While US Constitution and free market capitalism set the the foundations for American prosperity, it took a rugged, passionate, free people to build it. From George Washington to George Washington Carver to millions of other Americans, the United States was carved out a continent of forests that seemed to go on forever, fertile plains, vast mountain ranges and scorching hot deserts. Over time American frontiersmen and settlers forged a country that seemed to have all of God’s blessings in abundance.
Conditions were rarely easy for most Americans throughout most of our history. Coal miners spent 12 – 16 hour shifts in dangerous coal mines in which they sometimes couldn’t even stand. Frontiersmen built a homestead and a farm out of a thick Appalachian forest while fighting brutal winters and a tenacious Indian population. Slaves toiled for years at backbreaking work during freezing winters and boiling summers. At the end of the 19th century over 50% of Americans still lived and worked as farmers, a far more dangerous job than most people understand. The industrial revolution brought sweatshops and drove a thirst for steel, trains and petroleum.
One sometimes has to marvel that America survived long enough to challenge the British for independence and then go on to grow and prosper (mostly) for over 200 years as it changed the world. Were the Americans who carved a nation out of a continent somehow so different than Americans today? Were the Americans who crisscrossed a continent with railroads, telephone lines and highways so different than Americans today? Were the Americans who won two world wars and sent a man to the moon so different than Americans today? Were the Americans who invented the mechanical reaper, air conditioning, vulcanized rubber and the microchip any different than Americans today? Not based on DNA they weren’t. But that doesn’t mean they were the same. While the DNA of the American people today is no different than that of the people who invented the elevator or the light bulb, the American people writ large certainly appear to be.
Go back a little more than one generation ago and it seems like Americans were something of another species. They appear to be relative supermen. In 1970 there were 78 million people working in the United States. At the same time there were 1.5 million people on Disability Insurance. That means that one person out of every 53 workers was on Disability. Fast forward 4 decades and it seems as if the world has turned on its side. By 2012 the number of Americans working had risen by 82% to 143 million people. During that same period however, workers receiving disability insurance skyrocketed up 491% to 8.8 million. Today, instead of one out of every 53 workers being on disability, it’s one in sixteen! That number is particularly interesting because the United States of 1970 was a far grittier place than the United States of 2013.
First off, the United States in 2012 is a much different workplace than the one that existed in 1970. In 1970 fully 25% of the American workforce worked in manufacturing while only 30% of employees worked in the service industry. Today, less than 10% of the American workforce works in manufacturing while over 50% of workers work in the service industry. Given that designing a website, taking an order at Red Lobster or greeting a guest at the front desk of a Marriott is generally less dangerous than welding together various pieces of a Lincoln Town Car or operating a blast furnace at a USX steel plant, America should be a safer place to work. And indeed it is. The death rate for American workers in 1970 was 18 per every 100,000 workers. By 2010 that rate had dropped to 3.6 deaths per every 100,000 workers, a decline of 80%.
But of course work is not the only place where one gets hurt. Today, virtually everywhere Americans go everything seems safer. Cars have seatbelts, antilock breaking systems and a plethora of airbag options. Houses have GFCI circuit breakers in bathrooms and kitchens and smoke detectors in almost every room. Lawn darts are but a distant memory and towns across the country require helmets for bicycle riding and virtually every appliance and medicine comes plastered with book length warning label. At the end of the day, America has become a far safer place to live and work than it has been at any time in its history.
Somehow, however, despite that much safer America, the number and percentage of people listed as disabled and receiving disability payments has skyrocketed.
“ Since the economy began its slow, slow recovery in late 2009, we’ve been averaging about 150,000 jobs created per month… In that same period every month, almost 250,000 people have been applying for disability.” So the world has changed so much that Americans are now seeking disability benefits at a 60% faster rate than they are getting new jobs! That is a staggering statistic.
How is that even possible? Have Americans become weaklings, unable to stay healthy. Has some unknown affliction made us incapable of working? No. There is an affliction, but it’s not biological. It’s called the nanny state. From judges who rubberstamp virtually every claim they ever see to 34% of applicants who have musculoskeletal injuries, which conveniently enough cannot be detected by doctors, to outright fraud (more)(more)(more) and states seeking to shift costs to the federal government, the program is a symbol of much of what is wrong in America in 2013. Indeed, in some places 1 out of 4 workers (or former as the case might be) is on disability. The worst thing about this dysfunctional program is that the fraud keeps people who are in real need of help waiting in line, sometimes to die.
