Think of what we could accomplish as a country if half the energy of the politicians and corporations in this country was put toward lifting everyone up, instead of tearing each other down.
Obstacle to Deficit Cutting: A Nation on Entitlements
As recently as the early 1980s, about 30% of Americans lived in households in which an individual was receiving Social Security, subsidized housing, jobless benefits or other government-provided benefits. By the third quarter of 2008, 44% were, according to the most recent Census Bureau data.
That number has undoubtedly gone up, as the recession has hammered incomes. Some 41.3 million people were on food stamps as of June 2010, for instance, up 45% from June 2008. With unemployment high and federal jobless benefits now available for up to 99 weeks, 9.7 million unemployed workers were receiving checks in late August 2010, more than twice as many as the 4.2 million in August 2008.
An aging population is adding to the ranks of Americans receiving government benefits, and will continue to do so as more of the large baby-boom generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, become eligible. Today, an estimated 47.4 million people are enrolled in Medicare, up 38% from 1990. By 2030, the number is projected to be 80.4 million.
All this is expensive. Payments to individuals -- a budget category that includes all federal benefit programs plus retirement benefits for federal workers -- will cost $2.4 trillion this year, up 79%, adjusted for inflation, from a decade earlier when the economy was stronger. That represents 64.3% of all federal outlays, the highest percentage in the 70 years the government has been measuring it. The figure was 46.7% in 1990 and 26.2% in 1960.
The public appears divided on what to do. A new Allstate/National Journal poll found that 35% of voters want the government to make sure future retirees receive all the benefits they've been promised even if it means raising taxes. Another 34% said the government should make retirement programs "financially sustainable" by making some cuts to those benefits and raising some taxes, and 22% said they'd be willing to see benefits cut to restrain the programs' rising costs.
400,000,000 additional Americans in Poverty. :shock: I am so blessed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17poverty.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=todayspaper
400,000,000 (Four hundred million) ?
I think an extra 0 snuck in on you. Darn keyboards.
Its 44,000,000 which is way too many to have in a society that overconsumes and overdiscards as much as we do.
The population of the US is 307,000,000
Thanks. Sorry folks. carry on. 
Please wait while we verify your forum account.