2015, the highest mark in at least 15 years. ... Deaths from synthetic opioids, including illicit fentanyl, rose 73 percent to 9,580.

Cause of death is higher among those who use prescription drugs at 45% v. street drugs @ 39%.


http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/prescription/abuse-international-statistics.html

https://news.vice.com/article/ungass-portugal-what-happened-after-decriminalization-drugs-weed-to-heroin

http://www.rehabs.com/explore/prescription-drug-abuse-statistics/

[Cripplecreek]

Drug addiction is a serious illness and becoming an epidemic.  We have those that are addicted to illegal drugs and we have those that are addicted to prescription drugs.  Neither should be considered anymore acceptable than the other; the only difference is, those that have a prescription aren't seen as committing a crime and those that don't have a prescription are seen as the criminals and the addicts.  Both groups are addicts.  IMHO, we need to take a look at what they did in Portugal; the decriminalized all drugs from marijuana to heroin.  When you are caught under the influence or in personal possession; you are given the choice of either going to jail or going through a treatment plan.  The success rate has been very good. The rate of deaths due to overdoses has gone down significantly. People are able to get the help they need rather than jail time.  I'm all for it. 

According to government data released Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 50,000 in 2015, the highest mark in at least 15 years. ... Deaths from synthetic opioids, including illicit fentanyl, rose 73 percent to 9,580.

Cause of death is higher among those who use prescription drugs at 45% v. street drugs @ 39%.


http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/prescription/abuse-international-statistics.html

https://news.vice.com/article/ungass-portugal-what-happened-after-decriminalization-drugs-weed-to-heroin

http://www.rehabs.com/explore/prescription-drug-abuse-statistics/

I'm just really blessed to have been able to left all drugs and alcohol behind without a look back. There was a time when I drew a line at sticking a needle in my arm but that was about it. Even my doctor knows I'm resistant to taking prescription painkillers as well.

It was only a month or so back that I actually asked for a painkiller to get me through a few days before I could get to a dentist for an abscess. It was a very low dose of hydrocodone that lasted for about 3 days till the antibiotic started doing its thing.

[sneakypete]

I'm just really blessed to have been able to left all drugs and alcohol behind without a look back. There was a time when I drew a line at sticking a needle in my arm but that was about it. Even my doctor knows I'm resistant to taking prescription painkillers as well.

It was only a month or so back that I actually asked for a painkiller to get me through a few days before I could get to a dentist for an abscess. It was a very low dose of hydrocodone that lasted for about 3 days till the antibiotic started doing its thing.

@Cripplecreek

Same here. Back in the 70's and 80's,I  never met a drug I didn't love other than magic mushrooms. The only one that ever gave me any real trouble was whiskey. The rest of them never really caused me any problems,and truth to tell,I was not/am not an alcoholic with a compulsion to drink. I did manage to lose several months due to alcohol,though. Last thing I clearly remembered was buying 30 or so gallons of white whiskey in milk jugs. Next thing I know I somehow managed to come out of the black out one fine summer day,and was surprised to find it was summer because the last I remember,it was fall. Had no idea where I had been working or what I had been doing,and didn't even remember buying the car I was driving. Or what happened to the one I had before it.

Soooo,I looked around,and said to myself,"Self,this is a pretty good first clue that you need to stop drinking",so I did. No meetings,no withdrawal,no urges,nothing. Just one day I was drinking,and the next day I wasn't. I still have an occasional cold beer after working in the yard in the summer,but I limit myself to two because if I drink three I am already a little drunk,and it's "Party TIME!". I have absolutely zero trouble with not drinking the third one,though. In fact,I haven't even drank ONE is several years now. I have a 6 pack in the refrigerator if I want one,and have wanted one after working out in the sun,but by the time I get in the house and cool down for a few minutes in the AC,I forget I even wanted a cold beer.

And willpower doesn't have a thing to do with it. It's all due to the luck of the genetic draw.

[DCPatriot]

For eight GD Obama years,....after TWO YEARS of getting unemployment benefits...millions of Americans claimed SS Disability benefits.

And to keep the numbers of the actual workforce, according to their math, below 6%, they took these unfortunate and/or lazy Americans and 'hid' them.

Record number of food stamp recipients too....to go along with the SS Disability.

Why look for a job?

Wait for Trump!   

The media did.   

[sneakypete]

For eight GD Obama years,....after TWO YEARS of getting unemployment benefits...millions of Americans claimed SS Disability benefits.

And to keep the numbers of the actual workforce, according to their math, below 6%, they took these unfortunate and/or lazy Americans and 'hid' them.

Record number of food stamp recipients too....to go along with the SS Disability.

Why look for a job?

Wait for Trump!   

@DCPatriot

The idea seems to be clear to me that the purpose behind all this crap,and everything happens for a purpose,is to use stealth methods to get people to become dependent on the government.

You have to admit,you just never hear anybody ever complain about getting "too much free stuff".

[Sanguine]

Even farms will be automated too as well..

Many of them already are to a great extent.  Tractors have GPSs and know how much of what to deposit where.

[roamer_1]

I think the rise of Narcotic Pharm is a serious problem than the illegal drugs..

It may well be - but it kept a whole lot of people vertical and carrying on.
I am by no means an advocate, but it is what it is.