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18 Stats That Prove That Government Dependence Has Reached Epidemic Levels

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Michael Snyder of The American Dream blog,

Did you know that the number of Americans getting benefits from the federal government each month exceeds the number of full-time workers in the private sector by more than 60 million?  In other words, the number of people that are taking money out of the system is far greater than the number of people that are putting money into the system.  And did you know that nearly 70 percent of all of the money that the federal government spends goes toward entitlement and welfare programs?  When it comes to the transfer of wealth, nobody does it on a grander scale than the U.S. government.  Most of what the government does involves taking money from some people and giving it to other people.  In fact, at this point that is the primary function of the federal government.

Just check out the chart below.  It comes from the Heritage Foundation, and it shows that 69 percent of all federal money is spent either on entitlements or on welfare programs…

Heritage Foundation

So when people tell you that the main reason why we are being taxed into oblivion is so that we can “build roads” and provide “public services”, they are lying to you.  The main reason why the government taxes you so much is so that they can take your money and give it to someone else.

We have become a nation that is completely and totally addicted to government money.  The following are 18 stats that prove that government dependence has reached epidemic levels…

#1 According to an analysis of U.S. government numbers conducted by Terrence P. Jeffrey, there are 86 million full-time private sector workers in the United States paying taxes to support the government, and nearly 148 million Americans that are receiving benefits from the government each month.  How long can such a lopsided system possibly continue?

#2 Ten years ago, the number of women in the U.S. that had jobs outnumbered the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps by more than a 2 to 1 margin.  But now the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps actually exceeds the number of women that have jobs.

#3 The U.S. government has spent an astounding 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs over the past five years.

#4 Today, the federal government runs about 80 different “means-tested welfare programs”, and almost all of those programs have experienced substantial growth in recent years.

#5 Back in 1960, the ratio of social welfare benefits to salaries and wages was approximately 10 percent.  In the year 2000, the ratio of social welfare benefits to salaries and wages was approximately 21 percent.  Today, the ratio of social welfare benefits to salaries and wages is approximately 35 percent.

#6 While Barack Obama has been in the White House, the total number of Americans on food stamps has gone from 32 million to nearly 47 million.

#7 Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps.  Today, about one out of every 6.5 Americans is on food stamps.

#8 It sounds crazy, but the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of the nation of Spain.

#9 According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps is now greater than the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”

#10 According to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, 43 percent of all immigrants that have been in the United States for at least 20 years are still on welfare.

#11 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid.  Today, more than 70 million Americans are on Medicaid, and it is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

#12 The number of Americans on Medicare is projected to grow from a little bit more than 50 million today to 73.2 million in 2025.

#13 Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years.  That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.

#14 If the number of Americans enrolled in the Social Security disability program were gathered into a single state, it would be the 8th largest state in the entire country.

#15 In 1968, there were 51 full-time workers for every American on disability.  Today, there are just 13 full-time workers for every American on disability.

#16 It is being projected that the number of Americans on Social Security will rise from about 62 million today to more than 100 million in 25 years.

#17 Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.

#18 According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, an all-time record 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program each month.  Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.

Many will read this and will assume that I am against helping the poor.  That is completely and totally not true.  There will always be people that are impoverished, and this happens for many reasons.  In many cases, people simply lack the capacity to take care of themselves.  It is a good thing to take care of such people, whether the money comes from public or private sources.  In every society, those that are the most vulnerable need to be looked after.

But it is a very troubling sign that the number of people on government assistance is now far, far greater than the number of people with full-time jobs.  This is not a sustainable situation.  The federal government is already drowning in debt, and yet more people become dependent on the government with each passing day.

The long-term solution is to get more Americans working or starting their own businesses, but the federal government continues to pursue policies that are absolutely killing the creation of jobs and the creation of small businesses in this country.  So our epidemic of government dependence is going to continue to get worse.

