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We've Crossed A Tipping Point: Most Americans Now Receive Govt. Benefits (Happy Dependence Day!)
Forbes ^ | 7/02/2014 @ 4:45PM | Merill Matthews

Posted on 07/03/2014 11:57:08 PM PDT by quesney

Obamacare has pushed us over the entitlements tipping point. In 2011 some 49.2 percent of U.S. households received benefits from one or more government programs—about 151 million out of an estimated 306.8 million Americans—according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last October.

Currently, around 6 million to 7 million Americans who have signed up for Obamacare are receiving taxpayer-provided subsidies (though the administration’s numbers cannot be trusted, it’s all we have to work with). There are another 3 million who have signed up for Medicaid.

That means some 10 million Americans—or a total of about 161 million—are now getting government subsidies (though the final number might be somewhat lower since some may have been receiving benefits already).

Thus, perhaps 52 percent of U.S. households—more than half—now receive benefits from the government, thanks to President Obama. And Mr. Entitlement is just getting started. If Obamacare is not repealed millions more will join the swelling rolls of those dependent on government handouts.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: dependency; dependentsday; fundingtheleft; handouts; marxism; obamalegacy; redistribution; welfarestate
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To: Jim from C-Town

- Social Security is not a government benefit -

. . . It is a mandatory Pansy Scam to fund corrupt government politicians-insiders and government employee’s paychecks and employee’s pensions that is taken at gunpoint and returns only a tiny fraction of what a legitimate private investment would return -

- Eventually it will fail because American citizens will go the General Electric/Pelosi way and not allow the government to “help them”


121 posted on 07/04/2014 10:52:37 AM PDT by devolve (-Tell VLADIMER after my ERECTION I have more 90% more FLEXIBILITY - pre-1899 Colt SAA frames needed)
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To: Cyclone59
Romney was right about a lot of things, but got roundly criticized on the website for not being conservative enough, so the pouters stayed home and didn't vote. Now, that things are FUBAR, they are coming out of the woodwork to complain. As I have said before, we would be better off with a moderate republican than any flavor of RAT.

I voted for RINO Mitt and even contributed wasted money for his campaign. But, he ran a pathetic campaign. He should have doubled down on the ''47%'' remark rather than trying to explain it away like the wuss he was.

122 posted on 07/04/2014 10:57:30 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte (Psalm 14:1 ~ The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”)
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To: Kickass Conservative

Romney would have been EXACTLY like Obama.


That’s not a very bright thing to say. In fact, it’s just plain stupid.


123 posted on 07/04/2014 11:09:04 AM PDT by laplata (Liberals don't get it .... their minds are diseased.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Veteran’s benefits such as disability and retirement benefits are not in the same “bucket” as payments to the FSA (Free Shit Army).

These benefits are for service to our country.

Payments to the FSA are direct ransom payments by the productive to the worthless to keep them drugged, fed and housed in the slums in which they congregate.


124 posted on 07/04/2014 11:13:29 AM PDT by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: Jim from C-Town

Which is still a constituency for “More”.


125 posted on 07/04/2014 11:23:24 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (The GOP-e scum enlisted Democrats to steal the Republican primary. The GOP-e can go to Hell.)
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To: Ouderkirk

Doesn’t matter. The FSA outvotes you and me.

It’ll end when the money runs out.

Well actually the money has run out some time ago. they made up for it by stealing from SS.

Since that’s all gone, they are now making up for it via Fed printing money.

Since there’s no theoretical end to paper money, it will end when the resulting inflation destroys the economy and it will take an entire months worth of your benefit to buy a loaf of bread.

prepare accordingly, because on that day, it won’t matter if you deserved your benefit or not.


126 posted on 07/04/2014 11:31:17 AM PDT by delapaz
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To: redgolum; Tau Food

Well the terms “generation of grasping seniors” and “tantrums of elderly adolescents” kinda makes it personal, at least to me. I can with the same few keystrokes paint government employees as deadheads and goldbricks who wouldn’t last ‘till the water got hot in the private sector. They’re not worth near what they’re paid, let alone deserving of their fat pensions and taxpayer funded medical plans.

See how easy that was?

As I noted upthread, I and other SS claimants gave up something of value (money) in exchange for a future payment. It is a legal claim and until the law is changed, has standing. Just like anyone else who works for government in any capacity. They give up labor in exchange for a paycheck.

