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, yet again.

And it was throughout the 1930's and 40's when the federal government first began to, "wean," the US economy into it’s modern state, primarily through government spending. But later on in US history, perhaps due to the controversy 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 and 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. Yet, this is a lesser known fact of historical significance today… and the premise of my argument for modern welfare reform again in the modern era.

Suicide Statistics and the Economy

In fact, for many years I believe that suicide rates themselves have been directly tied to the US economy, as a whole. 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 job placement and welfare reforms.

I assume that this was a hot button topic back in the 1940’s, as well and clearly a topic which resonated with free market capitalists back then.

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 for anything? 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.)

Population Expansion And Deficit Spending

Back in the 1950’s there was approximately 125 million Americans, whereas today, there are roughly 350 million, or roughly 225 million more people, who need 225 million more jobs, than in 1950. Nevertheless, it was during this time, that in a relatively manageable US population the federal government could maintain an intrinsically free market, simply by managing government spending. This was done many times throughout history, predominately through militarization and the expansions of legal systems such as; the highway system, insurance, law enforcement and other government agency’s, which for a long time kept the free market going. Nevertheless, in this way, many modern day industrial complexes were created as far back as the Great Depression era, seemingly in order to, “pad the modern US economy.” Yet, to be clear, I now believe that many of these solutions are no longer applicable today, when combating the growing influence of poverty and growing suicide statistics. For example, I find that the insurance industry has become extremely over-sized.

I also believe that a Darwinist leadership approach is becoming more and more inhumane, particularly in terms of economics…..

And 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.

To put that number 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%, during that time... a growth rate which I believe correlates to the growth rate of food stamp participation, which climbed roughly 100%… over that same time.

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. This correlates to roughly 1 in 12 Americans on food stamp support, in 1990, 33% more than today, but 25% fewer than in the year 2000.

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 Vietnam. 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.

Welfare statistics in America today. Via Google search.

And I believe that these statistics are vastly alarming.

In fact, I believe that this trend is a long overdue topic of conversation, within the American mainstream media. Furthermore, this gap between America's free market and welfare participation, in correlation with modern day suicide statistics, in many ways illustrates the problem itself.

Or simply put, why aren’t more people speaking out? Because if more people could write articles about how they feel, speaking out on this topic without being shunned by the general public, than I would assume that less of them would feel the need to end their own lives.

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.

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, in an arrant 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, everyday? 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. (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 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 against socialism?” 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 nets, which they themselves rely on….

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.

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, today. 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.)

And ultimately, should baby boomers be revoked of their social security, under the guise of free market Capitalism?

Furthermore, while not intending to wean the masses onto government aid, 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, today.

In conclusion, opponents of welfare reform 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. 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, as automation technology continues to grow.

-William Larsen

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