And many of these programs are absolutely riddled with fraud and corruption.  Just check out the following excerpt from a recent Natural News article

To understand the extent of this fraudulent waste, go no further than Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist who raked in $20.8 million from Medicare in 2012 alone. Dr. Melgen isn’t the only one bathing in the fraud of this crony government program. Medicare dished out over $1 million to almost 4,000 doctors in 2012, according to the new data release analyzed by The Washington Post.

 

Jonathan Blum, principal deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is calling on the public for help in identifying fraud. He says, “The program is funded by and large by taxpayer dollars. The public has a right to know what it is paying for. We know there is fraud in the system. We are asking for the public’s help to check, to find waste, and to find potential fraud.”

Instead of fixing their own problems, they want us to help them do it.

Just great.

And of course they always want more of our money to help fund these programs.  In fact, according to Americans for Tax Reform, Barack Obama has proposed 442 tax increases since entering the White House…

-79 tax increases for FY 2010
-52 tax increases for FY 2011
-47 tax increases for FY 2012
-34 tax increases for FY 2013
-137 tax increases for FY 2014
-93 tax increases for FY 2015

 

Perhaps not coincidentally, the Obama budget with the lowest number of proposed tax increases was released during an election year: In February 2012, Obama released his FY 2013 budget, with “only” 34 proposed tax increases. Once safely re-elected, Obama came back with a vengeance, proposing 137 tax increases, a personal record high for the 44th President.

The more we feed the monster, the larger and larger it grows.

And yet poverty is not decreasing.  In fact, the poverty rate has been at 15 percent or greater for three years in a row.  That is the first time that has happened in decades.

Barack Obama promised to “transform” America, and yet poverty and government dependence have just continued to grow during his presidency.

Not that anyone really believes anything that he has to say at this point.  In fact, one recent survey found that only 15 percent of Americans believe that Barack Obama always tells the truth and 37 percent believe that he lies “most of the time”…

A Fox News poll released Wednesday shows that six out of every ten Americans believes that President Barack Obama lies to the American people, at least some of the time. A plurality – 37% – say that he lies “most of the time,” while another 24% say he lies “some of the time.” Another 20% say he lies once in awhile, while only 15% say that he never lies.

So what do you think?

 

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Fri, 04/18/2014 - 16:37 | 4673859 NOTaREALmerican
NOTaREALmerican's picture

Re:  to maximize what each one can grab from the public till

You make it sound like manly Big-Gov is bad?    Who doesn't want:  Big-Ag, Big-MIC, Big-Road, Big-Water, Big-Airport, Big-Energy, Big-House, Big-OldFart, Big-OldFartHealthcare, Big-AntiDrug, & Big-PoliceState.

Now...  girly-man Big-Gov is bad, but not manly Big-Gov.

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 23:53 | 4674887 4 Freedoms
4 Freedoms's picture

Yes, over the past 30+ years, the gummint has done an admirable job of shifting income to the hyperwealthy from everyone else.  Bravo!

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 16:41 | 4673872 Accounting101
Accounting101's picture

Shorter Synder: "Hey rubes! Your assets don't belong to you." What a fucking oligarchical tool.

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 16:45 | 4673886 q99x2
q99x2's picture

I like to think that the Government pays for me to exist because of my exceptionalism.

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 19:03 | 4674275 zanez
zanez's picture

49% of us ARE above average...

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 16:56 | 4673919 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

"The main reason why the government taxes you so much is so that they can take your money and give it to someone else."

Actually no. All actions of government are a scheme or scam. The scheme to give money stolen from you to others is a scam to enable the pols and crats to skim off some for themselves and to buy support.

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 17:21 | 4673982 NoIdea
NoIdea's picture

Considering "socialism" is a dirty word in America it's amazing how socialist your country actually is in reality!

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 17:42 | 4674033 waterhorse
waterhorse's picture

Duh-Mint's Heritage stink-tank?  LOL.

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 17:45 | 4674041 spooz
spooz's picture

Hard to take something seriously that speaks of the transfer of wealth while ignoring the unprecedented increase in inequality.  The looting by the 1% while preaching austerity for the masses is proof that the South American model they've been experimenting with will be getting a rollout here in oligarchy USA.

