By Andrew Desiderio The George Washington University PhillyBurbs Last week, we learned from a Department of Agriculture report that a total of 101,000,000 (that’s right, 101 million) Americans participate in at least one of the 15 food assistance programs offered by the department, the highest that number has ever been. The cost to you, the taxpayers? A whopping $114 billion in FY2012. Even more disturbing is the report outlines potential “duplications” and “overlaps” with similar programs. This means government waste and inefficiency are prevalent. Let’s remember the U.S. population is roughly 316.2 million. This means nearly a third of Americans receive food assistance from the federal government. This 101 million number also outnumbers the total number of Americans who work in the private sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 97,180,000 full-time private-sector workers in 2012. In other words, more people are receiving food assistance than are working in the private sector. We have more people eating via the government than eating by way of private-sector work. This is extremely troubling, and indicates the idea we are in a “recovery” is mythical. President Barack Obama asserted during the 2012 election that things were “getting better” and that his policies have helped initiate a “recovery.” No matter how you look at it, that is not the truth. When nearly one in three Americans relies on the government for food, we are not “getting better” or in a “recovery.” When more people go on food stamps, a so-called “jobless recovery” is created. Which really isn’t a recovery in the first place. You’re probably thinking: “Why have I not heard about this story?” Unfortunately, the mainstream media hasn’t even touched it. If you search it on Google News, a whopping two stories exist about it. This is an important news story that should be covered and examined. Again, a great disservice is done to the American people because they are completely unaware of the ever-growing entitlement state. But, of course, if these were the numbers during the Bush administration (which, by the way, maintained an average unemployment rate of just over 5 percent), the media would be all over it. These numbers would make any president look bad. The media is just protecting “their guy,” like usual. And don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying food assistance should be completely eliminated. That wouldn’t be logical — there will always be people who need it under certain circumstances. But when you have 101 million people enslaved to the government for food, when it’s nearly a third of your population and when it outnumbers private-sector jobs, there’s a real problem. And the fact that no one is even addressing this issue creates an even greater dilemma.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 20:44:26 +0000
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