[crusso]

no such thing as "hangers-on" arriving to a country

No analogy is exact. Otherwise, it would be called the exact same thing. It's the building and creation of the food stamp culture that is analogous to the hangers on of startups.

founders did that we find reprehensible today

No massive social welfare programs that bankrupt society == slavery. Sure.

US economy has never been larger

Revenue does not equal health of a company or of a country.

People have been making complaints like this for several hundred years in this country

I think it has more to do with people not having realized what they've lost of their freedoms and the core strengths of the country due to the slow but inexorable encroachment of tyranny in our everyday lives.