With the unprecedented explosion of means-tested, welfare-related entitlements, does Team Obama think it can buy the election?
It’s a cynical question. But I wouldn’t put it past that cynical bunch.
Remember Harry Hopkins, Franklin Roosevelt’s close aid? It was
Hopkins who argued tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect. Sound
familiar? And if I’m not mistaken, the high-tax, anti-rich,
big-spending, redistributionist FDR is one of Barack Obama’s idols.
So let’s take a look at some of the recent budget-explosion
data points
:
According to Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate
Budget Committee, means-tested welfare programs soared to over $1
trillion last year. The federal government accounted for $750 billion of
that, while $250 billion came from the states, which leveraged federal
payments into even larger expenses.
Between 2008 and 2011, federal welfare payments jumped 32 percent.
Food stamps have surged, with 71 percent more spending on the program in
2011 compared with 2008. Health payments, principally Medicaid, have
climbed 37 percent.
By the way, it’s not just the deep recession and weak recovery that’s driving up these programs. It’s a substantial
eligibility expansion, which started under George W. Bush, but has gone much further under President Obama.
In a larger budget context, reporter Jeffrey H. Anderson uses a
Treasury Department study to chronicle the 7-Eleven presidency. In
fiscal year 2012, ending September 30, the government spent nearly $11
for every $7 of revenues taken in. The exact figures are $2.5 trillion
in tax revenues and $3.5 trillion in spending. In other words, it spent
44 percent more than it had coming in. Previous fiscal years look even
worse: The government spent 56 percent more than revenues in fiscal year
2011 and 60 percent more in fiscal year 2010.
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