A Nation of Takers: America's Entitlement Epidemic [Paperback]

Nicholas Eberstadt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2012

In A Nation of Takers: America’s Entitlement Epidemic, one of our country’s foremost demographers, Nicholas Eberstadt, details the exponential growth in entitlement spending over the past fifty years. As he notes, in 1960, entitlement payments accounted for well under a third of the federal government’s total outlays. Today, entitlement spending accounts for a full two-thirds of the federal budget. Drawing on an impressive array of data and employing a range of easy- to- read, four color charts, Eberstadt shows the unchecked spiral of spending on a range of entitlements, everything from medicare to disability payments.  But Eberstadt does not just chart the astonishing growth of entitlement spending, he also details the enormous economic and cultural costs of this epidemic.   He powerfully argues that while this spending certainly drains our federal coffers, it also has a very real,long-lasting, negative impact on the character of our citizens. 

Also included in the book is a response from one of our leading political theorists, William Galston. In his incisive response, he questions Eberstadt’s conclusions about the corrosive effect of entitlements on character and offers his own analysis of the impact of American entitlement growth.  

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist and a demographer by training, holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at American Enterprise Institute. He is also a senior adviser to the National Board of Asian Research, a member of the visiting committee at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a member of the Global Leadership Council at the World Economic Forum. He researches and writes extensively on economic development, foreign aid, global health, demographics, and poverty.

 

William A. Galston is a political theorist. He holds the Zilkha Chair in Governance at the Brookings Institution. In addition he is College Park Professor at the University of Maryland. He was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on domestic policy.

Yuval Levin is the Hertog Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, founding editor of National Affairs magazine, and a senior editor of EPPC's journal The New Atlantis. His areas of specialty include health care, entitlement reform, economic and domestic policy, science and technology policy, political philosophy, and bioethics. Mr. Levin served on the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush focusing on health care as well as bioethics and culture-of-life issues. Mr. Levin previously served as Executive Director of the President's Council on Bioethics, and as a congressional staffer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Templeton Press; 1st edition (October 19, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599474352
• ISBN-13: 978-1599474359
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Social Services & Welfare
  • #33 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > United States > National
  • #56 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Commentary & Opinion

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 102 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes we have a problem. But what is the solution? November 3, 2012

By Duane McMullen

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Within a lifetime, the nature of government and societies' expectations of it have fundamentally changed. Once the realm of local communities, responsibility for the care of those in need has been transferred to distant government. This rapid, radical change is unprecedented in human history and has resulted in a range of pathologies that undermine the foundation of our society. Things that can't go on forever stop. The question is how we avoid the catastrophic kind.

The book I wanted would have discussed this problem, its implications and potential solutions. This was not that book, though it came tantalizingly close at points before frustratingly veering away.

Instead, the short collection (144 pages) is a long data-heavy essay by American Enterprise Institute economist/demographer Nicholas Eberstadt followed by counter-points from each of Brookings Institute professor William Galston and former George W Bush White House adviser Yuval Levin. A final wrap up by Dr. Eberstadt closes the effort. It is a debate waged with compliments and much mutual admiration.

Dr. Eberstadt understands the problem, but couldn't seem to escape the cold certainty of his data. This data is clear that government has fundamentally changed so that entitlement spending dwarfs all other roles, continues to grow in proportion and is already beyond the ability of our society to sustain. This point is made again and again and seems unassailable against the most determined critic.

Indeed, serving as critic, Dr. Galston simply concedes the point and is reduced to arguing that the clear and fundamental shift in government has not had a corresponding impact on communities and social mores and that some way should be found to make the system sustainable. I wish he could have made a case for values as convincing as Dr. Eberstadt makes the case for unsustainability, but other data such as from Charles Murray (Coming Apart / In Pursuit) and Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone) is depressingly convincing about the harm to people and communities already caused by this fundamental shift to a culture of dependency and entitlement.

Dr. Levin escapes the thicket of data that entangled Dr. Eberstadt and pushes to clear conclusions, but his contribution is couched in individualist language likely to cause people from a wide range of the political spectrum to tune out. That is unfortunate, as he was the closest to grasping the key point that our entitlement focused system is killing communities with kindness as its golden traps catch good people in otherwise avoidable and corrosive dependencies.

