Obama's America: Almost half of all Americans live in a household where at least one member received government benefits in the first quarter of 2011

Data from the Census Bureau revealed that 49.1% of the population live in a household which gets at least one kind of government benefit with many likely to receive more than one. The figure marks a steep rise in the amount of people claiming benefits, in the early 1980s only 30% of the population were in a household that got government hand-outs. In the third quarter of 2008 the figure was 44.4%. The increase in households where at least one person claims food stamps, receives unemployment benefits or where someone is enrolled in Medicaid is largely a result of the recession which began in late 2008 and carried on into 2010. The data showed that 15% of people lived in a household that received food stamps, 26% had someone enrolled in Medicaid and 2% had a member receiving unemployment benefits in the first quarter of 2011. It was also found that 16% of the population lives in a household where at least one member receives social security benefits. The Congressional Budget Office has said that the combination of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for January 2013 will send the country back into recession. The food stamp program was used by 43.6 million people in November 2010. Before the recession, the program was serving 26 million.