James Pethokoukis at AIE blog has 6 charts that show the welfare state out of control. We won't reproduce them all here, but Pethokoukis gives a thumbnail sketch of what they show: The original purpose of Medicaid was to provide improved healthcare access for poor people, while not turning the safety net into a trap. Under President Obama's Affordable Care Act, Medicaid will be greatly exapnded beyond what Congress originally intended. In fact, as these charts show, it has already expanded beyond what Congress surely originally envisioned and, in the process, has created a terrible fiscal problem for the United States. (These charts and graphics come from a briefing today here at AEI, conducted by Gary Alexander, secretary of public welfare for Pennsylvania.) A few scary factoids: - In the 1960s, there were 18 workers per Medicaid recipient. Today that number is 2.5. - The number of Americans on disability has risen 19% faster than jobs created during this...(Read Full Post)