Fifth in a five-part series.
Part one: Philip Klein: The welfare state is destroying America
Part two: Conn Carroll: Europe: the canary in the welfare-state coal mine
Part three: Philip Klein: Obamacare has made the debt crisis worse
Part four: David Freddoso: How the left got Americans hooked on welfare
Part five: Conn Carroll: Ending the welfare state
The future of the European Union does not look bright. Just this month, Standard & Poor’s slashed the credit ratings of France and eight other major EU nations. The exact details in each country are different, but the outlines are the same: Inadequate economic growth slowed by high taxes, burdensome regulation, and an aging population increasingly dependent on the government.
The United States could be headed down this European path. The so-called big three entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) consume 43 percent of all federal spending today. In 2011, 48.5 percent, of all U.S. households received some type of government benefit. And we are already borrowing 40 cents of every dollar spent on these programs.
