This year, more than 46 million (15% of all Americans) will get food stamps. … That’s 45% higher than when Obama took office, and twice as high as the average for the previous 40 years.
This Office of Management and Budget chart shows the rapid increase in the number of Americans receiving food stamps and welfare checks since President Obama took office.
If the Republican primaries are any indication, one big debate in the upcoming election will be whether President Obama is pushing the country toward a European-style welfare culture.
While it’s true that the country has been headed in this direction for many years — with the explosion in entitlements since the 1960s and the aging of the population — Obama has, in fact, greatly accelerated the trend.
According to the Census Bureau 49% now live in homes where at least one person gets a federal benefit — Social Security, workers comp, unemployment, subsidized housing, and the like. … That’s up from 44% the year before Obama took office, and way up from 1983, when fewer than a third were government beneficiaries.
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