Disability Claims Also Rise in Obama's Culture of Dependence

News recently broke that Food Stamp usage has doubled under the first three years of Barack Obama’s presidency. When he entered the office, approximately 62 million Americans received government assistance. Now, three years later, that number has grown to 68 million. In 2010 alone the number of households receiving some type of government assistance hit nearly 49%, up from 44.4% right before Obama took office.

But the dirty little secret is that food stamps aren’t the only burgeoning aspect of our current economic crisis. Other things, like disability claims and applications for benefits, are way up too. In fact, a record breaking 5.4 million Americans have signed up for disability benefits since Obama took office.

And while some of these disability claims are no doubt genuine, a large portion of them appear to be outgrowths of people using up their 99 weeks of unemployment pay, then turning to the disability rolls as a backup. Thus, according to the Social Security Administration, the number of applicants for disability benefits last year alone was up 24% over the year before Obama took office. And the number of people joining the disability roles in the first four months of this year was over half a million.

The bottom line: hope and change has ushered in a culture of dependence that is steadily undercutting the ruggedness and the drive that once characterized the lives of Americans. In this way, Obama’s eagerness to expand the number of people on the government dole can actually be seen as an impediment to American greatness.