There are more Americans dependent on the federal government than ever before in U.S. history. According to the Survey of Income and Program Participation conducted by the U.S. Census, well over 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government. Many are enrolled in more than one. That is about a third of the entire population of the country. Sadly, that figure does not even include Social Security or Medicare. Today the federal government runs almost 80 different “means-tested welfare programs”, and almost all of those programs have experienced substantial growth in recent years. Yes, we will always need a “safety net” for those that cannot take care of themselves, but it is absolutely ridiculous that the federal government is financially supporting one-third of all Americans. How much farther do things really need to go before we finally admit that we have become a socialist nation? At the rate we are going, it will not be too long before half the nation is on welfare. Unfortunately, we will likely never get to that point because the gigantic debt that we are currently running up will probably destroy our financial system before that ever happens.
It is really hard to believe how rapidly some of these federal welfare programs have grown.
For example, the number of Americans on food stamps has grown from about 17 million in 2000 to 31.9 million when Barack Obama took office to 46.4 milliontoday.
The federal government spent a staggering 71.8 billion dollars on the food stamp program in 2011.
That sure is a lot of money to spend on food.
And I thought that my grocery bills were high.
Medicaid is also growing like crazy.
The number of Americans on Medicaid grew from 34 million in 2000 to 54 million in 2011.
Once upon a time, Medicaid was supposed to help the poorest of the poor get medical care. In fact, back in 1965 only about one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid.
But now about one-sixth of the entire country is on Medicaid.
And we all know that projections like that are usually way too low.
Other federal welfare programs are exploding in size as well.
For example, federal housing assistance increased by a whopping 42 percentbetween 2006 and 2010.
The chart posted below was produced by Senate Budget Committee Republican staff. As you can see, the number of Americans on welfare just continues to grow and grow and grow….
Keep in mind that the chart posted above does not even take into account the huge numbers of Americans that are on Social Security and Medicare.
That means that nearly one out of every five Americans is drawing on Social Security.
That is just crazy.
And in the years ahead we are going to see wave after wave of Baby Boomers retire and so the number of Americans drawing on Social Security is just going to keep going up.
The same kind of thing is happening with Medicare.
As I wrote about the other day, it is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.
Ouch.
That sure does sound expensive.
If you can believe it, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years.
That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.
Will you be able to pay your share?
And that is just for Medicare.
The federal government just keeps becoming a bigger and bigger part of the health care industry.
After a drop of more than 20% from late April to mid June in wholesale gasoline prices which was heralded as the great savior of a slowing global economy – all those implicit tax cuts… the hopes and dreams of the next great unsterilized money-printing has not only floated equity asset valuations to near multi-year highs but energy prices across Europe and the US are soaring once again. This ‘transitory’ 25% surge in wholesale gasoline prices in the US in the last two months - now back above $3/gallon implies (given the lag in transmission) that retail gas prices (which historically peak around July 4th) are set to rise notably above last year’s summer peak - back up near record highs and eating into that ever so happy to spend consumer’s pocketbook once again. Meanwhile, Europeans are seeing near-record highs in retail gas prices once again andBrent priced in EUR (which remember is what they ‘care’ about) is now back above 2008 highs and within a few euros of all-time record highs – up almost 30% since Mid-June. Deflationary? Recessionary?
US Crude, Wholesale Gasoline, and Retail Gas Prices are charging higher…
Today 40 year veteran, Robert Fitzwilson, wrote the following piece exclusively for King World News. Fitzwilson, who is founder of The Portola Group, put together a fascinating piece which takes covers everything from Art Cashin, the 70s, and what the smart money is doing right now. Below is Fitzwilson’s piece.
“The great Art Cashin once said that he was counseled as a young man “not to plan for the end of the world as it is a one-off event”. As we try to divine our investment future, it is helpful to keep that sage advice in mind.
When I started my career in the early ‘70s, my singular goal was to graduate from a certain business school. It was the crowning achievement of my young life. Graduating in 1973, I took a job with an investment firm, eager to learn the business. Unfortunately, I parachuted right into one of the worst bear markets in history. It was so bad that we were forced to retreat to libraries to read books about how to invest.
The answer, though, was simple. Everything was going down. It did not matter what theory one employed. The Dow Jones had peaked in January of 1973 at 1067, and dropped like a stone to finally bottom out at 570 at the end of 1974. Needless to say, my eagerness and budding love of the business was greatly diminished.
I thought it was cruel that I had achieved the crowning achievement of my young life only to find out that the world was going to end. This was the age of the long gas lines. To even get gas, one had to have a friend who knew a friend. You then had to get in line, usually when nobody was looking….
