More Americans are financially dependent on the government than ever before. For a variety of reasons, there are now tens of millions of Americans that would not be able to survive without government assistance. As I wrote about the other day, the insane economic policies of our "representatives" in Washington D.C. have created a situation where there are not nearly enough decent jobs for everyone. So the job market has become a giant game of "musical chairs" and a lot of American families have been left out in the cold when the music has stopped. Of course we are not going to let them starve in the streets. There are also some Americans that simply do not have the capacity to take care of themselves. It is certainly the compassionate thing to do to give them a helping hand. However, with all of that said, we also have to face the fact that we have created a "culture of dependence" in this country. Americans that are now in their prime working years have been taught all of their lives that the government is going to take care of them from the cradle to the grave. This culture of government dependence has gotten completely and totally out of control, and now nearly half of all American households receive some form of government benefits. As a result, our debt is absolutely exploding, everyone looks to the government to solve our problems and very few Americans seem to possess a very strong work ethic any longer.However, the notion that the federal government is supposed to take care of us from the time that we are born until the time that we die is poisonous. As you will see below, federal government handouts have absolutely skyrocketed in recent years, but this has just created an environment where people are demanding even more handouts.
The truth is that the government is not your mommy and your daddy. The government is not there to take money away from someone else and give it to you. The government is supposed to be the "referee" - not your own personal caretaker.
So should we just start dumping millions upon millions of people off of government welfare rolls?
Of course not. We cannot do that, because from the time that they were babies millions of Americans have been taught to be completely dependent on the government. If we just suddenly cut them off they would not be able to make it. They simply have never learned how. We aren't going to let tens of millions of people starve in the streets. A growing percentage of Americans have never learned how to make it on their own.
That is one of the reasons why this culture of government dependence is so toxic. People never learn to take care of themselves.
Unfortunately, the American people have become absolutely addicted to government money. One way not to get elected is to threaten to reduce the government checks that people get every month. Any politician that is honest about what we really can afford usually does not get a whole lot of support.
Yes, there is nothing wrong with helping the poor, the needy, the homeless and the despairing.
But each year millions more Americans climb aboard the "safety net". As I keep warning, at some point the "safety net" is going to break.
The government is not supposed to be your God. If you have problems, then you need to fix them.
Yes, without a doubt that is not an easy thing to do in this economic environment. Our government has royally messed things up.
But life is not easy and life is not fair. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can with what you have. If you wait around for the government to be your savior, you will almost always end up deeply disappointed and you will never get anywhere in life.
The following are 20 signs that the culture of government dependence has gotten completely and totally out of control....
#1 If you can believe it, 48.5% of all Americans now live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was less than 30 percent.
#2 Way too many Americans believe that the government should just swoop in and solve all of their problems. For example, the plight of a single mother named Angel Adams made national headlines recently. Over the years her relationships with three different men have produced 15 children, and she was recently found living in a single motel room with 12 of those children.
As you can see in the video below, Adams is looking for the government to come in and rescue her. The following is what Adams told one reporter....
“Somebody needs to pay for all my children and my – for all my suffering. Somebody needs to be held accountable, and they need to pay.”You can see news clips about this case in the video posted below....
After seeing this video, most Americans would respond with statements such as these....
*"The government needs to help that mother out"
*"The government needs to take those children away from her"
*"The government needs to keep women like that from having so many kids"
Do you see the common theme there?
Today, Americans almost always think that the solution to a problem involves the government doing something.
In America, women should be free to have as many children as they want. But they should also not expect the government to swoop in and rescue them from the consequences of the choices that they have made.
Yes, we always need to make sure that all children have food to eat and a roof over their heads. But it is not the job of the government to come in and control her life, and it is not the job of the government "to pay" for her to have a comfortable life either.
#3 The amount of money paid out to individual citizens by the government today is absolutely staggering. In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for 18.4% of all income.
#4 According to a recent ABC News report, suicides in rural America are spiking, and experts say that cuts to Medicaid are partly to blame....
Kathie Garrett, co-chairman of the Idaho Council on Suicide Prevention, says the problem has gotten only worse since the recession. "The poor economy and unemployment—those put a lot of stress on people's lives," she explains. To save money, people skip doctor visits and cut back on taking prescribed medications. Cuts in Medicaid have reduced the services available to the mentally ill.#5 By the end of 2011, approximately 55 million Americans will receive a total of 727 billion dollars in Social Security benefits. In future years, this dollar figure is projected to absolutely skyrocket.
"I personally know people who lost Medicaid who've attempted suicide," says Garrett.
#6 When you total it all up, American households are now receiving more money from the U.S. government than they are paying to the government in taxes.
#7 It is being projected that the federal government will account for more than 50 percent of all health care spending in 2012.
#8 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.
#9 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.
#10 The federal government is expected to "take care" of their workers far better than the private sector does. If you can believe it, the average federal employee in the Washington D.C. area brings in total compensation worth more than $126,000 a year.
#11 Last year, federal employees "earned" approximately 447 billion dollars in total compensation.
#12 Spending by the federal government accounts for approximately one third of the GDP of the entire Washington D.C. region.
#13 The federal government spent more than 50 billion dollars on "housing assistance" in 2009.
#14 The U.S. government now says that the Medicare trust fund will run out five years faster than they were projecting just last year.
#15 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.
#16 Right now, there are more than 45 million Americans on food stamps. That means that approximately one out of every seven Americans is dependent on the federal government for food.
#17 The number of Americans on food stamps has increased 74% since 2007.
#18 Sadly, one out of every four American children is now on food stamps.
#19 In 2010, 42 percent of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps.
#20 According to one study, "64.3 million Americans depended on the government (read: their fellow citizens) for their daily housing, food, and health care" during 2009.
After reading this article, a lot of people may get the impression that I am greedy and that I am "on the side" of the rich.
That is not the case at all.
I have repeatedly written about the growing problem of income inequality in America.
I have repeatedly written about the need to reduce the power and the wealth of the big banks and the big corporations.
I have repeatedly written about how our government is run by wealthy people and almost all political campaigns are funded by wealthy people.
We need to level the playing field so that individuals and small businesses have a chance to thrive once again.
Unfortunately, a lot of people out there think that the solution to these problems is to raise taxes on the wealthy and redistribute even more money to those receiving handouts.
Number one, that will never get those on handouts on the road to a better life. Handouts are never a permanent solution. A good job is a permanent solution.
Number two, that will only make the culture of government dependence even worse.
Yes, we need to take care of the poor and the needy.
I am a huge advocate of that.
In the book of James, it says the following....
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.It is not the job of the government to take care of the poor and the needy.
It is our job.
If you are able to take care of yourself and your family, and you are not actively doing something to help the poor, then something is wrong.
There is nothing wrong with making a lot of money.
But there is something wrong with hoarding your wealth.
Sadly, most Americans have grown accustomed to the idea that they don't have to take care of the poor because "the government" is going to do it.
That is another example of the "culture of government dependence". We have gotten so used to "the government" taking care of others that we don't even lift a finger ourselves.
We need to stop waiting for the government to fix everything.
The government is not going to fix our lives.
The government is not going to fix the lives of those around us either.
We need to start taking responsibility for our own lives and for our own communities.
Does anyone disagree?
***UPDATE***
Here is another example from ABC News of an American that completely lost it when she realized that the government was not going to be her savior....
A Texas woman who for months was unable to qualify for food stamps pulled a gun in a state welfare office and staged a seven-hour standoff with police that ended with her shooting her two children before killing herself, officials said Tuesday.We need to help the American people understand that the government is always going to end up failing them and that they need to fix their own lives.
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