52.6 percent of all Americans receive significant income from government programs

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Slightly over half of all Americans – 52.6 percent – now receive significant income from government programs, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J. That's up from 49.4 percent in 2000 and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950. If the trend continues, the percentage could rise within ten years to pass 55 percent, where it stood in 1980 on the eve of President's Reagan's move to scale back the size of government.

That two-decade shrink-the-government trend now appears over, if for no other reason than demographics. The aging baby-boomer generation is poised to receive big payments from Social Security and government healthcare programs.

"New Deal programs persist," despite the Reagan revolution and its aftermath, says James Galbraith, an economist at the University of Texas in Austin. "They persist because they are largely successful and highly popular."

Mr. Shilling's analysis found that about 1 in 5 Americans hold a government job or a job reliant on federal spending. A similar number receive Social Security or a government pension. About 19 million others get food stamps, 2 million get subsidized housing, and 5 million get education grants. For all these categories, Mr. Shilling counted dependents as well as the direct recipients of government income.

Many Americans, in surveys, say they don't like the way their tax money is spent. And a majority now says, in a reversal from a year ago, that their federal income taxes are too high, according to an April Gallup poll.

Yet at the same time, much of US population is on the receiving end of that tax-revenue stream.

Government has always created jobs, of course, as it provides everything from national defense to roads and schools. It is another type of spending, however, that is really growing in scale: Government is in the insurance business.

Healthcare and Social Security are the big programs poised for growth, thanks to the arc of the baby-boom generation, longer lifespans, and rising medical costs. Insurance-style programs also include farm subsidies and efforts to relieve poverty.

The list could grow.

Some lawmakers hope to offer "wage insurance," a temporary benefit to cushion the transition toward new jobs for workers laid off due to global competition. At the state and federal levels, politicians are also considering government's role in extending healthcare coverage to more of those who are now uninsured.

All this reflects an ambivalent America. The nation prides itself on the benefits of economic freedom. "The era of big government is over," President Clinton declared as he prepared to put new limits on welfare spending in 1996.

Yet as a rich nation, America also sees the opportunity to offset financial risks faced by its citizens.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0416/p01s04-usec.htm

[Niels Bohr 72]

Looks like we need to do lots of exporting goods and services to reduce the national deficit.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Looks like we need to do lots of exporting goods and services to reduce the national deficit.

The sures way to reduce the national defict is to export retirees and welfare recipients.

[almaty 19]

damn, i do not get a dime....i need to get a fed job...

[JohnK 0]

"That two-decade shrink-the-government trend now appears over"

I must have slept through those 2 decades because I don't remember them.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

"That two-decade shrink-the-government trend now appears over"

I must have slept through those 2 decades because I don't remember them.

Slightly over half of all Americans – 52.6 percent – now receive significant income from government programs, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J. That's up from 49.4 percent in 2000 and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950. If the trend continues, the percentage could rise within ten years to pass 55 percent, where it stood in 1980 on the eve of President's Reagan's move to scale back the size of government.

In 1980, it was at 55%. In 2000, it was at 49.4%.