Which lifestyle choice produces better results - being a hard working American or being a government parasite? Actually, when you look at the cold, hard numbers they may just surprise you. In America today, we deeply penalize hard work and we greatly reward government dependence. If you live in a very liberal area of the country and you know how to game the system, it is entirely possible to live a comfortable existence without ever working too much at all.

In fact, there are some Americans that have been living off of “government benefits” for decades. Many of these people actually plan their lives around doing exactly what they need to do to qualify for as many benefits as possible. America is rapidly turning into a European-style socialist welfare state and it is destroying our nation socially and financially. Ever since the “war on poverty” began our debt has absolutely exploded and yet now there are more poor people in this country than ever before. Obviously something is not working.

Now don’t get me wrong. I deeply believe in having compassion for those that are going through tough times and having a safety net for those that cannot take care of themselves. We should not have a single person in this nation going without food or sleeping in the streets.

But in America today it is absolutely ridiculous how many people are climbing aboard the “safety net”. At this point, an astounding 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives some form of government benefits.

So who pays for all of this?

The people that drag themselves out of bed and go to work each day pay for it all.

For a few moments, let’s examine how the lifestyle of a typical hard working American compares to the lifestyle of a government parasite.

There REALLY needs to be some context added to that statement. Take my home for example. My wife and I both work and we each receive no form of government assistance whatsoever. My mother in law, who lives with us, happens to be disabled to she DOES get government assistance.

We keep our bills paid, but we still face challenges. This writer makes it sound like there’s a government solution for every problem out there and if I were to just stop working and get on the welfare I could drive around in a BMW and never have to pay for my home again:

The writer continues with his “analysis”:

In America today, the median yearly household income is somewhere around $50,000. About half of all American households make more than that and about half of all American households make less than that. When you break it down, it comes to about $4000 a month.

So how far does $4000 go in America today?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t go very far at all.

First of all, a hard working American family will need some place to live. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the decent jobs are near the big cities, and it is more expensive to live near the big cities. Let’s assume that an average family of four will spend about $1000 a month on rent or on a mortgage payment.

The government parasite, on the other hand, has a whole host of federal, state and local housing programs to take advantage of. During the recent economic downturn, more Americans than ever have been turning to the government for help with housing costs. For example, federal housing assistance outlays increased by a whopping 42 percent between 2006 and 2010.

Once you have a place to live, you have to provide power and heat for it. For the average hard working American, this is going to probably average about $300 a month, although this can vary greatly depending on where you live.

For the government parasite, there are once again a whole host of government programs to help with this. For example, LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) assists low income households in paying their home heating bills.

Most average hard working Americans are also going to need phone and Internet service. Let’s assume that the hard working family of four in our example is extremely thrifty and only spends $100 a month for these services.

For the government parasite, cell phone service is not a problem. As I have written about previously, those that “qualify” can receive a free cell phone and free cell phone minutes every single month from the federal government. In addition, in some areas of the nation low income families can qualify for deeply subsidized home Internet service.

In order to earn money, our hard working family is going to need to get to work. In most households, both parents have decided to work these days so both of them will need cars. Let’s assume that the family is very thrifty and that both cars were purchased used and that the car payments only total about $400 a month.

The hard working family will also need auto insurance for the two vehicles. Let’s assume that both parents have a great driving record and that they only pay a total of about $100 a month for car insurance.

The cars will also need to be filled up with gasoline. The average U. S. household spent $4155 on gasoline during 2011, but let’s assume that our family is very, very careful and that they only spend about $300 on gas each month.

So what about the government parasite? Well, the government parasite does not need to go to work, so this expense can potentially be eliminated entirely. But since most other things are paid for by the government or are deeply subsidized, in many instances government parasites are actually able to afford very nice vehicles.

In addition, a new bill (The Low-Income Gasoline Assistance Program Act) has been introduced in Congress that would give “qualifying” households money to help pay for gasoline….

Low-Income Gasoline Assistance Program Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to states to establish emergency assistance programs to pay eligible households for the purchase of gasoline.

A hard working American family is also going to need health insurance. Well, we all know how expensive health insurance has become. In fact, health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent since Barack Obama became president. But let’s assume that our hard working family has somehow been able to find an amazing deal where they only pay $500 a month for health insurance for a family of four.

For the government parasite, health insurance is not needed. If there is an emergency, the government parasite can just go get free medical care at any emergency room.

And of course there is always Medicaid. Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

I love this. This guy actually thinks that an ER is a solid substitute for decent health insurance or a good doctor. You can’t get health screenings at an ER, you can’t get preventive care at an ER. Not to mention, if you have no insurance, you’re probably not going to get an outstanding level of care at an emergency room.

Oh and about medicaid. He makes it sound like anyone who wants to can get on Medicaid. Like you can just walk down to an office and sign up. Nope, sorry, doesn’t work that way. At least in my state it doesn’t, you have to meet certain qualifications to get on medicaid and then you have to be continuously re-evaluated to STAY on medicaid.

Not to mention medicaid doesn’t cover everything. My mother in law is on medicaid and still has to choose which doctors to see and which medications to get in a given month because medicaid only covers so much.

The writer closes with the following:

Are you starting to get the picture?

In many ways, life can be so much easier when you are constantly taking from the government instead of constantly giving to the government.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently put it this way….

“We’ll have a bunch of people sitting on a couch waiting for their next government check”

Once again, I am not dumping on those that have been through all kinds of nightmares because of this economy. As I have written about so frequently, the U.S. economy is simply not producing enough jobs for everyone anymore, and this is creating major problems.

Just about everyone needs a helping hand at some point, and we should always be compassionate to those that are in need.

However, there is also a growing number of Americans that are content to simply give up and live off of the government, and that is fundamentally wrong.

It is not the job of the U.S. government to take care of you from the cradle to the grave. What the U.S. government is supposed to do is to make sure that we have a well functioning economy that operates in an environment where hard working individuals and small businesses can thrive, and sadly the U.S. government has failed miserably in that regard.

We desperately need the U.S. economy to be fixed, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

As economic conditions get even worse in this country, millions more Americans are going to turn to the government for assistance and at some point the safety net is going to break.

What is our country going to look like when that happens?

Once again, the writer says he’s not running down poor people, after spending a good number of paragraphs doing just that.

There are so many things wrong with this article I can’t even be bothered to post them all here.

I found this article on (surprise!) the AFA website. Interestingly, there is NO NAME attached to it whatsoever. It’s just an anonymous piece of writing by a dedicated wingnut.

A wingnut who, like most others, gets his (or her) facts terribly wrong.

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