Comprehending The Unsustainability & Daring Great Enough To Turn This Mindset Around

 

Thanks to a subscriber of RTE for alerting me to the above graph & an accompanying IBD article that describes many of the terrible economic conditions encompassing America.  Although the above graph is in percentages, that can be misleading, the trend of the graph cannot be mistaken – dependency overrides work for far too many people.

 

The hardcore statistics behind the graph reveal that the economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, while 85,000 workers left the workforce entirely to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, according to the Social Security Administration.  Over the entire so-called recovery – starting in June 2009 the economy has created 2.6 million jobs (7.3 million people have left the work force altogether according to IBD & are no longer counted as unemployed) while 3.1 million workers signed up (applied) for disability benefits.  The actual number accepted to the disability ranks during this time has increased more than 1.1 million to a total of over 8.7 million people.  These numbers translate into the figures shown on the graph.

 

In total, a record of 8,733,461 workers took federal disability insurance payments in June, exceeding the entire population of New York City by more than 500,000, according to the Social Security Administration.

 

And the trend is expected to continue. In just the last month, almost 275,000 people filed for disability benefits.  I have previously reported that more people try to get on disability when jobs are hard to find.  Changes to eligibility rules enacted back in 1984 have made it far easier to qualify.

The Social Security System's Disability Insurance Trust Fund has run deficits in each of the last three fiscal years, meaning that the government has been forced to borrow money to pay disability benefits to the workers claiming them.

Now the problem with growing government dependence is not a new topic to readers of this blog.  The following two graphs - both presented in February - show 1) the virtual recent straight up trajectory of people relying on disability as their unemployment insurance benefits wind down & 2) the staggering growth in food stamps recipients.  Many of us have heard BO's radio advertisements encouraging people to look into receiving food stamps.  Talk about denuding people of any dignity.

 

 

The November election is about how many of the 150 million Americans who live in households that receive some kind of government assistance can comprehend that the government programs they have become dependent upon are not sustainable & whether or not they can dare great enough to help turn this mindset around. The deterioration of the work ethic that has torn the heart out of the people who only know living on government checks each month is even more dangerous than the above statistics & graphs illustrate. The choice regarding creating wealth or redistributing wealth is really a choice between prosperity or poverty for America. This is what the November election is all about.

 

Thanks to another subscriber who keeps feeding me great information – in this case it is a link to a video of Wayne Allyn Root, VP candidate on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2008, making the best presentation I have heard since Jon Voight's riveting open letter to America in April 2010 on the Huckabee TV program that described BO's deliberate deception to overrun our country. 

 

There is so much ammunition – it is a shame that Mitt does not know how to use it or that Gary Johnson has no money to broadcast his message.