Christian Science Monitor joins many other of today’s Associated Press papers in noting the surge of applications for disability this years, fueled by the high unemployment rates:
“Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding the Social Security disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding the Social Security disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.
“Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can’t find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs.
“The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants — many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved — and worsening the financial problems of a program that’s been running in the red for years…”