We are so far from the original vision of a small government. The evidence is everywhere and it was crystalized with an article I read in Investor's Business Day. It was depressing. The article discussed A. Gary Shilling's, an economist, research on government dependency. Mr. Shilling dove into data about how involved government is with our daily lives. He found that as of 2004 over half of the country (52.6%) depended on the government in one form or another.
Intentional pause.
Think about that for a moment.
Over HALF of the country depend on government. Consider this:
- 20% of Americans hold a government job or a job reliant on federal spending
- 20% receive Social Security or a government pension
- ~19 million others get food stamps
- 2 million receive subsidized housing
- 5 million receive education grants.
This dependency has been growing steadily from the 1950's when it was 28.3% until Ronald Reagan took office when it hovered around 55%. It then declined with Reagan's smaller government push to about 49% in 2000 and has once again crept up. The expectation is that we'll return to 55% in the next 10 years if the current trends continue.
God do we need change...save us from this socialistic trend and to a freer life...
2 comments:
Didn't we just go through 8 years of a Republican president? What did that do for our dependency on the government?
Yes you are sight. We did just go through 8 yes of republicans. That is exactly the frustration. Democrat or republican we have the same in terms of government growth. Wait for my next blog as to why.
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