Anyone betting that the global financial system will continue to muddle along indefinitely deserves to reap the whirlwind that’s coming. As the rest of us well know, the international banking system is being kept afloat solely by political lies, stupidity, corruption, greed and, most of all, egregiously misplaced confidence. It would seem to be only a matter of time before the rotted timbers of this belief system give way. But what will be the catalyst? The possibility or even likelihood that the financial system will be toppled by some event no one was expecting was an implicit theme of Nassim Taleb’s widely read 2004 book, Fooled by Randomness. In the New York Times, Taleb asserted the following: What we call here a Black Swan (and capitalize it) is an event with the following three attributes. First, it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.
Or it could be actually worse than anyone, as usual, wishes that poop can be turned into gold well, still smells like and looks like poop. S&P has acted and for anyone who thinks that the Greek situation is “under control” or that the nation has been saved. Because it is game over soon.
– Following delays in implementing budgetary consolidation measures and a worsening Greek economy, we believe Greece is likely to require additional financing for 2012 under the EU/International Monetary Fund (IMF) program (EU/IMF Program).
– We consider the Greek government will find it difficult to make further cuts to meet the conditions to secure the next disbursement of the next tranche of funding from the EU/IMF Program.
– We are revising the outlook on the long-term ratings on Greece to negative, reflecting the possibility of a downgrade if Greece fails to secure the next disbursement of the EU/IMF Program.
Previously we showed that when it comes to Wall Street’s returns, the 8% market return benchmark that every first year analyst finds in Ibbotson’s is for naive amateurs. With corporate lobbying returning anywhere between 5,900% and 77,500%, the real money is to be made in the buying and selling of politicians. Yet in our day and age, when information propagates rapidly and when political muppets can be exposed for the Wall Street purchased frauds they are, lobbying is getting increasingly more complicated. Which leaves one other high returning “investment“, which unlike lobbying is completely riskless when one is a Wall Street firm: crime. But not just any crime, the type of crime where a firm settles “without admitting or denying guilt” and in the process is slapped with a fine that barely covers the government’s legal fees. Case in point: U.S. v. Morgan Stanley, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York Case#11-6875, where MS was punished with the epic disgorgement penalty of $4.8 million. Of course, the fact that Morgan Stanley, who did not admit wrongdoing, generated profits of$21.6 million, is merely a triviality. But a useful one: it allows to calculate that on Wall Street crime does pay, and the IRR is in give or take 350%.
Today acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb told King World News that we are headed into massive inflation and a major spike in the gold price. Leeb, who is Chairman of Leeb Capital Management, also said that “Fortunes will be made by savvy investors in this sector.” Leeb stated, “We saw a mania in the gold shares at the end of the 70s and we are going to see one again this time around.”
Here is what Leeb had to say: “The economy is going to get worse. The price of resources has jumped over time and that has acted as a huge tax on consumers. But we are going to see another huge uptick in inflation going forward. This time the rise in prices will not be stopped by the Federal Reserve.”
Stephen Leeb continues:
“In fact, the inflation may even be fostered by the Fed. Brent crude is trading over $112 again, and gas at the pump is already rising. Bernanke today, I’m quoting a headline, ‘Bernanke says economic data may mask suffering of individuals.’ I agree with that, but I’m still surprised to hear a Fed Chairman saying that.
Another individual on the Fed Open Market Committee said, ‘Open-ended easing is needed for jobs.’ This is the type of commentary we are seeing, even with commodity prices starting to rise….
Welcome to Capital Account. JP Morgan said in a court filing that PFG’s subpoena of the bank may be overly burdensome. Will JP Morgan find a way to get out of it? It looks like they could be off the hook for accusations of silver manipulation. The Financial Times reported US regulators are increasingly likely to drop the four year investigation of silver manipulation, failing to find enough evidence. Bart Chilton, CFTC Commissioner, told a Motley Fool reporter that this FT report is premature and inaccurate. We find out what Chris Powell, co-founder and treasurer of the Gold Anti- Trust Action Committee, thinks.
Since 1998 the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, GATA, has been exposing, opposing, and litigating against collusion meant to control the price and supply of gold and other precious metals. GATA has collected and published dozens of documents showing Western treasury and central bank efforts at intervention in metals markets – interventions that occur both openly, as well as surreptitiously, preventing the proper functioning of a free market in gold. Chris Powell, co–founder and treasurer of GATA and Managing Editor of the Journal Inquirer, has come all the way to our DC studio to give us an update on where GATA is in its efforts.
Also, the Federal Government is auditing the gold stored at the New York Fed. Are those who have been calling for an audit for years satisfied, or does this miss the point? We talk to Chris Powell about what this audit accomplishes, and if it even begins to scratch the surface, no pun intended.
