The Federal Check Writing Machine

The US Census Bureau released the following data (as of Q4 2012)


312 million      US population
110 million      People living in households that receive Federal welfare (means-tested benefits)
153 million      People in households receiving federal benefits (includes non-means-tested)                                        

35% of all US households get Federal welfare payments. Almost half (49%) get benefits from the government of some kind.

Is it any wonder that a message of "turning down the Federal spigot" doesn't resonate with a large portion of the populace -- and that it does with the half of the populace that sees itself as writing those checks.