A sad lesson in economic irony

Someone forwarded the below e-mail. It doesn’t credit the author, but it nevertheless makes a good economic point.

The food stamp program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is actually proud of the fact it is distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to “Please Do Not Feed the Animals.” Their stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.This ends today’s lesson.

While most people on unemployment and food stamps would prefer not to be, there is a growing segment of the population that is dependent on government handouts. And their ranks are set to soar as baby boomers retire and more people start relying on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other government pensions.

At the very least, the fact that more people are on food stamps than ever is certainly not something to be proud of. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka food stamp program) reported June 29 that a record 21 million families were now enrolled—that is more than 44 million individuals. Part of this may be because the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now partnering with the Mexican government to boost food stamp participation among Mexican nationals living in the United States.

Similarly, having more people receiving unemployment benefits, or otherwise dependent on the state, is also not a good way to stimulate the economy or create jobs. On July 17, it was reported that more Americans went on disability benefits in the previous three months than found jobs. This trend is clearly unsustainable in the long term.

These are signs the economy is in serious trouble. Increasing food stamp rolls is probably an indicator that the economy is getting worse. Increasing disability claims is probably a sign that people whose unemployment benefits have run out and whom still don’t have jobs are doing what they feel is necessary to keep money coming in.

Taking the above into consideration, now would be a great time to get out of debt and get your financial house into the best shape possible. Another “official” recession looks increasingly likely and there are few bright spots on the economic horizon.