Ron Paul: Government Dependency Will End in Chaos

[StickyGreen]

The media insists on characterizing statements about dependency on government handouts as controversial, but in truth such statements are absolutely correct. It?s not that nearly half of Americans are dependent on government; it?s actually more than half. If one includes not just people on food stamps and welfare, but also seniors on Medicare, Social Security and people employed by the government directly, the number is more like 165 million out of 308 million, which is 53%.

Some argue that Social Security and Medicare benefits are a right because people pay into these programs their whole lives, or that we need a government safety net in place for people who fall on hard times. However, this all becomes a moot point when the funds people depend on become worthless due to government default or rampant inflation.

This is less an issue of dignity or dependence on government, and more about the deceitfulness of government promises.

The Fed recently announced that it plans to keep interest rates near zero and keep buying near worthless assets from banks indefinitely. This enables Congress to spend without having to take deficits or the debt seriously and there is every indication they intend to spend with impunity until the system collapses. There are no brakes on the runaway train. The federal debt ceiling law does nothing to limit spending. The ceiling will have to be raised yet again perhaps before the year is out. What is happening in Greece with austerity measures and riots in the street will happen here within a decade according to some realistic estimates if we do not find some way to fiscally restrain our government.

There is little point in a debate about being entitled to healthcare or food or shelter from fellow taxpayers if the whole system has collapsed. And, with the way our politicians have taken over and mismanaged vast amounts of resources, collapse seems almost unavoidable. Yet the number of Americans who have significant dependency on government is dangerously high, and I honestly fear for them.

Worse, corporate welfare is also at an all time high with no signs of diminishing. Though it is hard to quantify, Tad Dehaven at Cato has estimated that the government spends nearly twice as much on corporate welfare than on social welfare. Both parties are equally guilty. More and more, the business sector is learning to rely on taxpayer largesse in one form or another. They used to be solely concerned with providing a better product to the consumer at a better price. Now, success on Wall Street depends entirely too much on having the best lobbyists on K Street. If one includes the employees of ?private? businesses who depend on government contracts, grants or bailouts, there are even more people dependent on government in some way.

Government does not create resources when it taxes people and prints money; it merely redistributes the wealth, while supporting a massive, wasteful bureaucracy along the way. Government is a giant, blood-sucking parasite on our otherwise healthy economy. For too long we have entrusted too much economic power and influence to irresponsible politicians in Washington. It?s the chaos that ensues after they run the system into the ground that will be so painful for so many people. But realigning our economy with the free market and away from government mandates and handouts must happen in order for it to thrive again.

The answer is not to keep asking government to do more. The answer is to extricate our economy and ourselves from the grasp of Washington DC as much as possible now, before our dependency becomes our downfall.

This article first appeared on Congressman Ron Paul?s paul.house.gov site.

[Vapid - BANNED FOR LIFE]

Thanks for the update

[Rochard]

I think the system needs to be cleaned up.

My father died when I was nine months old. My mother got a nice fat check from the government - from the military insurance (understandable) - but also my mother AND I got check from SSN. My mother collected until she remarried, and I collected until I was 18. I can see how the death of a family member and more importantly a bread winner can be a huge problem - even more so in the late 1960s - but a short time later my mother was living comfortable because she was in a new relationship. They put off marriage because of that monthly check. Me on the other hand I collected until I was 18. Hell, I joined the Marines at 17 so I was collecting two checks form the government - SSN and also my Marie Corps paycheck. Kind of pointless on both accounts.

A friend of mine recently had his wife die on him. They had two kids. Not only does he get a check from SSN for the death of his wife, but his two children get it too. He's now making more money from monthly death benefits than he was working full time, so he decided to quit working. With the insurance money he got he paid off the house and bought himself a nice truck, and he's living nicely. Seems like a waste of tax payer money.

One of my friends is 100% retried from the US Army AND the US Post Office. He has water on the brain, and when it's affecting him it's completely disabling. However, he hasn't had any medical problems in the past ten years (other than the occasional headaches) but he's fully retired and just collects his paychecks.

Seems like a waste of a lot of money to me.

[Paul Markham]

He has a point.

