Government dependency at record high under Obama.
The federal government operates more than 80 means-tested programs to provide assistance to around 100 million people. The programs provide cash, food, housing, medical care and social services exclusively to poor and low-income individuals.
Obama has expanded these programs to record amounts during his presidency, but just how much has government dependency increased. The only way to know is by looking at the numbers.
Medicaid expanded because healthcare is now less affordable.
According to this report from the Department of Health and Human Services, in February of 2014, 62.3 million individuals were receiving medicaid. That is a 32% increase over the 47.1 million individuals who were enrolled in 2008.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts that Medicaid expansion will add an additional 17 million individuals to those already receiving Medicaid. That will push the number of recipients near to 80 million for around 70% increase in enrollment.
The CBO projects the cost of the Medicaid expansion by itself will cost taxpayers one trillion dollars. It goes on to explain that 93% of that cost will be covered by the federal government and the remaining 7% will be covered by the States as if to imply that the Federal Government and the States do not get their money from the same people: the taxpayers.
The cost to taxpayers for Medicaid was $333.2 billion in 2007 and Medicaid was $432.4 billion in 2011. Today that cost is more than a $500 billion and projected to be more than $600 billion by 2019.
Oh SNAP! Nearly 1 in 6 Americans is now dependent on food stamps.
According the United States Department of Agriculture, the cost of SNAP benefits have more than doubled since Obama took office. In 2008 the total cost for SNAP was $37.6 billion and in 2013 it had ballooned to nearly $80 billion.
Participation in food stamps climbed from 28,223,000 in 2008 to 47,636,000 in 2013. That means that 69% more people are dependent on food stamps since Obama took office.
Using a rough estimate from the Census Bureau of 316 million Americans, that puts participation at 15%. That is nearly 1 in 6 Americans--now dependent on food stamps.
A six-fold increase in spending on advertising for food stamps may have something to do with this massive increase. People who do not know that they need food stamps apparently need to be told by the government.
In the face of a $17.5 trillion debt, our political leaders cannot find enough Americans to spend taxpayer money on. Democrats support advertising in mexico to inform Mexicans that some of them qualify for food stamps.
The trend in government-provided housing and rent supplement continues.
| Program | 2008 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|
| Public and Indian Housing | $16 billion | $20 billion |
| Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) | $5.8 billion | $10.3 billion |
| Rent Supplement Program | $8.3 billion | $17.6 billion |
While it is pretty hard to nail down the number of recipients dependent on the government for housing, it's easy enough to find out how much taxpayers are paying to house those dependents. In the case of rental assistance, the cost has more than doubled.
Rents have not increased much since 2008 if at all. Rents have remained mostly flat during Obama's presidency.
The number of families collecting welfare has more than doubled under Obama.
There were only 1,633,011 families collecting TANF in 2008. In 2013 the number of families dependent on TANF had exploded to 3,742,972. In just 6 years the number of American families dependent on government welfare has increased a whopping 129%.
These numbers are not from some anti-Obama political group or from right-wing conservative extremest. These numbers come directly from the US Department of Health and Human Resources using this simple keyword search.
Measurements of welfare's success have been wildly perverted.
The trend is unmistakable: Americans are becoming increasingly dependent on the government as a result of Obama's presidency. The reduction of welfare programs used to be the measure of their success, but today these same welfare programs are considered increasingly successful because more people are added.
These programs are not coffee shops or department stores to be deemed successful when the number of customers increases. The Department of Health and Human Resources keeps asking for more money to help more families when it should be finding ways to reduce the need for its own services.
What can be done to reduce America's dependency on Welfare programs?
Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act in 1996. It provides workforce development to encourage employment among the poor.
Getting people back into the workforce is the best way to eliminate poverty and reduce overall dependency on welfare programs. Few things motivate an American to find a job like running out of money and workforce development expands employment opportunities.
Obama has been perpetuating the populist myth that the people are the victims of the elite. In one way, they are--they are the victims of the political elite for fostering their dependency on the government.
Ronald Reagan said that the way to measure welfare's success is by the number of people who leave welfare and not by how many are added. That is also a great way to measure a president. By that measure, Obama may be the worst president in the history of the United States.