All three contributors agree that we can not continue a system that blithely assumes unborn generations will voluntarily put in more than they take out. If the present generation can't agree to at least take no more than it gives, what hope is there that future generations will be dramatically more generous? We honour our grandparents for saving our world in WWII. Unless pictures of cute kittens count, we've done nothing for our grandchildren to honour and if we don't change, we'll have given them ample cause to curse us.

Critical to a solution is making the numbers add up, but how do we do this? Even if we solve this, how can a system that at any given moment keeps nearly half of us dependent be anything other than crippled, let alone make us stronger? Both Drs. Eberstadt and Levin seem to recognize this, but they fall short of the convincing elaboration that I'd hoped for. Are we already doomed?

A supportive community has a range of people in need and even those in need will pitch in to help. Honour and dignity is in making a contribution, regardless of one's circumstances. A compassionate, sustainable society must enable and nurture contributors. Its safety nets are not places to rest, but to catch people when they fall and get them back to contributing.

In a tragic, insidious vicious cycle of good intentions, our present society makes it harder for good people to make that contribution. Defining remote government as responsible displaces communities and deprives the flawed individuals in them of the opportunity to contribute, even as it deludes people into believing that helping is the role of government rather than their own. Worse, any help received becomes but their due and warrants neither gratitude nor an honourable struggle to pay it forward. Perhaps most corrosive is the new attitude, emergent in our lifetimes, that calling for government to help is somehow as virtuous as actually helping. Dr. Galston argues that good people still predominate, but how long can they remain good if we deprive them and the communities around them of real opportunities to be good?

We each came into this world as infants, at first utterly dependent on help from families and community. Gradually, we learn to contribute until we reach the point where we give more than we receive. We all need help, all the time, but in spite of unprecedented prosperity we allow fewer and fewer among us the dignity of being net contributors. This collection convincingly demonstrates that we have problem, even as it falls short of outlining its full extent and the ramifications.

We will reap a whirlwind if we don't find a solution.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Short, data-heavy analysis of US welfare trends May 10, 2013

By Mark E. Baxter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In 80 pages, a dozen taken up by graphs, the author uses statistics and trends to show how the fundamental motivation of the people of the United States has turned from self-reliance to "a nation of takers". The author starts with a quote from Democratic Senator Patrick Moynihan who pointed these same trends out 50 years ago regarding the destruction of black families and culture. "The issue of welfare is the issue of dependency", wrote Moynihan. That is, being dependent fosters a helplessness that damages family and society.

This book shows that this trend towards the nanny state and socialism has progressed past the tipping point and will inevitably lead to major changes and possibly the end of the US as we know it. And the trend is not limited to political party or race. As a matter of fact, Republican administrations have been worse than Democratic administrations at expanding the welfare state. And white males are some of the biggest takers. Read the book and see the evidence.

The problem is succinctly presented and reinforced in detail. And some of this detail is quite boring - thus 4 stars instead of 5. But the implications are not fully fleshed out in this short book. If a majority of the population gets stuff from the minority, why in the world would they ever change? The culture that used to make receiving welfare something to be avoided now punishes and belittles those who actually pay for all those benefits. And how will this massive spending ever be stopped if more and more people would rather get disability and food stamps than live in a free society where you have to work to make it anywhere?

There are a two short rebuttals at the end. Galston, author of the first rebuttal, essentially says that the solution is to take more and have the government redistribute better. LIke Obama calling tax cuts "spending reductions in the tax code", Galston calls paying less taxes "tax expenditures". Basically Obama and Galston both look at people and property as the possession of the government that can and should be redistirbuted in good Marxist fashion. The scary thing is that this is exactly the current national "economic policy". As Prime Minister Thatcher pointed out years ago, "The problem with socialism is that pretty soon it runs out of other people's money". If that is the best rejoinder that Galston can come up with, we're screwed.

Anyway, read this in a few settings and make that uneasy feeling making you want to hoard food and ammunition grow vastly larger. 4 stars.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not book material May 21, 2013

By DAVID DUNNING

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was not book material. The subject might have made a decent article but it's mostly a collection of graphs and data without analysis. The subject needed much more work.