The United States economy has been fundamentally transformed. In the days of America’s greatness, its citizens regarded themselves as their chief source of income. They worked hard to provide for themselves and their relatives because they knew that self-sufficient family units were the basic building blocks of any stable society. Yet for the past half-century, Americans have been looking to the government to provide for them.

A new report by the Economic Innovation Group reveals that in 2022 Americans received $3.8 trillion in transfer income from the federal government. Therefore, the government is now spending 78 percent of the taxes it collects on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other welfare programs. This figure is so high because the average American now receives 18 percent of his or her annual income from welfare programs.

As recently as 1970, the average American only received 8 percent of his income from the state. This means the populace is twice as reliant on the government as it was three generations ago. The main reasons for this dramatic increase are an aging population and the Affordable Care Act (colloquially known as Obamacare).

The fertility rate in the U.S. has dropped from 2.4 children per woman in 1970 to 1.8 children per woman today. This reduction in family size has caused the number of people over age 65 to balloon from 10 percent of the population in 1970 to 17 percent today. Most of these elderly citizens utilize the government’s Social Security and Medicare programs, so 56 percent of the $3.8 trillion the government spends in transfer income goes to them. Most of the remaining 44 percent go to Medicaid and Affordable Healthcare programs.

This model is unsustainable. Social Security has a rate of return of about 2 percent above inflation, making it one of the worst accounts someone could invest in for retirement. The program may have worked in 1970 when there were 3.7 full-time workers for every Social Security recipient. But it does not work in 2024, when there are only 2.9 full-time workers for every government recipient. The government is already spending nearly 80 percent of its tax revenues on retirement, healthcare and welfare. This leaves very little for actually running the country. That is the main reason why the government runs trillion-dollar deficits.

Once upon a time, Democrats promised greater largesse while Republicans advocated for a leaner state. But now both parties are promising free healthcare and huge retirement checks because they know a large portion of the public is dependent on these programs. These promises may be politically expedient, but America is the fast track to bankruptcy unless the state relinquishes womb-to-tomb responsibility over people’s lives.

Political analyst Mark Steyn once wrote in the New York Post: “Once upon a time, in Britain, Europe and beyond, ambitious leftists nationalized industries—steel, coal, planes, cars, banks—but it was such a self-evident disaster that it’s been more or less abandoned, at least by those who wish to remain electorally viable. On the other hand, the nationalization of the family proceeds apace, and America is as well advanced on that path as anywhere else.” He then quoted Prof. R. Vaidyanathan saying, “The West has nationalized families over the last 60 years. Old age, ill health, single motherhood—everything is the responsibility of the state.”

Today, many people take it for granted that the government should provide for the elderly, the sick and the poor. Yet decades of federal attempts to perform societal functions that used to be performed by the nuclear family have plunged the nation into $35 trillion in debt.

The late Herbert W. Armstrong warned this would happen back in 1956, when he wrote, “When any nation begins to look to its government to provide, that nation is on a greased toboggan-slide to decay and to oblivion. It brought about the fall of Rome. It brought about the fall of proud Babylon long before. And it’s bringing about the fall of America today.”

The Apostle Paul wrote that “if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). This verse shows us that a godly economy is built on a foundation of strong families that produce enough to take care of themselves and give to others.

Modern policy makers have tried to replace the need for personal responsibility and strong families with a myriad of ill-managed bureaucracies that are pushing the government further and further into debt. This strategy will only succeed in hastening a national collapse much more devastating than the fall of the Roman Empire.

Learn more: Read “The Party and the Crash.”