As for the “needs of those who are working,” again I suggest you ask some of the other recipients of government money to belly up to the bar, instead of calling down Hell on SS claimants only.


127 posted on 07/04/2014 11:33:24 AM PDT by abb
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To: abb

I suggest you quit worrying about who’s fault it is and start worrying out what will happen to you personally when:

1. The government money stops

2. Inflation makes the government money worthless.

One of those two things will happen. And fairness ain’t got nothing to do with it.


128 posted on 07/04/2014 11:42:51 AM PDT by delapaz
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To: laplata

>>>Romney would have been EXACTLY like Obama.
That’s not a very bright thing to say. In fact, it’s just plain stupid.<<<

Pardon me for asking, but do you have a reading comprehension issue?

I was being SARCASTIC, whish is why I added the “Didn’t you get the Memo” comment and /s Tag.

There are people here who actually believe that Obama and Romney would have done exactly the same things in Office. I’m no Romney fan by a long shot, but Obama is an entirely different animal. He could get away with murder, if he hasn’t already.


129 posted on 07/04/2014 11:47:34 AM PDT by Kickass Conservative (THEY LIVE, and we're the only ones wearing the Sunglasses...)
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To: delapaz

So the World as we know it is about to end? Then all this discussion is moot, isn’t it?

Perhaps, but I shall continue to participate as best I can until that time arrives.

My brother has told me the same thing you say for the past fifty years. He says paper money is worthless, yet he won’t give me what’s in his wallet when I suggest that he just give me that worthless paper.


130 posted on 07/04/2014 11:49:47 AM PDT by abb
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To: Tau Food; abb
Tau Food said: However, when this particularly large generation of grasping seniors finally dies off...

Obamacare is in place to fulfill your desires.

Tau Food continues: ...and quits squeezing younger Americans, the latter may be so sick of government that they may appreciate small government more than their parents.

Then the poor pitiful "squeezed" younger Americans (as if today's seniors weren't also squeezed) will be old enough for Obamacare to finish them off too.

Might want to be careful of wishing death on others. As the saying goes: "What goes around comes around".

131 posted on 07/04/2014 11:54:15 AM PDT by southernsunshine
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To: Kickass Conservative

My apologies. Yes, I missed the /s.


“There are people here who actually believe that Obama and Romney would have done exactly the same things in Office”.

And they >are< stupid. Management here even eventually ok’d Romney but I think that was because money for the FReepathon was not coming in and so many who were going to vote for Romney in order to oust Obama were banned. Money talks. IMO


132 posted on 07/04/2014 12:01:20 PM PDT by laplata (Liberals don't get it .... their minds are diseased.)
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To: redgolum

I think you have described the situation very well. But, the seniors have the votes right now. It’s just a matter of time, though. Hopefully, the people who are young now will be ready to reduce the size of government when they get a chance.


133 posted on 07/04/2014 12:57:21 PM PDT by Tau Food (Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.)
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To: abb; Tau Food

Ok, let me phrase it this way.

All those claiming some sort of government benefits were promised such by men long dead. Many of them (not all, but many of those on SS) had multiple opportunities (starting with Reagan) to reform the system. Most of them (maybe not you) said “ITS MY MONEY! I DON’T WANT ANY RISK!” Which is pretty much what you have done.

SS is not a payment, it is not a contract, it is (by legal ruling) a tax. I am sure you paid in a huge amount of SS taxes, as have I. I am positive you were told repeatedly that it was “your” money (never mind the law, that it is not your money it is the Federal Government’s money now). So when the various privatization ideas came up, many (again maybe not you) said “no thank you. It is to risky”. The looked at the up and downs of the stock market, and bet that the pyramid scheme would continue.

Except now, almost a hundred years in, we are out of money. Now the recipients of Government benefits (again, SS is not by law payment for any activity, it is a tax used to fund a benefit), are demanding by the point of a gun that they get paid. Demanding it from people who know that they will never get the benefit themselves. Demanding it as the military falls apart, the infrastructure degrades, and whole areas of the Southwest pass out of Federal and State control into various drug cartels hands.

