Benefits: Well, It Was Fun While It Lasted

Americans receiving monthly federal government benefits (148 million) exceeds the number of full-time workers in the private sector (86 million) by 62 million. That means that the number of people that are taking money out of the system is greater than the number of people that are putting money into the system. And that situation cannot go on forever. The federal budget is structured around entitlement programs – and they increasingly don’t leave room for much else.

As a percentage, benefits (what the government calls entitlements) such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care consumed 49 percent of all federal government spending. And income security and other benefits consumed another 20 percent. The percentage spent on National Defense was only 18 percent. National defense has been cut, while the major entitlements picked up an even larger percentage of tax expenditures. Interest on the (ever growing) national debt accounted for 6 percent. K-12 Education got a whopping 1 percent.

Nobody does it better than the U.S. government when it comes to wealth transfer. Approximately 108.6 million US citizens have become completely addicted to government money, and are on one or more government benefits programs. For example:

• 82.5 million people receive Medicare benefits
• 49.1 million people receive food stamps
• 23.2 million people receive WIC benefits
• 20.2 million people receive Federal Supplemental Security Income
• 13.4 million people receive public housing benefits
• 43 percent of all immigrants that have been in the United States for at least 20 years are still on welfare
• In 1968, there were 51 full-time workers for every American on disability; Today, there are just 13 full-time workers for every American on disability
• The number of women in the US on food stamps actually exceeds the number of women that have jobs
• The ratio of social welfare benefits to salaries and wages is currently approximately 35 percent; in 1960 it was 10 percent; in 2000 it was 21 percent

Yes, there is some multiple counting, but still it portrays a sad situation.

So the next time you hear (or read) that the primary reason why we are so heavily taxed is so that the government can defend or educate us, recognize it as a lie. The primary reason why the government taxes you so much is so that it can take your money and give it to someone else.

As of right now (April 20, 2014) our national debt is $17.542 trillion. And more than half of that amount came to us via Dear Leader Barack Hussein Obama and his vote buying. Your 2013 tax dollars covered only 80 cents of every dollar spent by the federal government. The other 20 cents were borrowed from younger generations.

But that’s just my opinion.

Cross-posted at The Pot Stirrer, my very conservative web site.