FRED'S BLOG

The Entitled

Posted: 2012-10-06 04:30:39
One of the themes of the upcoming election has to do with what a citizen of this country should expect from their government. Perhaps, it is not coincidental that there is a similar theme that many of us deal with in our dating lives…..what should any one of us expect from a potential partner?!

When you isolate any one action of a government, or of an individual, you can often mistake what you are dealing with. Some events rarely get repeated. Some actions are momentarily influenced by very current conditions that can disappear or dissolve. However, over time, if you are conscious, a bit perceptible, and honest with yourself, you can readily discern patterns or trends. Many are unmistakable!

Here are a few trends for you:

Over the last 47 years welfare, as a percentage of GDP (The gross domestic product (GDP) is one the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country's economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period - you can think of it as the size of the economy.), has increased 300%.

After adjusting for inflation, welfare spending is 13 times higher today than in 1965, when the War on Poverty started.

The out-of-wedlock birthrate is 40 percent, and the African–American out-of-wedlock birthrate is 72 percent. When the War on Poverty began, the out-of-wedlock birthrate was 7 percent.

More than 40 million people are on food stamps. Four decades ago, only 4.3 million people were on the rolls.

The percentage of people who do not pay federal income taxes, and who are not claimed as dependents by someone who does pay them, jumped from 14.8 percent in 1984 to 49.5 percent in 2009.

It does not take much study or debate to conclude that programs developed over the last 50 years to lesson poverty, irrespective of who was in power, have been colossal failures. This article is not attempting to place blame. It is... Read more