Entitlements sustain more Americans today

USA Today is reporting that federal entitlements account for 16.2 percent of all income during the first quarter of 2009. That's a 19 percent jump in benefit payments compared to a year ago. For all of 2009, the newspaper says, federal benefits will total $2 trillion or $17,000 per household.

This year's percentage is the highest that federal entitlements have ever been since the government began keeping statistics in 1929. That's a long time and covers some mighty tough years. Americans are drawing entitlements at a higher rate today than they did during the depths of the Great Depression, when it is estimated that unemployment was running about 25 percent.

Unemployment accounts for a large chunk of the increase this year. Layoffs have soared, and we unemployed are grateful for the unemployment insurance cushion as we futilely search for a job in an economy that is shedding jobs like a sheared sheep sheds wool. Social Security (which is fundamentally unsustainable, anyway) is paying out more in benefits because many of the people losing their jobs in this economy are older workers. Those who can do so are collecting Social Security. Many 62-year-olds who had planned to continue working and saving for retirement have lost their jobs and have little choice but to begin collecting their Social Security at a lower rate than they had anticipated. This hastens the day of Social Security's insolvency.

Food stamps disbursements have also increased, and that should come as no surprise. If you look at the state Employment Security Commission's job listings (which I do several times a week), you'll see that the only "growth sectors" are social services and employment counseling.

This sudden and historic increase in federal benefits is certainly understandable in this worst recession since the 1930s, but it is also alarming. Sixteen percent of Americans have become dependent upon government handouts. Each American household, on average, is receiving $17,000 from Uncle Sam. Simply stated, a total of $2 trillion in taxes will be transferred this year from those who are working and paying taxes to those who are not working (most of whom would prefer to be working). I suspect that this level of entitlements is unsustainable. Congress and the Obama administration cannot delay facing the inevitability of entitlement reform — revamping Social Security and Medicare to ensure their long-term solvency and addressing the costs of Medicaid, food stamps and, yes, even unemployment insurance, upon which I and millions of others find ourselves unwillingly dependent.