In 1929 America’s economy collapsed and President Hoover worsened that economy through strict government inaction. Nevertheless, I’m writing today…. not because of the past but because of the future and because I believe that now is the time for the US to decree welfare reforms once again.

Throughout the 1930's and 1940's the US federal government first began to, "wean," the US economy into it’s modern state of dependence through government spending. However, to be clear, the US federal government had nearly 0$ in government debt at this time. Then, perhaps due to the controversys surrounding early American, “welfare,” a plane crashed into the Empire State Building’s, “Christian Welfare Offices,” in 1945 and despite being a little known fact… this plane crash occurred after a wave of suicides swept through New York City in the 1940’s. Furthermore, this rarely mentioned and auspiciously ironic fact was possibly due to one of the first waves of suicide(s) in American history, a phenomenon that surely captured the attention of New Yorkers and likely also led to early welfare reforms and increased deficit spending. But that 1945 NYC plane crash is a lesser known fact of historical significance today and that kamikaze style attack at the, "Christian Welfare Office's," has now created the foundation for my argument promoting modern day welfare reforms.

Suicide Statistics and the Economy

In fact, for many years I believe that suicide rates themselves have been directly tied to the US economy. Furthermore, in this way I also believe that the issue of suicide has largely come to reflect the fairness of the US economy as a whole… as well as signalling the need for government job placement and welfare reforms. I assume that this was a hot button topic back in the 1940’s as well and clearly this has been a topic throughout history which has resonated with free market conservatives. Nevertheless, is there a correlation between suicide rates and the need for welfare reform? Particularly food stamps? And how often do we use suicide statistics as a barometer to assess the economic strength of our country? So… let’s take a moment to compare US food stamp participation… with US suicide rates over the years.

In 2014, 13 out of every 100,000 Americans killed themselves. Whereas, in 1999, 10 out of every 100,000 Americans also committed the act of suicide. (Statistical Reference Link.) Furthermore, during this time (1999-2014), in conjunction with welfare statistics participation in food stamp programs grew at nearly the exact same rate. (*To be more clear food stamp participation nearly doubled between 2000 and 2017 while suicide rates climbed by about 30% over that same period of time but more or less there was an equally significant and nearly congruent upwards trend.)

Population Expansion And Deficit Spending

Now, let's compare more numbers and trends throughout US history to better get a grasp of the, "strength," of the US economy. So, back in the 1950’s there was approximately 125 million Americans vs roughly 350 million or roughly 225 million more people, who need 225 million more jobs, today. Nevertheless, it was during this era of the 1950's that in a relatively manageable US population, where nearly 125 million jobs did exist for each citizen at that time... when the federal government could maintain an intrinsically free market simply by increasing government spending. This was done many times throughout US history predominately through militarization and the expansions of various industrial complex's including but not limited to; automobiles, insurance, lending, the legal system, policing, the highway system, law enforcement and other government agency’s, which for a long time metaphorically oiled the gears of free market economics without full on government dependence. However, over time many modern day industrial complexes, some of which were created as far back as the Great Depression era in order to, “pad the modern US economy,” slowly began to take larger and larger market shares with the ideal of hiring more and more employee's... whether those employee's were necessary or not and without concern for modern day monopolies. Whereby, to be clear, I now believe that many of these solutions concerning government spending and big business are no longer applicable today, particularly as America confronts the growing influence of poverty and once again growing suicide statistics.

Furthermore, I also believe that a Darwinist leadership approach is becoming more and more inhumane, particularly in terms of economics. However, to be clear, I also feel this way because of the correlation between food stamp participation and suicide rates which I’ve touched on above and will continue to outline below.

Food Stamp Statistics And Suicide Rates

This month, over 41 million Americans required food stamp support. (*Plus an additional 75 million Americans are on Social Security income and an additional 60 million Americans recieve disability income).

But to put those numbers into perspective; 1 out of every 8 Americans requires food stamp support, today.

Whereby, in the year 2000, 17.1 million Americans required food stamp support, or roughly 1 in 16 (*half as many).

Now, as I mentioned above from 2000 to 2014 suicide rates also climbed by roughly 30%... a growth rate which I believe correlates to the growth rate of food stamp participation which climbed roughly 100%… over that same time.

In the year 2000, the total age-adjusted suicide rate in the United States was 10.4 per 100,000 standard population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

VS

The U.S. age-adjusted suicide rate in 2017 was 14.0 per 100,000 individuals, with a total count of 47,173 deaths according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Suicide Data.

But… to take that data one step further; in 1990 the US population was around 240 million Americans and 20 million were on food stamps. That number correlates to roughly 1 in 12 Americans on food stamp support in 1990, 33% more than today's 1/8 food stamp to citizen ratio (not including social security income or disability income which has doubled and tripled in America since that time).

Now, by the numbers;

“The suicide rate for males age(s) 15 to 19, increased from 12.0 to 18.1 per 100,000 population, from 1975 to 1990, declined to 10.8 by 2007, and then increased 31% to 14.2 by 2015. However, the rate in 2015 for males was still lower than the peak rates in the mid- 1980s to mid-1990s.”

