Jared Bernstein:Had a rousing debate on the Kudlow show last night with Larry and Jimmy Pethokoukis (aka Jimmy P) haranguing me about makers/takers. Jimmy went on a rant about all the fakers on the Social Security Disability rolls ...Conservatives haven't gotten over their November loss, and have eagerly adopted Mitt Romney's characterization that it was about "gifts," with the government gifting the "takers" the hard-earned dollars of the "makers." It's an odd frame, in which conservatives accuse over half of America of being moochers. Not sure how that helps them win, but it is what it is.
As part of that, the Right has suddenly gotten a bug up its ass about SSI, as the issue morphs into the new "welfare queen." But like anything else having to do with federal benefits, guess who is doing the mooching?
Of the 15 states that have more than seven percent of the population on disability, 10 are Red states. The two states with the biggest percentage of the population on disability'Kentucky and West Virginia'are both VERY Red at the federal level. And thus continues the greatest of modern political ironies'if Republicans got their way and drowned the federal government in a bathtub, it would be Republicans who suffered most.
How's that for "gifts"?
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