"When it comes to the transfer of wealth, nobody does it on a grander scale than the U.S. government.  Most of what the government does involves taking money from some people and giving it to other people.  In fact, at this point that is the primary function of the federal government."

I would submit that the financiers do it (transfer of wealth) better.

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 18:22 | 4674151 evernewecon
evernewecon's picture

 

 

Don't confuse privatization with the

state unless you are saying the

billionaire with puppets selling to

weaknesses so as to slumlord for

the billionaire is the state.

 

 

 

 

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 19:42 | 4674375 Loucleve
Loucleve's picture

I have a few answers that will work for a while longer.

PMF.  MVF.

Tax free municipal bonds.  Of course, will need to watch them like a hawk and the game will end at some point.  But it feels really, really good to pay zero tax to Uncle Sam - like I just did.

Starve the beast.

Sat, 04/19/2014 - 13:39 | 4675735 Emergency Ward
Emergency Ward's picture

40% leverage, careful.....

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 19:41 | 4674373 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Yeah but think of the good news, once our wages are lowered enough to compete with Sanjay and his dirt floored house, we will be positioned for even more corporate increases in profits. 

So we got that going for us, which is nice.....

 

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 20:07 | 4674452 countryboy42
countryboy42's picture

Why do I keep clicking on these lists?! I could compile all of them together and come up with "Top 100 reasons this country is fucked up". Then turn it over to the forum for the other 10,000 reasons.

Fri, 04/18/2014 - 23:52 | 4674878 3rivers
3rivers's picture

we have machines for doing most of our chores now. so what is wrong with less human labor? examples are washing clothes, making SpaceX rockets and cars, whether electric or "gas". if the US government really had financing issues, the Euro would be a lot higher than 1.40... but it just ain't.  so instead ask why we don't have higher "Death Taxes"? why should so pass along wealth without offspring doing much at all to merit it?  THAT's dependence.

Sat, 04/19/2014 - 02:28 | 4675032 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

If you look at the breakup and you take out the excessive component of defence, there is very little that actually has anything to do with actually governing the country.

All you really have is a body pretending to govern when in fact it just steers contracts and other benefits to its politicians and their friends.

When interest rates rise or when unfunded liabilities hit the fan (whichever comes first) the whole farce will come to a bitter end with politicians feeding the populace some BS excuse.

Sat, 04/19/2014 - 09:00 | 4675233 Addibrux
Addibrux's picture

 The only thing playing by the rules will get you, is poor. I'll tap my pension in four years, at 55, after a 25 year career as an electrical engineer working in industrial automation ( puting humans out of work ). That said, I've always practiced something my father taught me in that one absolutely must have a source of non-taxable income, or you'll never get ahead of the game.

 I have two "hobby" businesses I work on the side for cash. Both of which I constantly have to keep the breaks on, turning down business to stay off the IRS' radar. Ive explored going legit with one of them, but the tax and regulation I'd face would suck nearly half of the productivity out of it. So I'll continue outsourcing all of the post engineering work to the Philippines for 10 bucks a day.

 Ive taught my children the same lesson. Enjoy whatever career you choose, but it's critical that they find a means to generate non-taxable income. Cash. I think it's clear to their generation, thanks to .gov, that rules are for fools.

Sat, 04/19/2014 - 09:17 | 4675245 d edwards
d edwards's picture

This exactly what 0bamao planned to do-marxist that he is. (see related article re: vanishing middle class)

 

 

Sat, 04/19/2014 - 09:19 | 4675248 d edwards
d edwards's picture

PS: With nearly twice as many people riding in the gov't hand out "wagon" as there are pulling the wagon-how much longer can THAT last?

Sat, 04/19/2014 - 10:26 | 4675353 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Welcome to the welfare nation that matches the socialist president. Barry's model was Europe.

Barry has brought Chicago to the rest of the country, bankrupt.

Sat, 04/19/2014 - 11:28 | 4675481 Talcott
Talcott's picture

"There will always be people that are impoverished"

 

...wrong.

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