When those in charge of our government are determined to ‘encourage’, and very aggressively so, as many people as possible to take advantage of the ‘benefits’ of becoming a government dependent, while at the same time seeming to have very little interest, if any, in the potential costs that are likely to arise for such an endeavor, you can pretty much rest assured that those costs will go nowhere but straight through the roof. And it’s pretty easy to see that that is exactly what has now taken place.
With our government now supporting nearly half the population, in one way or another, it has gotten to the point where it is becoming far too expensive to continue to do so. And, as it just so happens, it’s the same half now being supported by the government that is also the half that gets away with paying NO income taxes. So besides becoming an issue of mounting expense, it seems to me that it also becomes an issue of fairness. And isn’t that a favorite topic of Barry "Almighty" and many of his fellow Democrats.
You see, the grand total of what the federal government paid out in terms of ‘benefits and entitlements’ from the various government programs in just fiscal year 2013, was the staggering amount of $2,007,358,200,000. That figure is according to data obtained from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s Monthly Treasury Statement. The treasury statement summarizes the financial activities of the federal government, including data on government receipts, outlays, and surplus and deficit totals.
According to the statement, the federal government’s total outlays, otherwise known as spending, for means-tested and non-means tested government programs, not including administrative expenses, totaled $2,007,611,200,000 in fiscal year 2013. Most of the benefits doled out from the total of $2 trillion, or 69.7 percent, came from non-means tested government programs that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, provide benefits to recipients who qualify regardless of income.
These non-means tested government programs include Medicare, Social Security, railroad retirement, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation, Veterans’ compensation and Veterans’ educational assistance. In fiscal year 2013, Americans received $1,399,253,000,000 in benefits from these programs. The two programs which contributed most to this total were Social Security, totaling $663,216,000,000 and Medicare, totaling $589,655,000,000 for a combined total of $1,252,871,000,000.
Means-tested government programs, which require income to be below a certain level to be eligible for receipt, contributed to 30.3 percent of the total amount in benefits. Such government programs include public or subsidized rental housing, Federal Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Women, Infants and Children, free and reduced lunch programs, Pell Grants, refundable tax credits and Medicaid. These programs totaled $608,358,200,000 in fiscal year 2013.
According to the treasury statement, the federal government totaled $3,454,253,000,000 in outlays for fiscal year 2013. This number encompasses all government spending, including things like defense, highway and transportation costs, public education, immigration services and government worker salaries, to name a few. This means that the cost of covering these supposed ‘benefits’, totaling $2,007,611,200,000, amounted to over half, or 58.1 percent, of the total spending. That’s just plain nuts!
Now I’m pretty sure that those of who are constantly being forced to cough up increasing amounts of our hard earned money, in the form of rapidly rising taxes, are able to recognize the fact that this current trend that we now seem to be on, can’t continue. It’s simply impossible. However, I’m just as sure that those on the receiving end of ‘our’ money, and who view themselves as being above having to work to cover the cost their own expenses, see things quite differently. Such is this ‘Era of Obama.’
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