As I have said. Everyone is fiscally conservative, until it is their turn. SS remains the single largest unfunded liability out there. We could (and we MUST) cut down government pensions at the federal, state, and local levels. We need to streamline how government operates. But at the end of the day we are looking at a $40 Trillion short fall. How do we pay for that? How do we handle the huge amount of people who depend on the Government for either a paycheck or a benefit check?

If what I have been hearing is correct, I fully expect the Fedgov to seize my (and everyone else’s) 401K. Which is something my grandfather warned me about. Already I have heard people talking about the “Subsidy” that is tax deferment from the 401K. Sooner or later, all those people who say “It is MY MONEY! AND I WANT IT NOW!” will come looking at me and mine for more.

So it is personal for me also. I feel for you abb, you were lied to. Never mind what the law said, you believed that SS was a forced savings plan, and are very upset that the con men are long gone.


134 posted on 07/04/2014 12:59:55 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: abb
Well, I'll say once again that I will not ask you to do anything. You make your own decisions. You point out that lots of people have claims against the government. I point out that too many people have claims against the government. And I expect all of them to point to the others. That's human nature.

I hope that the people of this country will someday deal with all of them.

I know that time and nature will someday deal with all of them.

135 posted on 07/04/2014 1:03:29 PM PDT by Tau Food (Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.)
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To: abb

Don’t listen to me, don’t listen to your brother, read up for yourself. Start reading history, esp. monetary history. Learn about the credit cycle, the federal reserve, the great depression, Mises Keynes and Hayek.

Then start applying the knowledge gained to current news and recent history.

At some point during this process you will absolutely freak out. If you don’t you’re not paying attention.

When does the game stop? I don’t know, maybe tomorrow, maybe past the end of my lifetime. I know the Roman Empire went on for centuries!

But most civilizations are not the Romans, and that’s not the way to bet. All I know is that we are way past the point of working within the system. The system is rigged.

Democrats are hopeless, Republicans are just a way to corral the opposition so that they have about the urgency and impact of a box of mewling kittens.

Cash your SS checks and enjoy them. You certainly earned them. Use them to payoff debt, buy things that will be worthwhile now, and after the crash. Use them to enjoy time with your family while you have it.

But prepare for the day when they won’t be there.


136 posted on 07/04/2014 1:06:53 PM PDT by delapaz
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To: redgolum

Sure, I’m upset. I’m upset all day, every day, over the huge scam that is government, that continually seizes an ever larger portion of the citizen’s wealth. That’s why I’m a FReeper and and spend all my time reporting news on my personal newsblog, and working for conservative local candidates.

But it is tiresome to get attacked by other conservatives who see the country’s fiscal problems primarily as a result of the “greedy geezer” lobby. Of course, that’s what the Obama crew wants, internecine warfare among conservatives.

Sure, SS cannot continue as is without changes. But I resent the hell out of being singled out “because you probably don’t ‘need’ the money.” That’s pure Marxism: “From each according to his means, to each according to his needs.”

We paid money, just like government workers put up labor for payment. Why not ask them to take a pay cut? Or better yet, why not mass layoffs of the government deadhead class?

Clean all that up, THEN we’ll talk SS reform.


137 posted on 07/04/2014 1:12:07 PM PDT by abb
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To: delapaz

I’ve read all the stuff you suggested. But I ain’t moving into a cave, or bunker, or whatever other kind of redoubt there is, and awaiting the Apocalypse.

I choose to participate in Life as it is. If all the Doom and Gloom crowd would get off their dead asses and participate in government, it could be properly reconstituted.

But they don’t want to do that. It would require thought, planning, and work.


138 posted on 07/04/2014 1:17:03 PM PDT by abb
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To: laplata

You got it. I actually put the /s as a afterthought. Post anything “Romney” and it’s like dumping Chum in the Ocean and waiting for the Sharks to show up.

Doesn’t matter anyway now that Obama is King for Life, but it does get everyone’s Blood Pressure up.

I wish we had an “edit” function here like they do on the Corvette Forum I Post on. Once you hit the Send Button here, you’re on the hook. LOL

BTW - Happy Fourth of July! Well, as happy as it can be with Obama running things.


139 posted on 07/04/2014 1:24:00 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (THEY LIVE, and we're the only ones wearing the Sunglasses...)
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To: abb

Reading comprehension not your strong suit eh?


140 posted on 07/04/2014 1:26:28 PM PDT by delapaz
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