[Rick Lee]

We all know the predictors of future or never breaking out of poverty - teen pregnancy, out-of-wedlock kids, brushes with the law, not graduating high school, etc. Those aren't ironclad and plenty of folks have had them all and still done well. But the one constant I see that is a 110% guarantee of lifetime poverty is going on SS disability. I run into a ton of these folks too. Plenty of them could do something, maybe not be on their feet all day, but something. But no, while watching tv game shows and sucking down cigarettes and malt liquor, they are bombarded by tv commercials from law firms promising to get their SSDI approved. AND, the longer the process is dragged out, the bigger the lump sum retroactive payment they get. It's really sad, but the gov't. wants dependents and SSDI will continue to grow like The Blob.