The ratio of Americans working full-time to those collecting disability has shrunk radically, with the latest evidence showing that the number of Americans on disability has reached a record high. 

In January, 8,830,026 Americans received disability payments, while in December 8,827,795 payments were made. Every month for the last 16 years, the number of disability payments has grown.

The ratio of those working to those collecting has diminished in frightening fashion: in December 1968, the ratio was roughly 51 full-time working Americans for every person collecting disability; in January 1997, the figure was 24 to 1; in January 2013, the ratio plummeted to 13 to 1.