One issue that deserves more attention in the news media is the entitlement state.

Today in the United States, there are more people on welfare than there are full time year round workers. That’s a stat worthy of igniting a national discussion about what policies can help more Americans achieve self sufficiency and prosperity.

Hi guys I’m Kristin Tate, author of Government Gone Wild and analyst for Capitalism.com. Today we’re talking about the welfare state, and what we can do about it.

I think everyone can agree that we need a safety net for our most vulnerable in society. But there are currently about 110 million Americans receive government benefits every month -- that includes food stamps, housing assistance, unemployment, disability, and countless other programs. These millions of Americans outnumber full time workers in the country.

When more than half of the nation’s households receive government assistance, there’s clearly a problem with the system.

We’ve crossed the entitlement tipping point.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

We should be promoting productivity in this nation, and not encourage people to drain from the system. But unfortunately, the last administration only ballooned the welfare state. Most notably, Obama implemented Obamacare, one of the biggest entitlements in US history.

Of course, not everyone who receives government subsidies are “takers,” as Republicans like Mitt Romney has suggested. For example, there are millions of seniors who receive Social Security and Medicare -- benefits that they deserve after paying into the system their whole lives.

However, once people are on the receiving end of benefits, they become protective of those benefits and attitudes change. That makes changing the system hard.

So far, it’s not clear how President Trump will address the entitlement state.

We’d like to see him cut taxes and red tape across the board in order to help businesses grow and hire more employees. Trump has said that he wants to lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent; that would go a long way. We also hope that he repeals Obamacare as soon as possible, and replaces it with a more privatized system.

Opportunity and prosperity will allow people to become self sufficient; the best way to bring about opportunity and prosperity is by allowing the economy to grow and businesses to flourish. We should also make it as easy as possible for people to start their own businesses.

The millennial generation is arguably the most creative, entrepreneurial generation alive today. If we cut red tape, and get government out of the way, we can encourage them to create companies and products that serve a need in the marketplace.

This would go a long way towards reducing the welfare state.

The future can be bright and prosperous for Americans of all walks of life if we get government out of the way and give stronger incentives for self sufficiency than for government dependency.

Thanks so much for watching! Be sure to like our Facebook page, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out Capitalism.com for more great videos. See you next time!

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