Posted on 10/05/2011 8:21:11 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
Families were more dependent on government programs than ever last year.
Nearly half, 48.5%, of the population lived in a household that received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2010, according to Census data. Those numbers have risen since the middle of the recession when 44.4% lived households receiving benefits in the third quarter of 2008.
The share of people relying on government benefits has reached a historic high, in large part from the deep recession and meager recovery, but also because of the expansion of government programs over the years. (See a timeline on the history of government benefits programs here.)
Means-tested programs, designed to help the needy, accounted for the largest share of recipients last year. Some 34.2% of Americans lived in a household that received benefits such as food stamps, subsidized housing, cash welfare or Medicaid (the federal-state health care program for the poor).
Another 14.5% lived in homes where someone was on Medicare (the health care program for the elderly). Nearly 16% lived in households receiving Social Security.
High unemployment and increased reliance on government programs has also shrunk the nation’s share of taxpayers. Some 46.4% of households will pay no federal income tax this year
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
That’s borderline amazing, considering that the story was published about 9 hours ago. I was clued in by a Tweet from the MacIver Institute. You?
Are Medicare and Social Security really comparable to Medicaid and Food Stamps? I don’t think so.
Just happened to see it while reading something else.
No, but the fact that the number of people at the receiving end is growing while the tax base is shrinking, is significant no matter what the nature of the benefits is.
I thought maybe we’d both seen the same Tweet, which would make it a little less surprising that we posted it at the same time.
Somebody said we are in this mess because the number of people who vote for a living outnumber the number of people who work for a living.
the welfare recepient, the military retiree, the unemployed, the guy on food stamps, the fed. retiree, etc....
not one will vote for people that would take away their money....
That’s a pretty succinct way to put it!
Very true.
And thus the reason why the establishment, media and welfare class hate the TEA Party. We want the hand-outs to end, but 44% of the population (Democratic voters?) have come to expect us to support them.
It’s a real mess, but we need to cut the apron strings now. Time for these freeloaders to carry their own weight.
Oh, and before anybody complains about “the children”, my philosophy is: If you can’t afford to feed, cloth, shelter and educate your own children, don’t get pregnant. Poor judgement and lack of planning by idiots is not my responsibility or concern anymore than my children are their concern.
I bet 2/3 of that 48% are from another country....
FWIW, everyone I know on the dole is a citizen.
Does my $243/month slice of government cheese due to military disability count?
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