There's an old adage about government dependency in society, and when it surpasses a healthy level. It likens society to a wagon, and states that the number of people sitting in the wagon should not surpass the number of people pulling the wagon. While the U.S. hasn't reached that point yet, the wagon is rapidly getting more crowded. A Wall Street Journal report says more Americans than ever are now reliant on some form of government aid. The study shows that in 1970, fewer than 1% of counties in America had at least one-quarter of personal income from government or social programs. In 2022, that number had risen to 53% of U.S. counties.
That means that more than half of all counties in the U.S. now derive a significant amount of personal income from federal programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, welfare, unemployment, food stamps, veterans benefits, education grants, and other government programs. "What this is essentially doing is requiring the government to go further and further into debt," says EJ Antoni, economist with the Heritage Foundation. "But the government doesn't have any money, only we have money because only we are productive and have incomes...so this is requiring future generations to pay off spending that we're doing today."
Politically, this also means that cutting out-of-control government spending is even more difficult, as any proposed spending cut could cut off one of these income sources. "This all started with (President) FDR back in the Great Depression," says Antoni. "The result has been an ever-increasing and ever-growing government that continues to play Santa Claus, to the point where now that's how a politician gets elected...they promise to give you more than their opponent will."
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