In the age of Obama and massive government spending, I guess you can’t say that this is really all that much of a surprise.
The so-called “Great Recession” has left Americans depending on the government dole like never before.
Without record levels of welfare, unemployment and other government benefits as well as tax cuts last year, the income of U.S. households would have plunged by an astonishing $723 billion — more than four times the record $167 billion drop reported last month by the Commerce Department.
… The figures show the devastating results of the massive job losses last year and indicate that the economic recovery that began last summer is tenuous and has a long way to go before many Americans resume life as normal, analysts said.
Of course, this is coming from the same president that will be spending $888 billion on welfare in one year. That’s $260 billion more than the entire Iraq war, something Obama campaigned against often. The war always cost too much, but spending billions and billions of dollars on welfare is OK?
In total, Obama is planning on spending $10.3 trillion over the next decade on welfare programs. So we really can’t be all that surprised when Americans are getting more and more dependent on the government, can we? The most troubling part, however, is not just that we’ve become so reliant on the government. It’s this:
Moreover, for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes.
This is appalling, and it is unsustainable. Quite frankly, it goes against everything that made this country great. The United States didn’t grow into the greatest country in the world because of welfare recipients dependent on a nanny state. This nation was founded on a pioneer spirit of individualism and toughness, by a people who knew they would struggle and fight to overcome any hardships that came their way, so that there would be a better future for their children and grandchildren. Where is that spirit now? Where is that toughness, that resilience, that resolve? Co-dependence is not going to keep this country great, nor is socialist, nanny-state government dropping government hand-outs into the mouths of greedy welfare recipients. But is that what we’re going to let happen?
For Bush’s entire presidency, all we heard was about how horrible the economy was. What about now? This isn’t Bush’s economy anymore, and this problem — over-reliance on government — can not be blamed on Bush, either. Obama is pushing a bigger welfare state. And something’s eventually going to have to give. The productive can’t support the unproductive forever. The only real question is, how far will we fall?
Cross-posted at The Green Room.
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Democrat are in an interesting predicament here. On the one hand more people on welfare, not working and depending on the government is a boon for them. That simply produces lifetime democrat voters. On the other hand if it goes too far they won’t have anyone to tax to provide for those who aren’t working (as the greeks are finding out currently) and the whole system implodes. Not that they’d much care except that when that happens they might end up with their heads on pikes.
Sad that we have a major party that has to balance the risk of destroying the nation with what is necessary to keep them in power.
“Of course, this is coming from the same president that will be spending $888 billion on welfare in one year. That’s $260 billion more than the entire Iraq war, something Obama campaigned against often. The war always cost too much, but spending billions and billions of dollars on welfare is OK?”
Though granted Obama isn’t doing that well and is proving himself basically the same war President as his predecessor, no Christian person, Cassy, would specifically fault a President for spending money on welfare and bashing a war. What religion do you come from? What part of ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor’ do you not comprehend?
Previously on this site you had a featured quote defending war. As a Christian, it would be pertinent for you to know that Jesus himself says quite clearly ‘offer no resistance to the evildoer’. Taking only what you want from the Bible won’t fly, Cassy, especially that from Jesus’ own teaching. You have to make a choice, because you’re not fooling anyone, if you know what I mean
IantheLiberal,
In the Bible, the whole selling your posessions and giving to the poor thing was done through the church, not a secular government. There’s a big difference between the two.
Also, turn the other refered to personal insults. Not ignoring the safety of people you are obligated to protect. Jesus sure as hell did not say “If a man rapes your daughter, then turn him your other daughter.”
Romans 13:4 States
he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
This gives government the authority to use the sword to punish wrongdoers. Governments are obligated to protect their citizens. Whether the Iraq war was just or not is another question, but a Christian does not have to be a pacifist.
And don’t bring up the argument that the government should protect its citizens through welfare. Welfare has done nothing but cause more poverty, since it gives people an incentive to have kids out of wedlock.
It is funny how liberals quote the bible to defend their beliefs, but only selectively, ignoring its other teachings. For me religion doesn’t much factor in to politics so I wouldn’t really care except for the hypocrisy.
The equivalent would be if conservatives quoted marx on a regular basis to prove a point. Doesn’t really make much sense.
Actually, my quote comes from Mark, where Jesus is talking to a rich man, so his specific guideline was a general one (he doesn’t mention the gov or the church in this conversation); so my overall point was that Cassy is being irreligious by faulting Obama for campaigning against war/funding welfare.
