Crises Are Scarce And None To Be Found . . .

It turns out that the urgent need to deal with a shortfall in the Social Security disability trust fund may not be much of a crisis after all. For example, the number of people getting disability has dropped dramatically. It is no surprise that this drop matches an improvement in the economy. The number swelled after the economy fell apart in 2008-2009. But, as the economy recovers and more people can find work, the number of disability beneficiaries is dropping.  The increases that have occurred are tied to mundane demographics. Principle among these is the aging of the work force. We are also seeing the effects of women coming into the work place. Many of the distaff workers are getting to the age where they can no longer work.   The Social Security Trustees knew all this. They anticipated it. The short fall would disappear in a moment if Social Security could simply reallocate funds between retirement and disability.  But the House GOP, playing politics with people’s lives, won’t go along.  They see a phantom crisis that they can exploit to engage in crass social engineering. It’s like the Grinch finding out that reindeer are scarce. So are crises. But, as with the Grinch, you can always make one, instead.