Welfare programs in U.S. costs closing in on 1 trillion per year

[barryr]

Welfare That Works
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
By Ed Feulner

For decades, liberals have promoted welfare as a “hand up, not a hand out.” Now, with the cost of American welfare programs pushing toward $1 trillion per year, it’s time to make that slogan a reality.

First, the depressing background. In 1964, President Johnson declared “war” on poverty, stating he would make Americans self-sufficient by eliminating the causes of poverty. During the 46 years since, the United States has fought actual wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq again. All those wars have ended, or will end, long before the War on Poverty will. And they’ll have cost far less.

The U.S. has spent almost $16 trillion on means-tested welfare. Yet instead of solving the problem of poverty by curing its causes, all that spending has made things worse. After all these years and several generations of dependency, many families are less capable of supporting themselves today than they were when the War on Poverty began.


We need to break this destructive cycle. In a new paper from The Heritage Foundation, poverty experts Robert Rector and Katherine Bradley explain how to do that.

First, lawmakers need to get spending under control. President Barack Obama’s planned budgets would be a big step in the wrong direction. In the next decade, he intends to spend some $10.3 trillion on programs for the poor. That would be a huge, and permanent, increase in spending.

Instead, lawmakers should agree to cap welfare spending at pre-recession levels. That would still add up to $16,800 per poor person in spending on benefits, and that should be more than enough to help the needy.

Next, lawmakers should add work requirements to major benefits programs, including food stamps and public housing programs, that require able-bodied recipients work or prepare for work as a condition for getting aid.

When Congress passed welfare reform in 1996, it required recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to work or to train for a job for a minimum of 30 hours per week. This worked like magic. “Caseloads shrunk by over 60 percent, 2.8 million families moved off the rolls and into jobs, and 1.6 million fewer children were left in poverty,” Rector and Bradley explain.

Applying the same requirements to more welfare programs would likely generate a similar jump in employment and reduction in dependency.

Finally, lawmakers ought to change the incentives that families have to remain on welfare indefinitely. One way to do that would be to make some welfare benefits a loan that recipients would eventually pay back.

This would accomplish two goals. It would make welfare recipients understand that their actions, such as having children out of wedlock, have consequences. Also, it would reduce the total cost of welfare by creating a stream of money flowing back from former recipients that could be used to fund future benefits.

“If such a policy were implemented throughout the welfare system, over the long term it could reduce the high levels of early non-marital childbearing that are a predominant cause of poverty and dependence in American society,” Rector and Bradley write.

This is the very opposite of how welfare programs function today.

Consider food stamps. It’s commonly seen as a short-term assistance program for those down on their luck. Yet half of food stamp aid goes to individuals who have received aid for 8.5 years or more. They’re caught in a cycle of dependency, and if they haven’t broken free after all that time, when are they ever going to achieve independence?

It’s time for a change. Since taking office, President Obama has almost doubled spending on food stamps and added 8 million more people to the rolls. Our country’s budget is already in the red, and simply can’t afford to carry all those recipients for the better part of a decade.

With the correct reforms, welfare can once again become a hand up, and we can finally make a popular liberal soundbite a reality.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/68639

[Smiling Assassin27]

Hey, the Obama economy (it IS his now, whether he likes it or not) is forcing more and more Americans out of work and into welfare rolls. It's called a 'voter recruitment' movement.

[barryr]

Hey, the Obama economy (it IS his now, whether he likes it or not) is forcing more and more Americans out of work and into welfare rolls. It's called a 'voter recruitment' movement.

True, maybe that's been his plan from the start.

[Requiem]

Hey, the Obama economy (it IS his now, whether he likes it or not) is forcing more and more Americans out of work and into welfare rolls. It's called a 'voter recruitment' movement.

You do realize that most people who are on welfare and in extreme poverty do not partake in the political process?

[Spider]

LOL meanwhile Barry was asking for a handout to help him with his house .......:rofl:

[Spider]

You do realize that most people who are on welfare and in extreme poverty do not partake in the political process?

LOL and not to mention minors , but hey why ruin a good government gonna take us over conspiracy ............. some good stuff

[BroncoBuff]

During the 46 years since, the United States has fought actual wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq again. All those wars have ended, or will end, long before the War on Poverty will. And they’ll have cost far less.

