Why So Many Americans Aren’t Working, 3713

Good morning, I’m still reporting on the coup.Show more

Have you been wondering why there are all these unfilled jobs out there in the U.S.? At first I thought this was just a transient feature as COVID gradually disappears from this country, but reports of more job openings than there are willing workers to fill those jobs persist and so at some point, you have to ask why?

Well, the answer may be rising welfare payments across all 50 states. According to the CATO Institute, the effects of cash transfers to the poor are killing the incentive-driven society that is what has made America great.

According to CATO’s Research Briefs in Economic Policy, spending on means-tested anti-poverty programs in the United States accounted for $688 billion per year, or 16% of the federal budget in 2012, and is expected to rise to $877 billion by 2023 – that’s just 15 months from now.
According to Roger Pilon, Chairman of Constitutional Studies at the CATO Institute:

“How can an ambitious politician resist giving the people what they think they want, but don’t want to pay for, when he can pass the bill off to future generations? They don’t vote, after all; not for some time, at least. And when they do, he, and we, may be long gone.”

It’s the “free stuff” mentality made infamous by Barak Obama’s free cell phone program.

So, politicians don’t get rewarded for holding the spending line at something reasonable. That was in the good old days when most Americans were taught American history in schools and therefore understood what makes America great – namely the hard work produced by in incentive-driven society.

There are many verses in the Bible that point to this common-sense wisdom - 2 Thessalonians 3:10 being the most quoted:

“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

And now, here’s the kicker. Back in 2016, CATO did a study on how many states are paying their residents more than the minimum wage. They found that welfare benefits pay more than a minimum wage job in 33 states, and, of course, the District of Columbia.

Hawaii is the worst offender, where welfare recipients earned $29.13 per hour, or a $60,590 yearly salary for doing nothing. Another 12 states plus the District of Columbia paid more than $30,000 per year in welfare benefits per person.

Here is the list:

1. Hawaii : $60,590
2. District of Columbia :$50,820
3. Massachusetts : $50,540
4. Connecticut : $44,370
5. New York : $43,700
6. New Jersey : $43,450
7. Rhode Island : $43,330
8. Vermont : $42,350
9. New Hampshire:39,750
10. Maryland : $38,160
11. California : $37,160
12 Oregon : $34,300
13. Wyoming : $32,620

Back in 1931, Dr. Adrian Rogers predicted this would happen once government got into the business of welfare:
“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.
“What one person receives without working for, another person must work without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
“When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

I’m still reporting from the soon-to-be restored citadel of world freedom. Good day.

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