The federal government is absolutely drowning in debt. So why don’t our politicians just explain to the American people that we need to start cutting back and reducing the size of some of these programs? Well, if any of our politicians try to do that they won’t get elected next time around. The truth is that the American people are deeply addicted to government money. Once you become addicted to getting a government check in the mail, it can be very difficult to give that up. There are some that get trapped in a life of government dependence for years or even decades. (Of course, those who are promising all the free stuff will get all the votes from the addicts.) But just like we saw in Greece, a day of reckoning comes eventually.
The following are 16 statistics which show that the number of Americans dependent on the government is at an all-time high….
#1 According to the Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that gets direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
#2 The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.
#3 The number of Americans receiving Social Security disability benefits has increased by 10 percent since Barack Obama first took office.
#4 Back in 1990, the federal government accounted for 32 percent of all health care spending in America. Today, that figure is up to 45 percent and it is projected to surpass 50 percent very shortly.
#5 The number of Americans on food stamps recently hit a new all-time high. It has increased by 3 million since this time last year and by more than 14 million since Barack Obama first entered the White House.
#6 Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps. This is unprecedented in American history.
#7 In 2010, 42 percent of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps.
#8 Back in 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. In 2010, government transfer payments accounted for 18.4% of all income, which was a new all-time high.
#9 By the end of 2011, approximately 55 million Americans received a total of approximately 727 billion dollars in Social Security benefits. As the retirement crisis becomes much worse, that dollar figure is projected to absolutely skyrocket.
#10 According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security system paid out more in benefits than it received in payroll taxes in 2010. That was not supposed to happen until at least 2016.
#11 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#12 The U.S. government now says that the Medicare trust fund will run out five years faster than previously anticipated.
#13 The total cost of just three federal government programs – the Department of Defense, Social Security and Medicare – exceeded the total amount of taxes brought in during fiscal 2010 by 10 billion dollars.
#14 It is being projected that entitlement spending by the federal government will nearly double by the year 2050.
#15 Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.
#16 When you total it all up, American households are now receiving more money directly from the federal government than they are paying to the government in taxes.
There will come a time when the federal government will not be able to steal 150 million dollars an hour from our children and our grandchildren. There will come a time when there will not be enough money for all of these growing social programs.
So once the government checks stop rolling in, what is going to happen then?
see original article here.