"And they'll have cost far less!" .... I ask you, what kind of warped, twisted world do we live in where we spend less on wars, and more on food and medicine for the elderly? WHEN DID WE LOSE OUR WAY?

[Rohirrim]

The war on poverty has been about as successful, and as long lived, as the war on drugs.

I don't think that any country willing to ship its manufacturing base overseas can expect to have much success ending poverty. Manufacturing is the bottom step on the ladder that previous generations used to climb out of poverty. What is the bottom step now, McDonald's?

[TonyR]

The war on poverty has been about as successful, and as long lived, as the war on drugs.

Might as well add the "war on terror" to the list of unwinnable wars.

[BroncoBuff]

How has the war on poverty been lost? The kind of poverty LBJ talked about has been largely eradicated.

[BroncoBuff]

For decades, liberals have promoted welfare as a “hand up, not a hand out.” Now, with the cost of American welfare programs pushing toward $1 trillion per year, it’s time to make that slogan a reality.

Very sneaky to pretend this entire sum goes to the "lazy" with their "hands out." The reality of course is that 90% of that total is Social Security and Medicare.

This is just a Reagan-esqe resentment package, offered up with a bow on top "Welfare Cadillac Queens (most of whom are black) are living high on your dollars! Help us put them in their place!"

No political point fascinates me more than how the heck rich Republicans have been successful at persuading middle and lower-middle class voters to support them.

[Rigs11]

gotta love it, the previous admin creates a measly 1 million jobs in their 8 years in office, runs up the deficit, leaves the economy in a recession, and this numbskull has the audacity to bash obama for wanting to help the poor.The rightards complain about people on welfare and at the same time complain about the stimulus which was put in place to stop the severe job losses.the rightards complain about welfare and yet stand idly by as their party filibusters the unemployment extension for a million people. hmm.. wonder if they will hop on welfare?bunch of morons.

[Pony Boy]

gotta love it, the previous admin creates a measly 1 million jobs in their 8 years in office, runs up the deficit, leaves the economy in a recession, and this numbskull has the audacity to bash obama for wanting to help the poor.The rightards complain about people on welfare and at the same time complain about the stimulus which was put in place to stop the severe job losses.the rightards complain about welfare and yet stand idly by as their party filibusters the unemployment extension for a million people. hmm.. wonder if they will hop on welfare?bunch of morons.

Average unemployment in the Bush years was 5.2 and the Obama has us where? can you say double digit unemployment...... Nice pitch lefty...

[underrated29]

My ex wife is living off welfare and foodstamps. Her and her new husband. Guess what they take home between the both of them?......


$3200 a month!!! A FReaking Month! Plus she has almost $400 worth of foodstamps. Neither of them has jobs and neither plans to get a job. And since Obama passed some bill or something, they are able to renew up to 4 times each.

So they are going to make $3200 a month for the next 4 years while sitting on their asses at home. I totally buy the fact that we are spending 1 tril + on it. She is just milking it for everything she can. What a slut.

[Requiem]

I should totally get on welfare.

[Rohirrim]

Very sneaky to pretend this entire sum goes to the "lazy" with their "hands out." The reality of course is that 90% of that total is Social Security and Medicare.

This is just a Reagan-esqe resentment package, offered up with a bow on top "Welfare Cadillac Queens (most of whom are black) are living high on your dollars! Help us put them in their place!"

No political point fascinates me more than how the heck rich Republicans have been successful at persuading middle and lower-middle class voters to support them.

The Right is launching a new meme: Social security is "welfare."

[Rigs11]

Average unemployment in the Bush years was 5.2 and the Obama has us where? can you say double digit unemployment...... Nice pitch lefty...

selective rightard.it was at 7.2% when he left office. wager that obama creates more jobs in 4 years thant dumbya did in eight?

[JJJ]

My ex wife is living off welfare and foodstamps. Her and her new husband. Guess what they take home between the both of them?......


$3200 a month!!! A FReaking Month! Plus she has almost $400 worth of foodstamps. Neither of them has jobs and neither plans to get a job. And since Obama passed some bill or something, they are able to renew up to 4 times each.

