NEOLIBERAL POLICIES HIT US SOLDIERS
NEOLIBERALISM is based on fraud, corruption, plunder and
nasty speculation & misappropriation of public money. Here one more case:
When work is punished and
grift is not, is it any surprise that, as The
Washington Times reports, nearly 60,000 triple dipping Veterans picked up $3.5
billion in benefits (collecting
their military retirement pay; and disability benefits from both the Veterans
Administration and Social Security too). The arrangement is legal, but
since everyone else is abusing the system, from crony banks to deadbeat dads to
squatting slummers, it was only a matter of time before even veterans decided
to dip, then dip again and dip some more. Sen. Tom Coburn, noted it was "hard to
understand," but perhaps the hardest thing to understand is
why it took veterans so long to realize we live in a world without
consequences.
As
The Washington Times reports, tens of thousands of veterans
collect their military retirement pay and disability benefits from the Veterans
Administration and disability checks from Social Security too, according to a
new report from the Government Accountability Office. All told, nearly 60,000 triple dippers collected $3.5 billion
in benefits.
The arrangement is legal, but
it raises questions about the generosity of the American safety net system at a
time when disability programs are already under severe financial stress.
"This report shows that,
like other government programs, there is little coordination between these
overlapping benefits, which increase cost[s] to taxpayers," said Sen. Tom
Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who requested the GAO report. "We should
fulfill our promises to the men and women who serve, but we need to streamline
these duplicative programs."
For decades, up until 2004, the
government clamped down on veterans taking both military retirement pay and VA
disability benefits. The Pentagon
docked retirement pay dollar for dollar up to the amount of their VA benefits.
But veterans groups argued that
vets should be entitled to both payments, saying the retirement money was
earned for years of service, while disability is compensation for
service-related wounds.
Under an intense lobbying
campaign, Congress changed the law so that, beginning in 2004, vets were
gradually allowed to collect both checks - though there are regular rumblings
proposing to undue the 2004 change.
Social Security disability,
however, is different.
Most Americans aren't able
to collect Social Security disability payments if their income is at least
$13,000 a year. But Social Security rules don't treat
military retirement or VA disability payments as regular income, which means
veterans can collect tens of thousands of dollars from the Pentagon and VA and
still get money from Social Security.
Mr. Coburn said taxpayers
should find that "hard to understand."
"With the Social Security
Disability Insurance trust fund set to run out of money in two years, the
report raises a number of questions about whether disability benefits are
getting to those whose livelihoods depend on them," the senator said.
In an official reply to the GAO, the VA
said it "generally agrees" with the report's conclusions.
Social Security officials had no comment.
Social Security's disability
trust fund is expected to run out of money in 2016, and some lawmakers believe
that cracking down on double dippers could help extend the program's life
somewhat.
About 3 percent of military
retirees collect all three benefits right now, GAO investigators said. Most of
them have a VA disability rating of 50 percent or higher, though just 17
percent of the disabilities are combat-related.
Of the $3.5 billion spent
in 2013 on the triple dippers, $1.4 billion came from the VA, $1.2 billion came
from the Pentagon, and $937.4 million came from Social Security.
As for the individual veterans, the
GAO identified 101 who earn more than $150,000 a year in triple-dip benefits.
Another 2,200 veterans earn between $100,000 and $150,000.
Investigators pulled seven
cases at different benefit levels for further study, and in all but the lowest
two, the veterans were making more as retired disabled than their salaries
would have been if they'd still been in the service.
A 54-year-old who retired in
1997 after 20 years in the military, who had lung disease, vascular disease and
lost use of his feet, collected $122,887 in benefits in 2013 — nearly three
times the $43,808 someone of his pay grade would have made in the military.
Meanwhile, a 59-year-old who
retired in 2004 after 26 years, who lost his feet, is blind in one eye and has
renal problems, collected $152,719 in 2013 — more than twice the $72,824 salary
of someone at his final military pay grade. Most of his benefits — $85,958 — came
from VA disability, while $46,396 was military retirement, and $20,365 was from
Social Security.
Since everyone else is abusing the system, from crony
banks to deadbeat dads to squatting slummers, it was only a matter of time
before even veterans decided to dip, then dip again and dip some more. Sen. Tom
Coburn, noted it was "hard to understand," but
perhaps the hardest thing to understand is why it took veterans so long to
realize we live in a world without consequences.
=====
RELATED ARTICLES
----
Criticisms
of Current Forms of Free Trade — Global Issues www.globalissues.org Such use and abuse of power has been there
throughout history. .... S. Brian Willson, a U.S. Vietnam War veteran, now a
peace activist highlights ...
----
Forty
Years Later, From Dictatorship to Neoliberalism. www.globalresearch.ca/ Today one sees that generation's veterans
sitting in the squares and in the sun ... people have long endured domination
and abuse, it was knowledge ...
----
From
Housing First to Chronic Homelessness: The ... www.slideshare.net/.../from-housing-first-to-chronic-homelessness-the-n... Ending Homelessness for Veterans
and Their Families 1046 views
====
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario