Barone: Soul-crushing dependency | WashingtonExaminer.com#.UMYoWKzAGdB#.UMYoWKzAGdB

Barone: Soul-crushing dependency | WashingtonExaminer.com#.UMYoWKzAGdB#.UMYoWKzAGdB: Kristof is writing from Breathitt County, Ky., deep in the Appalachian mountains, about mothers whose Supplemental Security Income benefits will decrease if their children learn to read. Kristof notes that 55% of children qualifying for SSI benefits do so because of “fuzzier intellectual disabilities short of mental retardation,” far more than four decades ago when SSI was just a new program.