So they are going to make $3200 a month for the next 4 years while sitting on their asses at home. I totally buy the fact that we are spending 1 tril + on it. She is just milking it for everything she can. What a slut.

Case dismissed. This is where this leads.

[Popcorn Sutton]

Average unemployment in the Bush years was 5.2 and the Obama has us where? can you say double digit unemployment...... Nice pitch lefty...

A rather shortsighted simpleton point of view. When Bush left office, the US was losing 600,000 to 700,000 jobs per month. I suppose this is Obama's fault too...coming from the guy who thinks Obama got us into the mess with China.

I don't support Obama but he didn't create the 9.7 percent unemployment.

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4bb614577f8b9a1667ae0100/chart-020510-update.gif

[Rigs11]

these simpletons get their 'fact" from faux news. What did you expect?

http://www.newshounds.us/2010/06/12/fox_and_friends_lie_and_spin_about_unemployment_un der_republicans_vs_obama.php

[JJJ]

A rather shortsighted simpleton point of view. When Bush left office, the US was losing 600,000 to 700,000 jobs per month. I suppose this is Obama's fault too...coming from the guy who thinks Obama got us into the mess with China.

I don't support Obama but he didn't create the 9.7 percent unemployment.

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4bb614577f8b9a1667ae0100/chart-020510-update.gif

How come we never see this chart starting from Jan 2001?

[Rigs11]

How come we never see this chart starting from Jan 2001?

http://blogd.com/wp/index.php/archives/6827

[JJJ]

selective rightard.it was at 7.2% when he left office. wager that obama creates more jobs in 4 years thant dumbya did in eight?

And that is not a simpleton argument? Don't you think somone starting at 7.2% unemployment has a better chance to create jobs than some starting at 4% like Bush?

You do realize though to win your bet by your measurements the unemloyment rate at the end of the his first term must be around 6.7% by January 2013?

He is 4m in the red at this point and those wimpy census jobs are going to fade out soon.

[JJJ]

http://blogd.com/wp/index.php/archives/6827

:rofl: They only have charts of Bush's recessions.

What we do know about Bush is he can pull us out of a recession as evidenced by the nice job growth from 2003 to 2007. He got the unemployment rate back down to 4.4% in late 2007 after peaking at 6.3% in June of 2003. Interestingly Bush's tax cut was passed in April of 2003.

Obama so far not so much. He gets more time though.

[Cool Breeze]

The war on poverty has been about as successful, and as long lived, as the war on drugs.

I don't think that any country willing to ship its manufacturing base overseas can expect to have much success ending poverty. Manufacturing is the bottom step on the ladder that previous generations used to climb out of poverty. What is the bottom step now, McDonald's?

Straight leg Infantry...

[Mr.Meanie]

:rofl: They only have charts of Bush's recessions.

What we do know about Bush is he can pull us out of a recession as evidenced by the nice job growth from 2003 to 2007. He got the unemployment rate back down to 4.4% in late 2007 after peaking at 6.3% in June of 2003. Interestingly Bush's tax cut was passed in April of 2003.

Obama so far not so much. He gets more time though.

That was due the housing bubble. Which, of course, was due to artificially low interest rates, the systematic dismantling of lending regulations (by both D's and R's), and hyper-consumerism by people who were borrowing & spending against their inflating equity as fast as it was going up.

Do you really want to give Bush the credit for that?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

...In a new paper from The Heritage Foundation....

ROFL!

Stopped reading right there.

(But the thread title was enough to expose barry as a clueless nitwit.)

[TonyR]

So they are going to make $3200 a month for the next 4 years while sitting on their asses at home.

I don't see how this is possible. In other words, I don't buy it.

[cutthemdown]

We need to cut entitlements. We need to cut the Pentagon budget as well though.

IMO a 25% entitlements is in order
Maybe 10-15% from pentagon.

[cutthemdown]

How dems can argue anything is working is beyond me. You could say no way republicans would have done better etc etc, but to try and polish any of Obamas ideas is a joke. They are all horrid from his crappy healthcare to his stimulus.

