Free Republic

Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement. Even as the economy has recovered, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research using Bureau of Economic Analysis data. “The U.S. economy has become alarmingly dependent on government stimulus,” said Madeline Schnapp, director of Macroeconomic Research at...

~ Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that "a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year." And that excludes benefits from Supplemental Security Income disability checks. America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper - it is also the penny scammers at the very...

WORK! Maynard G. Krebs couldn't hear the word without yelling it out in shock. That same attitude is prevalent in DUmmieland. More specifically they want EXACTLY the type of work they want for big bucks. Ironically, some DUmmies are talking about the great jobs they used to have during the EVIL Bush Regime compared to the crummy (or no) jobs currently available under the Bamster as you can see in this THREAD, "I'm wondering if it is really worth it to go back to work..." So let us now watch the DUmmie aversion to WORK in Bolshevik Red while...

Imagine you are one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s top political strategists. The polls show your party needs a game-changer, something that will transform what looks like a losing political hand into a winner. “I know,” you shout, “let’s push for a large tax increase on the ‘fortunate few’ — the 2 or 3 percent of the population with so much money they won’t even miss a few thousand bucks. The other 97 or 98 percent will feel no pain, and we’ll be able to call ourselves deficit hawks when all those billions start rolling in.” On paper, this strategy...

Dear Mr. President: During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone. While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of...

In light of 40 million Americans on food stamps. Today in America we have two different classes of poor: 1) the American Indigent Poor; and 2) the Capable Poor or the “New American Poor” (i.e., “The Subjective Socially Dependent”). The American Indigent Poor are those individuals who are truly helpless and indigent. These were born with physical infirmities and birth defects who suffer physical traumas or mental issues and are unable to survive through this life without help from society. Some are our valiant veterans of foreign wars and others are rejected outcasts of society. These individuals need and deserve...

America has reached a tipping point in its citizens' dependence on government, according to a new report by the Heritage Foundation. 2009 was a “historic” year for the increase in American dependence on government, said Heritage's 2009 Index of Dependence on Government. The index reports the growth of federal programs geared towards providing aid to people in need. “Are Americans near a tipping point in the nature of their government and the principles that tie it to civil life?” wrote William Beach, head of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA), after describing the ever-larger numbers of Americans who look to...

WEST PALM BEACH, FL-- Administrative assistant Vicky Fonseca says she wants to work- but she doesn't want to work just anywhere. "I want good benefits,"Fonseca said. "I wouldn't want to work somewhere where I didn't feel comfortable." Some would say beggars shouldn't be choosers. But when Uncle Sam is paying you $300 a week with virtually no strings attached, job seekers can afford to turn offers down. And Fonseca has. "I had an offer but it was in Broward County," Fonseca said. "It is too far for me and the pay rate is not going to be enough." Career counselor...