17 Percent of America in Anti-Poverty Programs

The long and deep recession has increased federal assistance by about $200 billion a year.
As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs. The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36% in two years, to $273 billion. Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion. The food stamps program has risen 80%, to $70 billion. Welfare is up 24%, to $22 billion.
This is one of those Rorschach statistics where one's gut reaction to the article is a projection of our broader belief in the role of government. Conservatives will worry that government programs won't contract after the recession and that we're creating a sticky dependency to government assistance.
The way I see it, it's the recession that's bad and sticky. Counter-cyclical spending to catch families who fall off payrolls and juice demand for goods is the baseline for any decent reaction to a recession. The Obama government isn't redefining the definition of government, or relationship between Washington and individuals. It's more like an umbrella manufacturer in a town that has a rare monsoon.