Over the weekend we learned that the most indebted nation in the world (net of unfunded liabilities), that would be the US, just hit an all time high in foodstamp recipients, which when added to record disability recipients, and various other programs providing for free benefits and entitlements, means that just as the US hit a record Dow Jones (and total Federal debt) print, it at least had a record amount of welfare recipients to show for it. In this context it is probably to be expected then, that that other hyperdebtflationary Keynesian basket case, Japan, just reported that the number of people receiving entitlement benefits just hit an all time high as well. Because the one thing insolvent misery certainly loves is company. Preferably globalized company, just so when the global statist syndicate needs to threaten a record number of people with pulling their welfare privileges should it not get its now periodic taxpayer-funded bailout every several years, it gets a very enthusiastic and prompt global response.
From Japan Times [3]:
The number of people receiving welfare benefits nationwide hit an all-time high for the eighth consecutive month in December, totaling 2,151,165, the welfare ministry said Wednesday.
The number of households on welfare hit 1,570,823 — also a new record.
These represent rises from the 2,147,303 individuals and 1,567,797 households as of the end of November.
Households of recipients aged 65 and older accounted for more than 40 percent of the total, at 681,229, while households with ill or injured people totaled 297,923.
Meanwhile, recipient households that include family members who can work totaled 289,197, with the proportion of those households having grown markedly over the last decade.
Perhaps what is most surprising is that Japan, which has a population that is about a third of the US, has a "record" number of welfare recipients that is 2.2 million. In US terms this would be a measly 6 million, or less than the foodstamp recipients [4]of just New York and California.
So what does it say about the US when the country with the record 220% debt/GDP has about one-tenth the official number of citizens on welfare? And just how will America's ~60 million welfare queens survive if and when i) the time truly does come to pull some of the trillions in deficit funded handouts, and ii) inflation finally does arrive and costs soar, but not the weekly government check? Surely there is no need to be concerned - we are confident the central planners are way ahead of us on this one too.