If the Republican primaries are any indication, one big debate in the upcoming election will be whether President Obama is pushing the country toward a European-style welfare culture.
Mitt Romney, for example, argues that “over the past three years, Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an entitlement society.”
Newt Gingrich has taken to calling Obama “the best food-stamp president in American history.”
Obama, in contrast, says the government must play an increasing role — what he likes to call “shared responsibility” — to ensure a society that is fairer.
So is Obama turning the country into a welfare society and away from one focused on opportunity?
While it’s true that the country has been headed in this direction for many years — with the explosion in entitlements since the 1960s and the aging of the population — Obama has, in fact, greatly accelerated the trend. Examples:
Direct payments. The amount of money the federal government hands out in direct payments to individuals steadily increased over the past four decades, but shot up under Obama, climbing by almost $600 billion — a 32% increase — in his first three years. And Obama’s last budget called for these payments to climb another $500 billion by 2016, at which point they would account for fully two-thirds of all federal spending.
People getting benefits. According to the Census Bureau 49% now live in homes where at least one person gets a federal benefit — Social Security, workers comp, unemployment, subsidized housing, and the like. That’s up from 44% the year before Obama took office, and way up from 1983, when fewer than a third were government beneficiaries.
Food stamps. This year, more than 46 million (15% of all Americans) will get food stamps. That’s 45% higher than when Obama took office, and twice as high as the average for the previous 40 years. This surge was driven in part by the recession, but also because Obama boosted the benefit amount as part of his stimulus plan.
Disability. The number of people on Social Security disability has steadily climbed since the 1970s, thanks mainly to easier eligibility rules. But their numbers jumped 10% in Obama’s first two years in office, according to the Social Security Administration. That sharp rise was due largely to meager job prospects since the recession ended in 2009. When employment opportunities are scarce, experts note, many who could otherwise work sign up for disability benefits instead.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
5 Responses
By himself, that’s an exaggeration. The government as a whole probably. Just look at the banks and Wall Street, which are dependent on Ben Bernanke’s “free loan fund” and bailout. Just look in a mirror at how many frum people are dependent on all sorts of “entitlements” so much so that we vote Democratic even though the Democrats are as viciously anti-religious as an hiloni party in Israel.
This article is premised on the logical fallacy called a “false dichotomy.” The options of “a welfare society and away from one focused on opportunity” do not fairly represent the complexity of the situation–this is not simply an “either/or” decision.
The success of Romney and Gingrich of framing the discussion should not be taken to mean that the framing is valid.
And what pray tell do you think the social contract was that governed this country for just about all of the 20th century?
It was a qualified license to free enterprise capitalism to do its thing…with comprehensive regulatory schemes to check the excesses that manifest themselves so ruthlessly during the era of the “robber barons,” and to ensure that the benefits of capitalism accrued to society as a whole.
That’s why you can be sure your milk is unadulterated, that your medicines do what their sellers claim, that an issuer of securities discloses material relevant negative, that your bank deposits are secure…etc, etc. And it explains why Congress enacted unemployment benefits, Security Security, Medicare and Social net programs.
These do not create negative dependencies…they provide important safeguards for everyone. The way many conservative Republicans rant you would think they really want to go back to the 1920s…only I doubt many of them are well enough read to understand how bad were the abuses and economic stresses that led to the corrective regulatory programs they now trash. All the statements made in defense of people in Romney’s economic and tax situation could have been made to defend the Railroad Trusts…dumb.
what the I suggest they take a good look at
The democrat party is creating more and more dependants in order to keep themselves in power. It may on the outside sound good for the government to “take care of people” but in the end everybody looses out. There is no development in cradle to grave societies. We these hand outs people don’t work or work at the fullest strengths People who want to make money by their effort find other countries to live in.
As the benefits system went down Israel money stabilized and
the quality of life in Israel improved.
“Is President Obama Creating A Nation Of Dependents?”
Yes and no.
Its not just the president, its the ENTIRE democrat party. They thrive off of dependents. Throw money to people and they rely on you so they continue to vote for you over and over and over.
Its very safe to say the Democrat party “War on Poverty” is a complete and utter failure!