We have so many people who can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one. So they’re going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning. Well, now, if government planning and welfare had the answer — and they’ve had almost 30 years of it — shouldn’t we expect government to read the score to us once in a while? Shouldn’t they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help? The reduction in the need for public housing?
But the reverse is true. Each year the need grows greater; the program grows greater.
In 1964 Ronald Reagan asked what the score was. He wanted to know if the myriad government ‘anti-poverty’ programs had succeeded in any discernible way. The way Reagan saw it “welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.” The Democrats and New Dealers had controlled Washington for three decades. What that era demonstrated was the folly of concentrated, centralized power. The federal government proved to be overextended and ineffective.
Since Barack Obama has come to power, he has gone down the road of FDR-esque socialism. Where tax cuts, reduced spending and cutting back the red tape of regulations has a proven pro-growth track record, Obama has taken the opposite path. So, let us ask, what is the score? Is the economy recovering? Are people getting back to work? Or is the situation worsening? The answer is obvious. The latest damning numbers that indict the Obama administration come from the USA Today.
USA Today reports that one in six Americans rely on some sort of government anti-poverty program, the highest such ratio in United States history. Moreover:
More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor, a survey of state data by USA TODAY shows. That’s up at least 17% since the recession began in December 2007…
The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014. That has strained doctors. “Private physicians are already indicating that they’re at their limit,” says Dan Hawkins of the National Association of Community Health Centers.
More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years.
Caseloads have risen as more people become eligible. The economic stimulus law signed by President Obama last year also boosted benefits…
Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits. Caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January — “the highest numbers on record”…
More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase during the recession. The program has grown slower than others, causing Brookings Institution expert Ron Haskins to question its effectiveness in the recession.
As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs. The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36% in two years, to $273 billion. Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion. The food stamps program has risen 80%, to $70 billion. Welfare is up 24%, to $22 billion.
It is almost inconceivable that 40 million Americans receive food stamps. With 10 million people collecting unemployment insurance, Obama wants to extend the program to cover people for 99 weeks – that’s nearly 2 years. If someone is on the government dole for 2 years it isn’t unemployment insurance, it is a welfare program. How about 50 million people on Medicaid? Medicaid was supposed to be a way to insure people mired in poverty. Despite Obama and the Democrats best efforts, 50 million people are not one paycheck away from debtors prison.
Pick any example from the USA Today story and look at the enormous numbers. President Obama has put the United States in the fast lane on the road to serfdom. The aforementioned ever expanding welfare programs create, promote, and maintain a culture of helplessness. People are encouraged to stay home and depend upon a benevolent federal government for their well-being. At this juncture there can be no doubt that the Democrats do not care if they collapse the system from within, so long as they can maintain their ironclad grasp on power a little while longer.
