I PREFER OPTION ONE

CNBC seems to be turning into another  Free Market Fairy news outlet.   This article is really just another attack on the American welfare state.

Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages
Published: Tuesday, 8 Mar 2011 | 3:59 PM ET
By: John Melloy
Executive Producer, Fast Money

“The U.S. economy has become alarmingly dependent on government stimulus,” said Madeline Schnapp, director of Macroeconomic Research at TrimTabs, in a note to clients. “Consumption supported by wages and salaries is a much stronger foundation for economic growth than consumption based on social welfare benefits.”

The economist gives the country two stark choices. In order to get welfare back to its pre-recession ratio of 26 percent of pay, “either wages and salaries would have to increase $2.3 trillion, or 35 percent, to $8.8 trillion, or social welfare benefits would have to decline $500 billion, or 23 percent, to $1.7 trillion,” she said.