Many Americans are in trouble and our current path is only going to make things worse. Fifty years ago, transfer payments – money from government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits, and SNAP – were not a huge factor in the well-being of American families. Back then, transfers accounted for only around 8 percent of total personal income, and the Americans that depended on them typically lived in areas of prolonged economic distress.

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Today, however, 53 percent of counties in the United States rely on transfer payments for their economic survival, a four-fold increase. Transfer payments now account for almost 18 percent of total personal income (Americans received $3.8 trillion in transfer income from the federal government in 2022), and transfer income, per capita, has increased nearly three times faster than income from other sources over the past five decades.

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We can’t go on like this. 1787 has an economic growth agenda that will work!

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