[shakenbake]

I buy into this article. I spent some time in southern california working with the poor. The problem is the second and thrid generation of poor have learned how to milk the system. I will give you an example of what I saw within the camobodian community of southern californina.

First a couple would get married in a buddist wedding but not legally married (this is on purpose). That way the community sees them as a married couple but the government doesn't. Then the woman gets pregnant and files for welfare as a single mother. Meanwhile her "husband" has a full-time job. This way the woman can get money for housing, food, etc and not have to work. The "husband" will use his money to buy things like cars, flat screen tv's etc and they live a nice life. Sure they may live in a poor area of town but they have always lived there. Also, there is no social discrimnation from thier friends because they are all doing the same thing. It is rampant and something needs to change!

[barryr]

ROFL!

Stopped reading right there.

(But the thread title was enough to expose barry as a clueless nitwit.)

Like you can read :thumbsup:

[barryr]

My ex wife is living off welfare and foodstamps. Her and her new husband. Guess what they take home between the both of them?......


$3200 a month!!! A FReaking Month! Plus she has almost $400 worth of foodstamps. Neither of them has jobs and neither plans to get a job. And since Obama passed some bill or something, they are able to renew up to 4 times each.

So they are going to make $3200 a month for the next 4 years while sitting on their asses at home. I totally buy the fact that we are spending 1 tril + on it. She is just milking it for everything she can. What a slut.

Heck, a girlfriend of someone I know is milking the system for more than that a month. But don't tell liberals, they won't believe you since only honest, down on their luck, really want to work people are on welfare ;)

[barryr]

How dems can argue anything is working is beyond me. You could say no way republicans would have done better etc etc, but to try and polish any of Obamas ideas is a joke. They are all horrid from his crappy healthcare to his stimulus.

Because they are desperate and have a habit of challenging facts. They will argue against 2 + 2 being 4 if Obama says it's not.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Heck, a girlfriend of someone I know is milking the system for more than that a month. But don't tell liberals, they won't believe you since only honest, down on their luck, really want to work people are on welfare ;)

Bass-Ackwards Barry's solution is to make the "honest, down on their luck, really want to work people" suffer for the abuses of a few bad apples.

Ain't that just like your typical cheerleader for corporate welfare?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

How dems can argue anything is working is beyond me. You could say no way republicans would have done better etc etc, but to try and polish any of Obamas ideas is a joke. They are all horrid from his crappy healthcare to his stimulus.

All I have to do is think about what life would have been like under the "solutions" posited by Gramps and Bible Barbie, and suddenly, for all his shortcomings, Obama doesn't seem that bad.

[TonyR]

How dems can argue anything is working is beyond me. You could say no way republicans would have done better etc etc, but to try and polish any of Obamas ideas is a joke. They are all horrid from his crappy healthcare to his stimulus.

I agree that nobody should be arguing that things are "working". They're not. The economy is a mess, the war is a mess, the gulf is a mess. There is a lot of blame to go around for all of these messes but Obama certainly isn't "the cause" of any of them. And I hear an awful lot of criticism but very little in the way of ideas and solutions. There are no easy fixes for any of these things.

On healthcare, you may be right but we don't know enough yet to make the judgement you're making. Something has/had to be done and hopefully this is a first step in the right direction but there's still a lot of work to be done.

On the stimulus, I think it's entirely possible that things could be worse without it. It was a band-aid to keep the economy from completely tanking, not a long term solution. It was certainly flawed but I don't know that a GOP president would have done much different. A large piece of it was tax cuts. And many economists argue that it wasn't large enough.

Still too early to make blanket statements about total failure. My biggest complaint about Obama is that he's been too cautious. I'd like to see a stronger push to get out of Afghanistan in particular.

[cutthemdown]

All I have to do is think about what life would have been like under the "solutions" posited by Gramps and Bible Barbie, and suddenly, for all his shortcomings, Obama doesn't seem that bad.

Ok that I can go along with. It makes sense to me to say hey Palin and McCain would have been much worst.

Just don't try and tell me Obama is special or a great president. This guy in so far over his head its not even funny.

I tend to agree though i would rather have this then Palin. She was plain scary to be 1 death from the big seat. Especially when McCain is what 478 yrs old?