Some argue that Social Security and Medicare benefits are a right because people pay into these programs their whole lives, or that we need a government safety net in place for people who fall on hard times. However, this all becomes a moot point when the funds people depend on become worthless due to government default or rampant inflation.

This is less an issue of dignity or dependence on government, and more about the deceitfulness of government promises.

When the Government screws up and allows banks to bring the House of Card down. Yes the money people have paid in becomes worthless. Not a moot point though to those who paid the money in. And yes the deceitfulness of government promises shows clearly that these people were deceived.

What is happening in Greece with austerity measures and riots in the street will happen here within a decade according to some realistic estimates if we do not find some way to fiscally restrain our government.

The riots are happening because the Government sacked people suddenly, private enterprise never picked them up and and their benefits were cut. So he wants it to happen in the next four years.

There is little point in a debate about being entitled to healthcare or food or shelter from fellow taxpayers if the whole system has collapsed. And, with the way our politicians have taken over and mismanaged vast amounts of resources, collapse seems almost unavoidable. Yet the number of Americans who have significant dependency on government is dangerously high, and I honestly fear for them.

Seems clear on that one. Arm yourselves up for the fight.

Worse, corporate welfare is also at an all time high with no signs of diminishing. Though it is hard to quantify, Tad Dehaven at Cato has estimated that the government spends nearly twice as much on corporate welfare than on social welfare. Both parties are equally guilty. More and more, the business sector is learning to rely on taxpayer largesse in one form or another. They used to be solely concerned with providing a better product to the consumer at a better price. Now, success on Wall Street depends entirely too much on having the best lobbyists on K Street. If one includes the employees of ?private? businesses who depend on government contracts, grants or bailouts, there are even more people dependent on government in some way.

Agreed. So why start the article about social welfare. Why not tell us what Romney will do to disengage from the corporate world?

Government does not create resources when it taxes people and prints money; it merely redistributes the wealth, while supporting a massive, wasteful bureaucracy along the way. Government is a giant, blood-sucking parasite on our otherwise healthy economy. For too long we have entrusted too much economic power and influence to irresponsible politicians in Washington. It?s the chaos that ensues after they run the system into the ground that will be so painful for so many people.

Great point and needs to be discussed. So millions of people spending money in shops, Government spending on Military, Wars, Farm and Oil Subsidies, contracts, etc. Doesn't create wealth. What does?

And this is the $24,0000,000,000,000 question. What creates wealth? He says.

But realigning our economy with the free market and away from government mandates and handouts must happen in order for it to thrive again.

Does that mean no mandates on the banking sector?

Outsourcing labour to China creates wealth for his boss.

"Getting rid of the handouts" Which ones because ALL the money Governments spend is handed out. That's the point of money. Government hands it out to an arms contractor, he employs workers, they spend money in shops, the materials the arms manufacturer buys with the money goes to more companies and workers and shops. Money never stops circulating in a country. Until it hits the shores and goes overseas. Then some trickles back to a few. Romney will tell him how that works.

The answer is not to keep asking government to do more. The answer is to extricate our economy and ourselves from the grasp of Washington DC as much as possible now, before our dependency becomes our downfall.

Tell that to Bain.

[Paul Markham]

The future for the West is simple. It has to grab back more of the wealth that's been exported East.

14 years ago I came to Czech for the first time. It was obviously a country from the Eastern block, it looked "poor". People were obviously living on a much lower income than London. Tourist could often be picked out by their clothing. Germans who now live in the old GDF will of seen the same and those who live in the old Eastern Block.

Now Czech has gone through an amazing transformation. Brno when we came to live had one supermarket of any comparison to what there was in London and no shopping malls. It now has 8 big supermarkets, lots of small ones and 4 malls. Designer wear shops are often seen, the cars on the road have gone from predominately Skoda to a vast mix of everything.

So what created the new wealth in Czech? Anyone who lives here knows the answers, West European companies moving East to get cheap labour/plants and drop expensive labour/plants where they were.

The Sansata/Bain incident isn't creating new wealth in the US, it's moving wealth to the East and some comes back to a few.

So Ryan/Biden or Obama/Romney can prattle on all day long and it won't make an iota of difference. They need to get you punching a US made keyboard, sitting on a US made chair, dressed in US made clothes to make the wealth come back. Or find new technologies that are MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

And Ryan never said anything about that.