And again, the Bible answers this question in like a dozen places. You are supposed to give a tenth of your income.
Certainly Jesus had statements like you cited there, which went even beyond that.
But I think from a holistic view of Jesus’ teachings, I don’t think he really demanded that everyone give away everything.
But you are supposed to at least give SOME fucks about your fellow man. You are supposed to help people who need help.
Well, Mormons do something like that, right? I don’t know if there are institutional equivalents in Protestant churches. Did the old ‘pass around the collection plate’ ever actually amount to much? Of course if you give of yourself by giving to the church, you have to trust that the church isn’t just robbing you for its own sake – which concern was one of the reasons there was a Reformation in the first place…
I don’t know anyone who wound up on disability that didn’t pay thousands to a lawyer to get it, and they had legit issues… as in they can’t really work. None of them are 39, they’re all 50/60s and voted for Trump because what they get isn’t a hand out, no sir.
Yeah, getting disability isn’t an easy thing most places. At the end of the day it really comes down the the judge. As with all people some are going to “go easy” on you, but most wont. It takes most people years to get disability. Unless you’re in a wheelchair when you roll into court your first attempt is pretty much guaranteed to be denied, which starts another crazy slow process (appeal) that… will probably also be denied.
The PCG agents help the potentially disabled fill out
the Social Security disability application over the phone. And by help, I
mean the agents actually do the filling out. When the potentially
disabled don’t have the right medical documentation to prove a
disability, the agents at PCG help them get it. They call doctors’
offices; they get records faxed. If the right medical records do not
exist, PCG sets up doctors’ appointments and calls applicants the day
before to remind them of those appointments.
This is an industry now. Get people off welfare, and the burden of the state, and onto disability.
In order for this to be a scam though, you’ have to have the physicians making up diagnoses and conditions. One person I know on disability I believe went on it at maybe 63 or so, and the muscles of her arms started detaching from the bones after decades of unnatural movements while working. If you ran into her in the street, she’d look like an old “normal” woman, but the pain of her arms just is evident… and they needed help. That doesn’t make it a scam though. Her memory is awful so yeah I’d call her the day before and day of for an appointment too.
On CNN just now, Trump supporters who love down near the border don’t want Trump to build a wall, but now if he does, they may have their own homes on the Mexican side of it.
Trump supporters.
Best typo ever!
Like Trump supporters would love near the border. Or anywhere, amirite? :D
I kid mr secret agent man monitoring the internet, please no extraction for this foreigner…
It’s ironic, because Trump supporters have no love, and are filled exclusively with hate.
Ok, there are millions of people on disability with cognitive and physical disabilities that do make it impossible for them to work. But, you can’t use a single anecdotal example to change the fact that in 10 years, the number of people on disability has doubled. How does that make sense?
Here is an MIT published study in an economic journal going through the available data and some policy proposals for changing the way SSDI works.
The long and short of it is, the rise can’t be explained entirely by the boomer generation aging. People over the age of 50 have been healthier in the US than ever before. Workplace demands have greatly decreased, with increased automation and technology. But with that, the job market has also decreased for the working class population, and you have many states with a significant financial incentive to move people on to disability off of welfare programs.
It is tough, because the overwhelming majority of people on SSDI need these benefits to get by. But, it is also an issue where I think a focus on getting work for the disabled populations is more important than getting them SSDI. That money could go into retraining programs, education, and reforming workplaces to make them more disability friendly.
The real issue is that the job market is extremely difficult for disabled workers, even if, by law, it shouldn’t be. And people with significant problems walking or with back issues, there are no desk jobs for them in the economy of 2017. They don’t have the training or education to land that work. Most of the rural areas that you see disability claims skyrocketing are where factories closed down, and blue collar workers, injured and some disabled from decades of backbreaking labor, can’t find work anymore, and qualify for disability.
It is a real mess, and it is only going to get worse, as the SSDI cuts further and further into social security benefits.
On the upside, these disabled individuals are able to vote the world into utter chaos, so yay!
Hahahahaha. The schadenfreude I get from these kinds of stories will never get old.
[quote]
According to Pat Bell of River Bend, she voted for Trump but never supported his border wall plan, and now she may have to get a lawyer because her home will no longer be in Texas.
Saying fences and walls don’t work, Bell said she’ll fight for stop it.
“Absolutely I would go to the people who are in charge and, you hate to say I would get a lawyer, but if it comes to that issue, you would,” she explained.[/quote]
It’s one of the few pleasures to come out of this catastrophe.
Are there any changes in industry practice that would make this less awful, or is it pretty much inevitable?
Maybe the industry incentives here are a bit messed up. Like a construction company is not around long enough to care if their employees are going to have their working life cut short, and doesn’t want to pay a cost in the present to prevent that from happening. But then you have an industry effectively chewing up bodies and throwing them on government assistance, cutting off 10 or 20 years from a person’s productivity.
One of the big pain points (pun intended) with construction and disability is that most companies operate via subcontracting. The bigger companies favor it because it keeps employees off the payroll, and it keeps them insulated from insurance and medical claims. Unfortunately, it makes the subcontracted company (usually one to a dozen headcount) liable for everything and makes them essentially piecemeal workers. These small outfits survive by churning through as many bids as possible and by hiring part-timers or off-the-books helpers. Safety is not a high priority for these subcontractor businesses.
Hmm yeah, turns out treating workers like crap without job security is causing a major issue in terms of disability claims. Use em up, toss em out. Let the government pick up the pieces.
Good thing we don’t need unions anymore, this is fine.jpg
Well, as someone who is part owner of a construction company let me give you a completely impartial view. :)
Most people get into the business young. Either it is something they are good at and enjoy (most finish carpenters are like this) or it is something they fall into (I would think most drywall, roofers concrete guys fit this) and they find out they can make a decent living doing it, especially when the economy is good.
Almost everyone who gets in thinks (I believe anyway) that at some point they will be a foreman or owner and their physical requirements will lessen, however not everyone is cut out to run projects or manage a business.
There are some jobs (drywall for example) you just don’t see older guys do. We have had at least half a dozen carpenters retire while working for us, and they retired on their terms when they wanted to (we are union).
I know, I’m totally torn… because the adult in me says, “We shouldn’t be wasting billions on a fucking stupid wall.” but the KID in me is going to laugh his ass off when this stupid bitch has to live on the mexican side of the fucking wall.
Many large companies don’t have their own crews because it would be hard to keep them all employed. Not every project requires every trade. Trades work a project at different times so you would need to maintain a constant work flow of jobs on perfect schedules to keep your crews employed.
And sub contractors who are good make a lot of money. They pay well and their workers benefit from it.
Now I admit we only do commercial work, and it is much different from residential work. Residential work is much more dog eat dog, for everyone involved.
FYI…there is currently an attempt in the state legislature t require residential pay to basically match union pay (federal pay requirements). It is estimated this would raise the cost of a new house in California by $20-30k dollars.