[Meck77]

Just like you I know plenty of people who got laid off who are collecting unemployment and loving it! Many of them are now working for cash on the side and collecting a big check for NOTHING.

[underrated29]

I don't see how this is possible. In other words, I don't buy it.



Not sure how you don't. Granted I do not know all the details but here is what I do know.

Each collect $1600 a month. Which equals $3200. And the food stamps I have seen first hand as we (really she, I was just there) used them for his birthday party.

As for the Obama extension, I have heard about it. But never cared to look into it. However, I believe it as we have been divorced for 1 year and a couple months and she still has no job and is not looking to get one either. (she got fired about 2 weeks before we got divorced)....So to me it seems pretty plausible.

[cutthemdown]

Just like you I know plenty of people who got laid off who are collecting unemployment and loving it! Many of them are now working for cash on the side and collecting a big check for NOTHING.

I have friends in the IBEW who work for 7-8 months a yr, take unemployment the other 4 even though they could still take a call for another job. It's a way of life for single guys in that union. He hasn't worked more then 8 months in a yr for 6 yrs. He goes on unemployment because its easy. Jobs end all the time, you go back to hall, you take a job. If you just don't go back to take a call you can go unemployment. They dont even check.

Then they go work side jobs under the table. Eventually though the medical bennies run out and they have to go back and work.

[cutthemdown]

Anyone who thinks that isnt happening on a large scale in calif in kidding themselves.

[TonyR]

Not sure how you don't.

It's the 4 years that doesn't sound right. I can't believe the program would pay out for 48 months.

[Rohirrim]

Interesting. What the scammers should know is that the years that I worked in human services, my desk was right next to three desks occupied by Colorado State Marshalls whose job it was to sift through the paperwork and visit homes where fraud was suspected. And if you get caught, you're going to jail and will never be allowed to file for any services again. For those who think that nobody cares and nobody is looking for the scammers, don't kid yourselves. Those guys averaged about five busts a day.

[underrated29]

It's the 4 years that doesn't sound right. I can't believe the program would pay out for 48 months.



Gotchya...yeah I dont know. I have heard about the extension plan, but like I said I never cared to look into it. If no one looks it up I suppose I can bump this thread a year from now and see where they are at.

[underrated29]

Interesting. What the scammers should know is that the years that I worked in human services, my desk was right next to three desks occupied by Colorado State Marshalls whose job it was to sift through the paperwork and visit homes where fraud was suspected. And if you get caught, you're going to jail and will never be allowed to file for any services again. For those who think that nobody cares and nobody is looking for the scammers, don't kid yourselves. Those guys averaged about five busts a day.



You want me ex wifes address? I would love to see her face when she gets busted!

On second thought I would not. Even though she is a piece of work, that is going to get hers one day. She is still the mother of my son and he loves her and needs to see her. Him visiting her in jail is not conducive to the good child hood I want him to have.

[Rigs11]

they should all move to AZ and take back the jobs that the illegals took from them. Still waiting to hear how that will pan out.

[Popcorn Sutton]

Anyone who thinks that isnt happening on a large scale in calif in kidding themselves.

It's happening all over. My sister lives in Clarksville, TN and is married to a soldier from the 101st Airborne. Almost every one of her neighbors is pulling this ****. She knows many couples that have been together for years but will not get married for fear of losing benefits from the govt. Women go out and get their nails and hair done on govt. money and the boyfriend pays the rent.

[JJJ]

The Right is launching a new meme: Social security is "welfare."

The right on this board I thnk know that is not true.

Medicaid is welfare.

Medicare and Social Security are not.

[Rigs11]

The repubs always seem to know someone that is abusing the system.Ha!they always want to persecute these people, yet when the corporations rape us for billions they quickly come to their defense.

[Popcorn Sutton]

I forgot to mention ^^ that these people were Section 8 housing as well. They would leave the boyfriend who has a job off the housing application. He would just "stay" the night....all the time.

[Popcorn Sutton]

The repubs always seem to know someone that is abusing the system.Ha!they always want to persecute these people, yet when the corporations rape us for billions they quickly come to their defense.



Democrat or Republican... You can't deny the system is being abused.