When government decides to play the role of caretaker and redistribute wealth from workers to everyone else, it should come as no surprise that many people will choose to jump from the working pool to the everyone else pool. For more proof just look at the food stamp program over the same 40 year period. While the population increased by about 30%, workers by 82% and disability by 491%, food stamp recipients grew by 1,000%!
The economics of the welfare state, including the “disability industrial complex” cannot be sustained. If the record of the last 40 years were to be repeated over the next 40, in 2050 the country would have 260 million workers supporting 43 million people on disability and 450 million people on food stamps. Those numbers are simply not sustainable, but you wouldn’t know it by the administration’s push to get more people to apply for benefits.
American workers and entrepreneurs have together created the greatest wealth and prosperity the world has ever seen. At some point the spirit that helped forge a nation out of a continent and dot it with jewels like the Empire State Building, the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge will reemerge and shout “I’ve had it and I’m not going to take it anymore!” American shoulders may indeed be broad, but the head which sits above them is not suicidal. At some point Atlas will shrug, the question is will it be in time to save the country…
See author page
50% of food stamps go to children. Redistribution of wealth? Well certainly that has been happening in the USA. The top 1% have had their share go up a lot while the 99% have had their share go down. 4o Years ago a man could work a 40 hour job with some overtime and have a middle class existence, especially if he was in a union manufacturing or construction job. Now it is common for a couple to have 3 jobs between them. American CORPORATIONS have posted record high profits under Obama. But these “job creators” have been able to increase their profits by decreasing real wages while demanding increased productivity. The surplus labor market means corporations control wages workers must accept what is given. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 are at record highs. If you are a capitalist the economy is doing very well, if you are a worker not so good.
40% of everyone leaving the US Army is putting in for a disability. Yes workers ARE now safer than ever because of the “nanny state” although one political party seems to want to cut Federal departments that ensure worker safety like OSHA EPA mine safety etc. 1 in 8 Americans receive food stamps. 1 in 4 children in the USA receive food stamps 1 in 50 Americans receives no other benefits other than food stamps. What state has the highest number of people receiving food stamps ? Texas does. Even though California has about 50% higher population Texas has more on food stamps,
@john:
Obama is the greatest President we have ever had when it comes to increasing the wealth gap between rich and poor. All the money printing to support his huge spending ways has inflated the stock market and inflated the wealth of those who hold stocks. The poor, who hold virtually no stocks, get to see their food and gasoline prices rise, while their incomes are stagnant. Yeah he’s the great income inequality President. Takes money from the fat cats to support his campaign and his party and gets increasing numbers of the poor hooked on government subsides who will in turn vote for the party that keep the subsidies coming. Real caring guy…
@john:
RE: Usual 1% crap
All of this is a non-sequitur. The author correctly points out that at one time we were a vigorous and robust society. Today, not so much. It cannot be denied that there are a huge number of people on social security disability. It is also clear that this rate of increase is unsustainable.
What the author also hints at is the cultural phenomenon: we are becoming a nation of victims, and victims don’t get off their ass and solve their problems. Instead, they just wallow in their victimhood. You reply perfectly adds to that argument: the 99% are helpless victims of the cruel system that only serves the needs of the 1%.
Thanks for your help.
VINCE
HERE is another POST from you,I like
and this one is very good, and different, and this analysis is the best to understand
the difference, which is so wide, I also think the culture coming from abroad not all lovers of AMERICA,
but more aiming at the changes they want in AMERICA is nefarious as much as killing the rooted citizens,
where for many have been push to share land with unfriendly neighbors always pushing
for more ownership, which have no same upbringing ,
like squeezing the fruits till only the dead pulp lie there, unused, and left to dry,
before disintegrating in the ground killing the roots of an AMERICA creative and joyful
of their potential to improve the futur, where no place cannot be unsearch and un visited.
there we are sad for seeing it and sad for those missing it,
sad for those who gave up fighting the lies, sad for those repeating the lies to protect their GOVERNMENT multiple un-important jobs ,
and angry for those trying to minimize the greatness of AMERICA, and so sad to see they hold power to continue the indoctrination of the new un-inform generation,
who have been told to respect their unfit destructive leader
John
how where they doing before the stamps?
