Conservatives and Republican politicians like to say “if we don’t stop the Dems in the next election, we will become a European Socialist Welfare State.” We need to stop fooling ourselves — we are now there. Half the population lives off one type of handout or another. Most of the income taxes to pay for it are paid for by the top 5% or 10%. Of course people aren’t working and businesses aren’t expanding. That’s what happens in a European Socialist Welfare State. The cost is too high, both to start a business and to employ people.
America is no longer the “shining city on a hill” because sufficient numbers of American voters don’t want it that way. What they want is a turd-world socialist welfare state that gives them cradle-to-grave freebies.
The scant “media” coverage about that precipitous drop in economic activity meets with no concern or outrage, because the largesse will keep flowing.