By Amanda J. Reinecker

One of the pernicious consequences of ever-larger government is the increasing dependence of the population on the government for their well-being and livelihood. To drive this point home, experts in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis set out to answer the question, “are Americans more dependent on their government?” Their answer: Yes.

Dependency on government has spiked 31 percent since 2001, according to the 2009 Index of Dependence on Government. Heritage experts found that the total Americans dependent on the government for their daily housing, food, and health care is a staggering 60.8 million. (Download the full report in PDF.)

The problem isn’t a partisan one. In fact, our experts have identified a steady increase in dependency on government programs for each of the last seven years. The report’s authors, including CDA director Bill Beach, clearly note that “the rapid expansion of dependency-creating programs did not begin with Barack Obama’s inauguration.”

But what sets this year apart from the others, writes Beach, is that “all of the evidence points to even more rapid increases in dependency ahead, which well could threaten democratic government.” This is particularly true because America faces the pending mass retirement of the Baby Boom generation, as well as an increase in the number of people who pay no taxes whatsoever.

Since his inauguration, President Obama has worked to expand the size and scope of the federal government, rapidly deepening and expanding the reliance of the American people on federal programs. Perhaps the most prominent example of this is the President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — a.k.a. the “stimulus” — which essentially reversed welfare reform and reestablished dependency. The Left’s health care “reform” would only make the problem worse.

“Americans should be concerned” about this year’s Index, writes Beach. “Dependence on the federal government for life’s many challenges strips civil society of its historical and necessary role in providing aid and renewal through the intimate relationships of family, community, and local institutions and governments.”

Some fear that America is nearing a tipping point in the relationship between government and the private civic associations that have for so long defined our nation. But Beach believes this year’s index score shows, “we’ve reached that point.”

A brighter unemployment forecast? Not yet

According to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy shed another 36,000 jobs in February, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 9.7 percent. According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the fact that “only 36,000 people lost their jobs today … is really good.” Now, The Heritage Foundation strongly believes in looking on the bright side of things. But only when there is a bright side.

The President’s jobs deficit stands at 8.3 million. What does this mean? Heritage economic policy expert J.D. Foster explains:

Obama promised that if elected he would create 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010 through new economic policies, beginning with the enactment of a massive economic stimulus package. Accompanying his jobs promise, the President also emphasized accountability and measuring his presidency by results. The result of the President’s jobs promise means total employment which in February stood at 129.5 million should be at least 137.8 million by the end of 2010, leaving the Obama jobs deficit at almost 8.3 million jobs.

This deficit, coupled with a forecast for 10 percent unemployment rates over the next two years, illustrates the failure of President Obama’s “stimulus” package and underscores the need to explore economic policies that aren’t dependent on increased spending and borrowing. (The bill for such policies, of course, is paid ultimately by the taxpayer.)  Instead, Washington should truly “jump-start job creation,” as the President has stated, by providing businesses with incentives to invest and take risks in pursuit of opportunity. 

Individuals and businesses aren’t starting new endeavors, investing, hiring new workers, or expanding into new markets because of their economic concerns and fears about intrusive new federal controls.

If lawmakers are really interested in getting the economy back on track, writes Foster, “the first step is to fire Washington’s job destruction machine” and adopt pro-growth polices. Then maybe we’d see a brighter turn of events.

> Other Heritage Work of Note

• Even though President Obama’s political rhetoric sounds like something out of an E.U. policy playbook, even European leaders are waking up with an Obama hangover, Heritage Vice President Kim Holmes argues. Europeans celebrated when President Obama was elected, but he has managed to sour relations with even his staunchest supporters, particularly French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who criticized him recently for being out of touch with reality. President Obama cannot even find the time to attend this year’s annual U.S.-European Union Summit, further harming relations with European leadership. “Europeans may come to realize that things were not as bad under Mr. Bush as they thought. At least he showed up to their meetings.” Holmes writes in the Washington Times.

• While countries like China are investing heavily in expanding their military capabilities and developing new technology, the United States is decreasing its investment in military modernization. In fact, only about a third of Americans believe that America will remain the top global military power by 2029. If the President’s proposed defense investments cuts continue, the U.S. faces the threat of losing its technological superiority. Congress must act to reverse these cuts, writes Heritage’s National Security Fellow Mackenzie Eaglen on National Review Online. “This will require raising the defense budget topline and preventing runaway entitlement spending from encroaching upon the defense budget.”

> In Other News

• Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) announced that he and about a dozen of his Democratic colleagues are willing to kill President Obama’s health care reform plans altogether unless the bills explicitly prevent federal tax dollars from being used to fund abortions.
• On Thursday night, a radical gunman shot two Pentagon police officers before another officer fatally shot him. The two wounded officers are recovering in the hospital. Officials have found no immediate connection to terrorism.

• The Wall Street Journal reports on Homeland Security’s new Einstein program, which “is designed to look for indicators of cyber attacks by digging into all Internet communications, including the contents of emails, according to the declassified summary.”

• The District of Columbia began licensing same-sex marriages this week.

• “Buffeted by ethics inquiries, veteran New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel stepped down Wednesday as chairman of the House’s powerful tax-writing committee,” the AP reports.

Amanda Reinecker is a writer for MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Nathaniel Ward, the Editor of MyHeritage.org, and Eva Brates, a Heritage Foundation intern, contributed to this report.