CAGUAS, Puerto Rico—This mountainside town is home to a picturesque cathedral, a tobacco museum and a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Another defining feature: Caguas’s 00725 zip code has more people who receive a disability check than any other in the U.S.
Puerto Rico has emerged in recent years as one of the easiest places in the U.S. to get payments from the Social Security Disability Insurance program, created during the Eisenhower administration to help people who can’t work because of a health problem. In 2010, 63% of applicants there won approval, four percentage points higher than New Jersey and Wyoming, the most-generous U.S. states. In fact, nine of the top 10 U.S. zip codes for disabled workers receiving benefits can be found on Puerto Rico.
As Obama’s college classmate at Columbia, I was familiar with the teachings of our Marxist professors, Cloward and Piven. Following their strategy, Obama launched his original plan to distract America and overwhelm the system with Obamacare, cap and trade, the stimulus, extending unemployment benefits, card check, banning offshore oil drilling, suing Arizona for enforcing federal laws against illegal immigration, onerous new environmental and banking regulations, and even an attempt to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. We couldn’t keep up with all the socialist bills and proposals. That was precisely the point — create a crisis, overwhelm the system, and make our heads spin with multiple distractions. (more…)
Beck was talking about this today so people are e-mailing us about it now. I should be clear: The vote isn’t on whether to make Puerto Rico a state, it’s whether to “authorize” the Puerto Rican government to hold a popular referendum on whether it should become a state. From what I understand, though, Puerto Ricans don’t need any authorization from Congress to hold a plebiscite; they can do it any time they want. The fact that the House is nudging them — and the way that they’re nudging them — is what’s got people’s antennae up. With good reason, says the Heritage Foundation: (more…)