Something stuck me when I first listened to this: there was a little anecdote about how one of the radio producer's co-workers had an injured back, but continued to work at his office job with relatively little impact on his performance. The same kind of injury would be career-ending for someone who's primary job skills are in a field that involved manual labor (e.g., welder, plumber, or one of the many oil-extraction jobs). The growth of disability claims is often characterized as a case of people gaming the system to extract handouts from the government. But maybe what is happening is we're seeing aging boomers and gen-xers who work as manual laborers, and who's bodies are finally breaking down to the point that they can no-longer function at their jobs. That seems like genuine disability to me, and so isn't it appropriate for them to use these government services?
Do you have personal experience with this? For example I know someone on disability who used to sell cars, that hunts every day. Is hunting easier on your body then selling cars? I don't think so, but it is likely more fun.
Yeah one of the big aha things for me was how the states are hiring companies to help people get onto disabilities as they are a federal responsibility.
That and how many who knows the system acknowledges that many really have no hope besides getting onto disabilities.