-Aug 4, 2017

(Statistical reference link.)

Almost the exact same trend... and even though this particular statistic was for males age(s) 15 to 19, the overall suicide statistics also verify this correlation, in my opinion.

But where you begin to see a change in the numbers is around the Vietnam War period of 1969-1972. This was a well known proxy war over, “Socialism / Welfare,” fought in the 1960's and it was a time when only 2 million Americans were on government food stamp support, despite a population of around 200 million. That statistic correlates to a ratio of roughly 1 in 100 Americans… receiving government food stamp support back in 1969. Furthermore, this represents a ratio, which when compared to today's spending... shows that past government spending on food stamp support was much less. (*And that's not even counting the double, quadruple number of people in America on social security and disability income today who don't technically take, "food stamps or EBT," but still rely on government income!)

Welfare statistics in America today. Via Google search.

Simply put, I believe that it’s utterly inhumane to say that, “the poor don't deserve food,” or in essence, that anybody doesn’t deserve the tools they need to create a healthy lifestyle. Nevertheless, the silent majority in America has basically ruled our country like that for decades, assumingly under the presumption that we need natural selection to continue cleansing our gene pool (*And often these political leaders are uglier and weaker than myself, I might add). Which is also why… I now believe that living a healthy lifestyle is a human right. (I’d personally prefer population caps, as opposed to being broke my whole life which feels like a government attempt to trim the population.) Furthermore, I believe that food itself could easily be viewed as an un-alienable human right no different than citizenship, today.

So this circumstance really comes down to education which in my opinion underlines the main issue because of the fact that as times are changing, in many ways, due to Ai technology and automation, America must change as well.

Free Market Adaptations

Which is not to say that America should abandon the principles of the free market but only that America should proceed through the 21^st century with caution towards all types of strict free market policy(s).

One day, in the not so distant future; home farming, global Wifi and solar power, will all allow for a natural rural sprawl. In turn, this wave of technology will offer more solutions, particularly in terms of, “self farming,” which may inevitably relieve the need for food stamp support, altogether. Nevertheless, that future is not today and I’ll cover, “self farming,” later on, but largely due to the ramifications of plastics and environmental protections, I believe that self farming and rural sprawl... IS NOT CURRENTLY... our best solution to welfare reform.

Social Security Vs Food Stamps

But how do you fix welfare? Particularly when poverty is claiming the lives of Americans every day? And that problem goes beyond just food stamp support and social security retirement. Whereby, in 2016, 61 million Americans received 768.63 billion dollars worth of social security benefits... a staggering chunk of the US yearly government budget deficit. (https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4a5.html).

Furthermore, a large majority of that money went towards health and prescription drug coverage for senior citizens, which is another reason that I believe education reform is the root problem in America today. Though, the problem with welfare reform isn’t just the welfare but aloa who receives it. For example, who receives that annual 768.63 billion dollars in government backed social security? The same generation that once claimed, “they won The Cold War vs Socialism? There's nothing hypocritical about that. Which again sounds like an education problem to me. Furthermore, it is these same Americans receiving almost a trillion dollars worth of government aid, annually, whose demographic always OPPOSES these exact types of government safety netsfor other people!

Furthermore, not that it matters but in comparison to the 70 billion dollars spent every year on food stamps, American seniors collect roughly 700 billion dollars in social security benefits or roughly 10x more government aid/welfare, per year, than even the food stamp budget!

Which is why I believe that now is the time when food and housing benefits should be indoctrinated into the US Constitution as, “unalienable human rights,” no different than citizenship. Although, again, this concept leads to a plethora of resulting arguments concerning the fabric of America as well as the interplay between government spending and free market institutions. (*For example, Joe the Plumber typically says that, ‘it’s Socialist,’ for me to own a home, after 20 years of working at Wendy’s in Manhattan.)

And ultimately, should Baby Boomer's be revoked of their social security under the guise of free market Capitalism?

Furthermore, it is also my opinion that barracks style housing or group housing should be utilized more frequently in order to keep homelessness statistics at a bare minimum, particularly when almost half of our country depends on the government to stay afloat and that's not even counting government subsidy's for corporations and small businesses!

In conclusion, opponents of welfare reforms point to homelessness and starvation as deterrents for drunkards and paupers. Nevertheless, I believe that even the worst jobs in America… would continue to get done… even if shelter and social security were more readily available for the masses. And this is an unpopular opinion in America today, but I could go on stage wearing a Speedo and still be the f'ing man so. Regardless, I still believe that these types of welfare reforms at the grass roots level could take place while maintaining America’s core values of social mobility and economic efficiency. Furthermore, I also believe that these simple welfare reforms could take place without unjustly burdening any 1 group of people, particularly as automation technology continues to grow.

-William Larsen

PS: Or the billionaire class could just invest in small business’ like mine.