An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Obama’s New Normal – Government Dependency
Barack Hussein Obama is turning a once great nation into a nation of leeches. Oh, there have always been people who believed society owes them something, for some reason or another. Problem is….no one OWES anyone anything. You want something, you earn it. You work for it!
For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10
There were a couple of times in my life when I had no choice but to turn to the state for aid. It was actually embarrassing that things had gotten that bad. But, I also took advantage of a grant or two, went to school, and learned computer skills. I have never had to ask the state for aid since. It was available in a time of need, but I also worked myself OFF it as well. Now, we have people who are under the assumption that the state is suppose to take care of all their needs….from cradle to grave.
When did we lose our pride of accomplishment? I know it didn’t start with Obama, but he sure is taking advantage of those of this mind set. I do believe that is his intent. To make as many dependent on “him” as possible. The willfully ignorant are just following along. The Obama phone woman is an excellent example. Obama didn’t give her that phone. People who worked hard to provide for their families, “gave” her the phone. Not by choice, but by force. It’s called stealing. Eventually Peter is going to run out of money, and she won’t have a phone, or food stamps, or any other kind of aid she feels she’s entitled to. She didn’t earn that phone through Obama’s good graces. Obama stole it from the fruit of someone elses labor to provide her with it, as with the rest of the ‘welfare’ recipients.
There are many who are unable to work, I understand this. People with disabilities, the elderly, the children… should be a top priorities. Someone might be going hungry tonight because that able bodied woman is getting funds that could feed someone who truly DOES need the aid.
The ‘war on poverty’ is a massive failure. For you have the poor with you always…. Matthew 26:11a We should be lifting them up, not giving handouts. Aid mean just that….aid, assistance, etc. It does not mean a career of living off others. If a person receives aid of any kind, other than the elderly and disabled, then they should be actually EARNING that aid, by some means or another. Work requirements MUST be returned to the laws concerning aid. Allow people to have a feeling of accomplishment…encourage it, and stop wasting taxpayer dollars on programs that do nothing to alleviate poverty, but assist in creating more.
Welfare Spending Shattering All-Time Highs
The Foundry
It’s been a pretty big year for welfare—and a new report shows welfare is bigger than ever.
The Obama Administration turned a giant spotlight on the welfare system in July when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proclaimed it had the authority to gut the work requirements from the welfare reform that had helped lift so many people out of poverty after 1996.
This morning, a new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) shows the staggering reality of the growing welfare state—echoing Heritage’s own research that reveals welfare spending is approaching the $1 trillion mark.
Roughly 100 million people—one-third of the U.S. population—receive aid from at least one means-tested welfare program each month. Average benefits come to around $9,000 per recipient. If converted to cash, means-tested welfare spending is more than five times the amount needed to eliminate all poverty in the United States.
Despite the fact that welfare spending was already at record levels when he took office, President Obama has increased federal means-tested welfare spending by more than a third. Benefits under “means-tested” programs are calculated based on a recipient’s means to support himself; in other words, they are intended to assist low-income Americans. The character of this aid is hand-out more than hand-up. Able-bodied recipients rarely are required to work or prepare for work to receive aid.
At the beginning of this year, only four of the 80-plus federal welfare programs had work requirements; the Obama Administration has now suspended the work requirements in two of these. After the Obama Administration suspended the work requirement from the food stamp program in 2009, the number of people on food stamps doubled.
The more than 80 federal means-tested aid programs provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to low-income people. Here’s how the spending breaks down:
- Federal: At $746 billion, federal means-tested spending exceeded spending on Medicare ($480 billion), Social Security ($725 billion), or the defense budget ($540 billion).
- State: In 2011, state contributions into federal welfare programs came to $201 billion, and independent state programs contributed around $9 billion.
- Combined: Overall means-tested welfare spending from federal and state sources reached from all sources reached $956 billion.
Some might argue that this is a reasonable, temporary response to the recession, but Obama seeks a permanent increase in the size of the welfare state.
According to the President’s budget plans for fiscal year 2013, means-tested welfare will not decline as the recession ends, but will continue to grow rapidly for the next decade. Overall, President Obama plans to spend $12.7 trillion on means-tested welfare over the next decade.
Welfare spending has long passed the amount spent on defense. In 1993, welfare spending exceeded defense spending for the first time since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In subsequent years, the ratio of welfare to defense spending averaged about $1.33 to $1. Obama’s spending plans would inflate this disparity: By 2022, there will be $2.33 in federal and state welfare spending for every $1 spent on national defense.
Needless to say—but we’ll say it anyway—Obama’s big spending plans will result in ruinous and unsustainable budget deficits. These deficits are, in part, the result of dramatic, permanent increases in means-tested welfare. An important step in reducing the federal deficit would be to return welfare spending to pre-recession levels.
Doubling the welfare rolls, handing out benefits without any work requirements, and spending twice as much on welfare as we spend on defense: This is Obama’s new normal.
