“A veteran may attain full compensation through individual unemployability or a schedular 100 percent rating. Individual unemployability requires proof of inability to maintain gainful employment and caps income near the poverty line, whereas schedular 100 percent imposes none. This creates two veterans with equal pay but unequal freedom to work to support themselves. The inequity is statutory, not moral — law itself creates a bifurcated system rewarding withdrawal for some and functioning as a tax-free pension for others.”