I don’t believe Jesus preached government welfare. Individuals may be obligated to help out others according to the bible, but that is separate from forced charity.
You guys really are ridiculous. This place is just like Fox News: every time I visit, I find another reason to leave. Just as in the comments about the radio-ending-relationship thing, you guys seem more interested in word wars and semantics than fundamental principles. Your Romans quote does not explicitly ‘endorse’ war, or cancel the quote from Jesus to ‘turn the other cheek’ etc, which is more fundamentally important. Your argument against welfare is absurdly myopic: has it ever occurred to you that welfare actually does good sometimes? That our prohibitively high healthcare costs leave some people in a place where welfare can make a legitimate source of aid? I doubt if Jesus, based on the quotes I provided from him, would find spending money on welfare a worse thing than spending money on war, especially the Iraq War. Get over yourself
IamtheLiberal, have you ever considered the verse that basically says, if you don’t work then you don’t eat! What about the fact that Paul was a tentmaker, and he refused to be supported by the one church he was ministering to.
“Actually, my quote comes from Mark, where Jesus is talking to a rich man, so his specific guideline was a general one (he doesn’t mention the gov or the church in this conversation); so my overall point was that Cassy is being irreligious by faulting Obama for campaigning against war/funding welfare.”
You took the verse horribly out of context as others pointed out. The context dealt with the rich man claiming that he had followed the commandments from young age. Christ put that to the test, and it showed that money came before God for the rich man, which is sin of idolatry. The ruler was put to the test on the very first commandment, and he failed at that.
And that was when Christ spoke of how it impossible it is to be able to make it to heaven on man’s efforts, when He said that what’s impossible for man is possible for God.
Christ was indeed talking about following Christ. And guess what? He did not need to mention church. The church is made of those who follow Christ.
Your argument trying to say that is mandating government run welfare crashes and burns on that point.
“I doubt if Jesus, based on the quotes I provided from him, would find spending money on welfare a worse thing than spending money on war, especially the Iraq War. Get over yourself.”
Well, let’s put this way: Jesus dealt with centurions more than once. Not once did He say they needed to leave the armed service of the Roman Empire to truly be a follower of Him.
“Previously on this site you had a featured quote defending war. As a Christian, it would be pertinent for you to know that Jesus himself says quite clearly ‘offer no resistance to the evildoer’. Taking only what you want from the Bible won’t fly, Cassy, especially that from Jesus’ own teaching. You have to make a choice, because you’re not fooling anyone, if you know what I mean.”
No, you are not fooling anyone with your claim you are trying to be faithful to the Bible. You are blatantly guilty of what you accuse Cassy- taking what you want from the Bible…
It’s out of context quoting again.
Christ was speaking in context of His disciples on how they were to handle those who personally mistreat them. It was in the context of Jesus addressing “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” He was speaking that God’s law of justice is not license for us to take revenge personally and even go extra mile to show love for others on personal level.
If you think that is really talking about governments and how they should operate in regards to war, by your logic, then it must mean we have to let the barbaric of invaders go into our country, enslave our women and children, destroy our homes, etc., etc. without resistance. It means then by your logic, you should let those who rob your house also asssault your family and murder them while you sit by and do nothing.
You might like to duly note Jesus also taught we are to render what is Caesar’s and render to God what is God’s. The context was about taxes. But it applies also to submission to legal governing authorities when they carry out justice with sword given to it by God.
In relations to one another personally, we are to show our witness for God. But in regards to kingdoms and nations on earth, we are in fact told to do our duty as citizens in countries where we live at as well.
Your argument is untenable.
Actually,
I think it’s worse than this. You have to figure that the Millenials have been educated for most of their lives to be very liberal, almost to the point of being socialist. Working in the environment that I do (in a university), I see that most of them still very much believe in big government. The problem is that most of them have not been taught anything else, which means that even when they go into the “real world,” I’m afraid their response will not be to become more self-sufficient. On the contrary, I think they’ll become even more leftist and demand even more of a safety net than ever before, which means there is great potential (unfortunately) for this country to swing center-left in the near future.
Parenting and education are the keys to the turnaround. However, education is pretty much lost to the leftists and many adults having kids cannot really parent. So how is this turnaround going to happen if no one can really “remember” a different time?