Four Minutes to Explain All That Is Wrong With America

Very often, I am asked to sum up for politics-minded colleagues just what I think is so terribly wrong with the American economy. It's always difficult to encapsulate all of America's fiscal problems in a few sentences -- everything from devastating crime to rising poverty levels, from inflated real estate values to bank bailouts, comes into play. Barrels of ink have been spilled on this topic, and barrels more will follow them.

In short, it's almost impossible to sum up what's wrong with America's economy while standing on one leg.

Unless your name is Mr. EBT. EBT, for those who are too ignorant to know how their tax dollars are spent, stands for Electronic Benefit Transfer. Essentially, state governments distribute welfare payments via a credit card (EBT). Most major food outlets take EBT as a form of cash. States cannot charge sales tax on any items bought with an EBT.

Just who is Mr. EBT, though? He's a self-titled rapper who just came out with a new YouTube sensation titled "My EBT." Yes, he wears the traditional rapper get-up of a straight-brimmed hat and baggy pants. But look beyond the clothing and see something deeper -- the sort of leech who is bankrupting our society.

In a three minute, 51-second song, Mr. EBT champions his eponymous card -- or rather, his sister's EBT card. (Yes, that's fraud.) Because, as we all know, government dependency is a family value. As he wanders aimlessly through the aisles of corner stores, he chants, "Sandwiches, chips, Snickers, Twix ... I'm eating good. Potato chips ... a big box of Oreos ... cereal, Kix ... my EBT, my EBT...walking down the ave', there's food I got a hunger for." He doesn't have a hunger for grammar, but he has hunger for taxpayer cash. "It's the EBT, it's not food stamps," he says. "If I don't have my card, I use someone else's!"

Welcome to Obama's America, where shame is no longer allowed. If you steal my money so that you can make videos about stealing my money, at the very least, hide the video in your basement. Don't post it on YouTube. But the majority of those who live off the taxpayer dole don't merely champion their sucking from the taxpayer teat, they see it as their God-given right.

This culture of entitlement doesn't start at the bottom; it starts at the top. It doesn't have to do with race, or with class. It has to do with a basic human tendency to accept what we are given and assume that we deserve it. There is a reason that the heads of Solyndra still do not see what they did wrong in blowing nearly half-a-billion dollars. After all, they were entitled to it. For the same reason, those who receive EBT cards and "swipe! swipe!" away do not see a problem.