It isn't just the elderly.
In 1960, something like 9 percent of the population was 65 or older. In 2011, this number was about 13 percent. Remember, we're talking percentages all the way through this.
There's more to the increase in dependency than this. Fact is, we have decades of politicians buying votes with government handouts, and the result now is a Federal government where most of the budget is simply passing out checks for one benefit or another. And trillion dollar deficits.