Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute has written a
Wall Street Journal article about how many of us have our hand out for a government dole. Some of his statistics are staggering. For example:
The country has seen a long-term expansion in public reliance on "means-tested" programs—that is, benefits intended for the poor, such as Medicaid and food stamps. At this writing, about 35% of Americans (well over 100 million people) are accepting money, goods or services from "means-tested" government programs. This percentage is twice as high as in the early 1980s.
Today, the overwhelming majority of Americans on entitlement programs are taking "means-tested" benefits. Only a third of all Americans receiving government entitlement transfers are seniors on Social Security and Medicare.
Coming up soon:
On the current trajectory, the Social Security disability fund is projected to run out of money during Mr. Obama's second term.
The rest of the article is good, too.
