A disturbing new reports estimates that more than one-half of Americans are somehow dependent on government for their livelihood. This is part of a troubling trend, and has worsened in recent years thanks to the profligacy of the Bush Republicans. Investor’s Business Daily certainly understands the danger of having a nation where the people riding in the wagon out-number (and maybe out-vote) the people pulling the wagon:

Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J., figures that 52.6% of Americans, which includes dependents of direct recipients, “now receive significant income from government programs” … the data from 1950, when a mere 28.3% of Americans relied on Washington, that really shows how needy we’ve become. … if the current pace is not abated in 10 years, the percentage could exceed the 55% mark of 1980, the year Reagan was elected on a platform of scaling back the federal behemoth. By 2040, it could be 60%, Shilling reckons. This bodes ill for any prospects of cutting government back to any reasonable size and reforming our messy and intrusive tax system. … when more than half of the country has a financial interest in seeing the government grow, that’s the part of America to which they will cater. That’s certainly not healthy and it is likely unsustainable. … How long before the richest and most productive Americans decide that they will no longer prop up the poorest and least productive? With their political influence waning as that of the untaxed and low-taxed Americans and those who live off the government grows, they can either seek a tax-haven nation where government isn’t a growth industry, or they can choose to be less productive. Neither choice is good for America’s future.