As amazing as this may sound, or maybe not in this era of Barry "Almighty", it was in the fourth quarter of 2011 that 49.2 percent of Americans received benefits from one or more government programs. And that is according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. In total, the Census Bureau estimated that 151,014,000 Americans, out of a population that was then estimated to be 306,804,000, received benefits from one or more government programs during the last three months of 2011. Those 151,014,000 individuals form what has come to be known as our parasite class and now equal 49.2 percent of our population. So nearly one half of our population has apparently become quite content to simply live off the other half. So today being an American would seem to mean something quite different that it did when I was growing up. And I’m also sure that most, if not all, of those folks habitually vote for Democrats.
This number included 82,457,000 people, or 26.9 percent of the population, who lived in households in which one or more people received Medicaid benefits. Also in among those 151,014,000 folks were those who received benefits from one or more government programs during that period: 49,901,000 who collected Social Security; 49,073,000 who got food stamps; 46,440,000 on Medicare; 23,228,000 in the Women, Infants and Children program, 20,223,000 getting Supplemental Security Income;13,433,000 who lived in public or subsidized rental housing; 5,098,000 who got unemployment; 3,178,000 who got veterans' benefits; and 364,000 who got railroad retirement benefits. And when Obamacare is fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2014, if that in fact does happen, Americans earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level will also qualify for a federal subsidy to buy health insurance.
As I have said on many previous occasions, it is with each passing day that I become more and more disappointed in many of my fellow Americans. Not that it bothers them in any way, of that I’m quite sure. As for myself, I remain proud of my country and I’m proud to be an American. But these days I feel that people like me are sort of a dying breed. To be willing to mooch off of others just isn’t how I was raised. But these days more and more people work to game a system, that really isn’t all that hard to game, for no other reason than to see just how much they possibly get, for as little required from them in return. Far too many people seem to view living in this country not because they love it, but because of how much they can get for themselves, from it. And I find that all just so disappointing. Just stop and think, for a minute, what our country would look like if that 49.2 percent of our population actually loved their country?
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