You know about the bailouts, the stimulus plan, cash for clunkers, and moola for mansions. But for all the anxiety they’ve caused, those government giveaways are just a tiny part of a mushrooming problem.
By one measure, the government already plays an outsize role in our so-called free-market economy—and it has little to do with the recession. Economist Gary Shilling has calculated that 58 percent of the population is dependent on the government for “major parts of their income,” including teachers, soldiers, bureaucrats, and other government employees; welfare and Social Security recipients; government pensioners; public housing beneficiaries; and people who work for government contractors. By 2018, Shilling estimates, an astounding 67 percent of Americans could be dependent on the government for their livelihood. The implications aren’t comforting.
[See 4 problems that could sink America.]
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[See 9 signs of America in decline.]
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[See why stocks are surging as jobs disappear.]
http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/11/09/how-the-government-is-swallowing-the-economy
Nice watch! Bill Moyers Journal: David Corn and Kevin Drum
Very interesting…. Freaky times also….