didn’t they survived? sure they did,
because they had to think of making it with what they had,
and many got thinking that a job could be better,
even the lowest paid jobs was better, it push them to seek for the best of what they could do,
and you know many of them went up in the ladder because there was no coming down,
some even surprised themselves of how smart they had become,
because a job does stimulate a person to upgrade and as they learn the basic they seek for more, because it’s exilirating to learn,
did you ever watch a person learning something new, they smile out of pleasure to have learn more,
it’s so much fun for anyone, hi and low,
but if you vegetate in a ignorant zone, you will try drugs to learn how they make you feel,
they eat your cells one by one, you become a zombie with a faulty brain like the LIBS
and repeat after the leader’s words sequestration will destroy you, even that was his own idea
to have it,
crazy world is in it?
Yo John,
Your data ends in 2008. There is no date on the article that you link to, but it looks like it’s from 2008-2009, over 4 years old.
Try again.
Blather on about the ‘nanny state,’ while corporations control our legislation, our economy and our environment. Smart.
@John:
Yeah, and people like Shiela Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters, John Conyers (with the felon wife now doing time), Barney Frank (of Dodd-Frank fame) and all those Democrats with the I.Q. of Joe Biden, have nothing to do with legislation, right?
@ John #8… Care to Comment, on How Barney Franks almost Single handedly ….allowed the Entire Economy to blow? FACT! How about you Comment, on WHY the Democrats allowed him to even STAY????
Ah…back to Barney Franks, lol. Nice try, Hannity.
Middle-class Americans have been losing ground, as median household income dropped by more than $4,000 since 2000.
Part of this decline stems from a disappearance of middle-class jobs and an explosion of lower-paying ones. Some 58% of the jobs created during the recovery have been low-wage positions, according to a 2012 report by the National Employment Law Project. These low-wage jobs had a median hourly wage of $13.83 or less.
With a vacuum in Leadership, who is going to pay the coming bills statist are dreaming of?
Aw.. John…..YOU brought the economy up… I pointed at the main contributor to it’s unchecked collapse.. “whatsamatta”… did the TRUTH hurt you?
James.. excellent Question… Perhaps JOHN here, can answer it.. LOL!!
Hankster58
hi,
he will answer it like his master,
that is in reverse
bye,
nice to have you back
James Raider
we can see the GOVERNMENT JOBS, are getting less and less secure,
they will be disappearing soon,
this time it will be force on him, no matter who he want to keep them,
he won’t be able to get the money from CONGRESS,
we see the CONGRESS are getting the MESSAGE, and they don’t want to be blame by the people anymore,
time for words has pass,
now let’s see, action, and result we can touch,
@john:
My, my, how the uninformed are so………uninformed.
Looking at economic history might be a better pastime for you than in regurgitating the tired old lines from far left rags.
For example, since 1980, even though the actual share of income has risen for the top 1%, that same 1% has been subjected to the most risk during economic downturns, most often losing shares and actual income, while the bottom 50% has steadily increased in actual income, even while losing shares, and even when the economy itself turns sour.
What’s more, this has happened regardless of the actual tax rates in place. In fact, when the tax rates are higher on them, the top 1% tend to take in and increase wealth shares at a greater clip than, say, during the years of the Bush tax cuts.
Regardless of what leftist dribble you may recite, the trickle-down economic theory creates more affluence for everyone.
Quite true. However, one must remove the blinders and realize that even the current political leadership in DC allows corporate control and heavy influence into legislation and decisions in DC, and regarding our economy, and the environment. The only difference is which corporations are doing the influencing. In some cases, it’s the same guys, who’ve bought the Democrats just as they did the Republicans.
Ignorance, however, allows you to believe that your guys are more “pure” than the other guys. And you become blinded, or twisted, even, as you try to defend their actions against the calls of hypocrisy that rain down on their heads. Solyndra, anyone? GE, anyone? Warren Buffet, anyone? All three of those examples have made out like bandits since Obama started running the show, much like the famed Halliburton made off like a bandit when Cheney and Bush were in office.
Get the corporations out of politics, and the country will be a brighter place. Of course, in order to do that, you must remove the incentives for those corporate influences to involve themselves into the political decisions.