Parasite State

And there's some chance we could fail
But the last time someone was always there for bail
When will we fall down
--Toad The Wet Sprocket

Jacob Hornberger analogizes the welfare state to parasites. A welfare program is like a blood sucking parasite. The parasite latches onto a host and begins extracting resources.

A single blood sucker is tolerable. But more come. At some point, the host weakens, loses its tolerance to the parasites, and dies.

The smaller the host, the quicker it collapses. Greece, Puerto Rico, for example. The US is a larger host, meaning that it can tolerate more parasitic welfare activity before succumbing. The longer lag convinces many that the US is immune to parasitic welfare activity.

But succumb it certainly will.