http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com
A higher percentage of the
American population is receiving government benefits than ever before.
Yes, there have always been poor people that have needed our assistance, but
what does it say about our economy that the number of Americans dependent on
the government is at an all-time high? Every night on the evening news we
are told that the economy is improving,
and Barack Obama is endlessly giving speeches
about the "economic recovery" that is supposedly underway. But
that is not the reality on the ground for those on the bottom rungs of the
income ladder in America. People are really hurting out there, and the
number of Americans that are turning to the government for financial assistance
just continues to increase. Yes, we should always have a "safety net",
but right now our "safety net" is becoming massively overloaded as
millions more Americans jump on to it every single year. What all of
these impoverished Americans really need are jobs, but the U.S. Congress and
the past several administrations have been systematically killing job growth in
America. So unfortunately the number of poor Americans is going to
continue to rise, and that is really bad news for a nation that is already
drowning in debt.
Some people out there want to
blame the poor for the statistics that you are about to read, but that is a
mistake. Yes, there are a lot of people out there that are abusing the
system, and that needs to be stopped.
But many Americans that are
dependent on the government are in that situation because there simply are not
enough jobs in this country.
And unfortunately, the Obama
administration and the U.S. Congress continue to pursue the same job-killing
policies that have gotten us into this mess in the first place. So
millions of Americans that have learned to survive as government dependents are
not being given the opportunity to break out of that cycle. When there is
a shortage of decent jobs, it is easy to give up. Many tend to become
more and more comfortable being dependent on the government as time goes by.
Once you become addicted to
getting a government check in the mail, it can be very difficult to give that
up. There are some that get trapped in a life of government dependence
for years or even decades.
The following are 16
statistics which show that the number of Americans dependent on the government
is at an all-time high....
#1 According to the Census Bureau, 49 percent
of all Americans live in a home that gets direct monetary benefits from the
federal government. Back in 1983, less than
a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct
monetary benefits from the federal government.
#2 The amount of money that the federal government gives directly
to Americans has increased by 32 percent
since Barack Obama entered the White House.
#3 The number of Americans receiving Social Security disability
benefits has increased by 10 percent
since Barack Obama first took office.
#4 Back in 1990, the federal government accounted for 32 percent
of all health care spending in America. Today, that figure is up to 45 percent
and it is projected to surpass 50 percent
very shortly.
#5 The number of Americans on food stamps recently hit a new
all-time high. It has increased by 3 million since this
time last year and by more than 14 million since Barack Obama first entered the
White House.
#6 Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four
American children is on food stamps. This is unprecedented in American
history.
#7 In 2010, 42 percent
of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps.
#8 Back in 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of
all income. In 2010, government transfer payments accounted for 18.4% of
all income, which was a new all-time high.
#9 By the end of 2011, approximately 55 million Americans received
a total of approximately 727
billion dollars in Social Security benefits. As the retirement crisis becomes
much worse, that dollar figure is projected to absolutely skyrocket.
#10 According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Social
Security system paid out more in benefits than it received in payroll
taxes in 2010. That was not supposed to happen until at
least 2016.
#11 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on
Medicaid. Today, one out
of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a
whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16
million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#12 The U.S. government now says that the Medicare trust fund will
run out five
years faster than previously anticipated.
#13 The total cost of just three federal government programs - the
Department of Defense, Social Security and Medicare - exceeded the total amount
of taxes brought in during fiscal 2010 by 10
billion dollars.
#14 It is being projected that entitlement spending by the federal
government will
nearly double by the year 2050.
#15 Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for
about 24 percent
of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.
#16 When you total it all up, American households are now receiving
more money directly from the federal government than they are paying to the government in taxes.
Once again, I am not blaming
the poor. Almost all of us know of someone that is on government
assistance. Most of them are not dependent on the government because they
are lazy or because they want to cheat the system. Most of them have just
had their dreams crushed by this horrible economy
and need a helping hand.
It is incredible how anyone
can run around claiming that the U.S. economy is heading in the right direction
with all of this going on.
Yes, things are going fairly
well for the boys and girls down on Wall Street, but for the vast majority of
Americans things are looking quite bleak.
For example, things have
gotten so bad that the state of Florida is actually considering using ballparks
and sports stadiums as shelters for the homeless.
But when it comes to so many
people being financially dependent on the federal government, there is a major
problem.
The problem is that the
federal government is absolutely drowning in debt.
So why don't our politicians
just explain to the American people that we need to start cutting back and
reducing the size of some of these programs?
Well, if any of our
politicians try to do that they won't get elected next time around.
The truth is that the American
people are deeply addicted to government money.
Any politician that proposes
significant cuts to Social Security or Medicare is a goner.
Every poll or survey that is
done on this subject shows that the American people are overwhelmingly
against cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare.
So politicians will just keep spending money
like there is no tomorrow, and the American people will just keep sending them
back to Washington.
But just like we saw in
Greece, a day of reckoning comes eventually.
There will come a time when
the federal government will not be able to steal 150 million dollars an
hour from our children and our grandchildren.
There will come a time when
there will not be enough money for all of these growing social programs.
So once the government checks
stop rolling in, what is going to happen then?