Updated

By Bill O'Reilly

You may have heard the story of New York City police Lawrence DePrimo, who spent $100 of his own money to give a barefoot homeless man some boots. That man Jeffrey Hillman was lying in the street when officer DePrimo spotted him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEPRIMO: It was extremely cold that night and you see this gentleman, I tried to offer him to buy a pair of socks he said "No officer but God bless you. Thank you for asking." And when I see something like that, you any, here it is it is freezing cold out and he has the heart to say God bless me. And I just knew I had to help him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Obviously Officer DePrimo is a patriot but here is the sad truth. Mr. Hillman is not homeless. He has an apartment paid for by you and me. He is on government assistance. He has enough resources to live his life in a dignified manner. Yet, Mr. Hillman doesn't do that. He prefers the street and the boots Officer DePrimo gave him have disappeared.

Now I'm not judging Hillman, most cases like his involve substance abuse or mental illness. However, we must be honest. The government cannot provide a decent life for Hillman. No matter how much money it spends. We're already giving the guy tens of thousands of dollars a year. And it is doing nothing.

There are millions of Americans like Jeffrey Hillman and we all need to understand that some people simply will not, will not save themselves. This translates into an issue that affects all of us.

Right now an estimated 66 million Americans are receiving food stamps and/or Medicaid. In addition, there are 21 million folks working for the government. That means that 87 million people in America are being subsidized by we the taxpayers. But there are only 109 million Americans working in the private sector. Doing the math, it's impossible for 109 million workers to support 87 million people. It can't be done. No matter how much you tax the workers.

Yet, the Obama administration and the Democratic Party continue to put forth that higher taxation will bring the massive government debt under control. Perhaps the only Democrat telling the truth about this is our old pal Howard Dean, the uber liberal former Governor of Vermont.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), FORMER GOVERNOR OF VERMONT: The truth is everybody needs to pay more taxes, not just the rich. That's a good start. But we're not going to get out of this deficit problem unless we raise taxes across the board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now Governor Dean sympathizes with the socialist philosophy and that's where the country is heading. Taking from those who are productive and giving to those who are struggling. Or who are working for the massive government apparatus. During this Christmas season I think we all should emulate officer DePrimo.

We should try to help those in need, but that help may be futile. If the federal government doesn't wise up and impose some discipline on the incredible, incredible entitlement spending, America's economy will eventually collapse.

President Obama needs to invite Jeffrey Hillman to the White House. He needs to talk to the man with no shoes. He needs to see what is actually happening in this country. We've got to get real about government spending.

And that's "The Memo."