America: The New Welfare State
This week the Congressional Research Service released a shocking report that showed the United States spent over $1 trillion on welfare in 2011! Yes, you read that right – over $1 trillion on welfare programs in just 1 year. Of the $1.03 trillion that the government spent on welfare, the federal government had to foot $746 billion of the bill and individual states contributed the remaining $284 billion.
Since President Obama has taken office, spending on welfare programs has increased by 32%, and the Obama administration is continuing to encourage the growth of the welfare system by making it easier for Americans to be on our welfare system. Just this past July, the Health and Human Services Department surreptitiously removed the work requirement from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families rules, making it that much easier for American’s to live off the government without being required to do anything for themselves in return. This comes after the HHS removed the work requirement for food stamps in 2009, which prompted a huge spike in food stamp recipients!
In 2008, before the work requirement for food stamps was removed, there were approximately 26.8 million people on food stamps. Today, 3 years after the requirement was removed, there are 46.7 million people on food stamps. That’s a jump of almost 20 MILLION people!
So what do you think this new change in rules is going to do to the budget for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families? I can guarantee you one thing, their budget isn’t going to shrink.
A welfare system growing at our current rate is unsustainable. In 2011, the federal government took in a total revenue of $2.3 trillion, and of that revenue, the federal government spent $746 billion on welfare, or in other words, the government spent 32% of its income (our money) on redistribution! At its current rate of growth – funds spent on our welfare system will overtake our entire federal income tax revenue in just 35 years!
What’s more, is that the more people that are encouraged into the welfare system and discouraged from getting a job, as is the case with the new rules, less and less people will be paying taxes, which translates into less and less income for the government, and in turn less and less money to spend on welfare and other programs.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if any person or company’s expenditures continue to grow and its income shrinks – the outcome isn’t going to pretty. In America’s case – the outcome would be catastrophic and would send shock waves across the entire free world.
Regardless of who we elect this November, as American citizens we need to speak up and let our government, our employees, know that we cannot continue down this destructive path. Our government needs to take fiscal responsibility and make sure that the America we know is preserved for future generations. If we don’t speak up now, and continue our que sera, sera attitude towards our government’s actions, our country will no longer be the land of the free and the home of the brave – our country will be the land of the dependent and home of the poor!
