Government handouts now make up a record 35 percent of Americans’ income, an “unsustainable” figure that could lead to economic Armageddon, a top economist said yesterday.
“More people are collecting Social Security and Medicare, and there are fewer people supporting these programs,” said Madeline Schnapp of TrimTabs, a California-based research firm.
“When Social Security was set up under Franklin D. Roosevelt, there were 64 people paying in for every one getting benefits,” she told The Post.
“Now, it’s about three or four for every recipient, and that’s not sustainable.”
Total government payouts, Social Security combined with Medicare and a recession-fueled rise in unemployment payouts, are at a record level, up from 10 percent in 1960 and about 20 percent just a decade ago, according to a TrimTabs analysis for business clients.
If entitlements aren’t reduced, that spells trouble, and possibly another deep recession, Schnapp said.
“One solution is to raise the retirement age to 67, to phase that in. And means-test Social Security. If your income is $250,000 or $300,000, you don’t need it,” she said.