U.S. Poverty On Track To Rise To Highest Since 1960s

[Max E.]

Economist Dambisa Moyo, on why aid to africa is actually making africans poorer. Same concept, handouts end up stifling innovation......

I love This woman she is brilliant.

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[Yannis]

Quote from Mav88:

...The war on poverty is a complete failure because it demands nothing in return for the handout.

I would say that the war on poverty is actually an organized effort to keep members of the lower levels of our economy trapped in poverty via entitlements so that the liberals can have their vote no questions asked. Look what's happening in the black community... back to slavery under the libs, as Allen West says:

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[futurecurrents]

Quote from Yannis:

I would say that the war on poverty is actually an organized effort to keep members of the lower levels of our economy trapped in poverty via entitlements so that the liberals can have their vote no questions asked. Look what's happening in the black community... back to the plantation under the liberal supervisor, as Allen West says.

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So how about you Yanni?

Do you have any idea at all what percentage of the federal budget is for the "social safety net" of unemployment, welfare, SSI, child tax credit and food stamps. You know....the "leeches".

Any idea?

 

[Yannis]

Quote from futurecurrents:

...Any idea?

Sure, lots of them, and I've posted many on the Story of Obama thread, go and look, I'm sure you'll learn a lot

 

[Yannis]

More Good Points

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[Yannis]

Dramatic Increase in Poverty Rate: One Small Step for Obama, One Giant Step for the So-Called War on Poverty
by Daniel J. Mitchell - 9/13/2011

The Census Bureau has just released the 2010 poverty numbers, and the new data is terrible.

There are now a record number of poor people in America, and the poverty rate has jumped to 15.1 percent.

But I don’t really blame President Obama for these grim numbers. Yes, he’s increased the burden of government, which doubtlessly has hindered the economy’s performance and made things worse, but the White House crowd legitimately can argue that they inherited a crummy situation.

What’s really striking, if we look at the chart, is that the poverty rate in America was steadily declining. But then, once President Lyndon Johnson started a “War on Poverty,” that progress came to a halt.

As I’ve explained before, the so-called War on Poverty has undermined economic progress by trapping people in lives of dependency. And this certainly is consistent with the data in the chart, which show that the poverty rate no longer is falling and instead bumps around between 12 percent and 15 percent.

This is bad news for poor people, of course, but it’s also bad news for taxpayers. The federal government, which shouldn’t have any role in the field of income redistribution, has squandered trillions of dollars on dozens of means-tested programs. And they’ve arguably made matters worse.

By the way, just in case you think I’m being too easy on Obama, read this post about how the Administration is considering a terrible plan to re-define poverty in order to justify ever-larger amounts of redistribution.

I fully agree that the president’s policies definitely have made—and will continue to make—matters worse. But the fundamental problem is 40-plus years of a misguided “War on Poverty” by the federal government.

 

[Mav88]

Do you have any idea at all what percentage of the federal budget is for the "social safety net" of unemployment, welfare, SSI, child tax credit and food stamps. You know....the "leeches".

Any idea?

yes. over $2T on seniors alone, another 300-700B for medicaid, SCHIP, food stamps, unemployment, etc. depending on year, federal pensions probably near 200B mark, ...THEN we can start to discuss the state and local employees pensions and how they are crushing places like CA.

Total this nation owes over $70T in unfunded mandates yet to come. Yessir, I know who has who by the balls

 

[Yannis]

New Video Shows the War on Poverty Is a Failure
by Daniel J. Mitchell - 10/3/2011

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has released another ¡°Economics 101¡å video, and this one has a very powerful message about the federal government¡¯s so-called War on Poverty.

As explained by Hadley Heath of the Independent Women¡¯s Forum, the various income redistribution schemes being imposed by Washington are bad for taxpayers ¡ª and bad for poor people.

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The video has a plethora of useful information, but the data on the poverty rate is particularly compelling. Prior to the War on Poverty, the United States was getting more prosperous with each passing year and there were dramatic reductions in the level of destitution.

But once the federal government got involved in the mid-1960s, the good news evaporated. Indeed, the poverty rate has basically stagnated for the past 40-plus years, usually hovering around 13 percent depending on economic conditions.

Another remarkable finding in the video is that poor people in America rarely suffer from material deprivation. Indeed, they have wide access to consumer goods that used to be considered luxuries ¨C and they also have more housing space than the average European (and with Europe falling apart, the comparisons presumably will become even more noteworthy).

The most important message of the video, however, is that small government and economic freedom are the best answers for poverty. As Hadley explains, poor people can be liberated to live meaningful, self-reliant lives if we can reduce the heavy burden of the federal government.

Last but not least, the video doesn¡¯t address every issue in great detail, and there are three additional points that should be added to any discussion of poverty.
1.The biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salaries administering various programs.
2.The Obama Administration is looking to re-define poverty in a way that would expand the welfare state and increase the burden of redistribution programs.
3.The welfare reform legislation of the 1990s was a small step in the right direction because it eliminated a federal entitlement and shifted responsibility back to the state level. This success story should be replicated for programs such as Medicaid.

This last point is worth emphasizing because it is also one of the core messages of the video. The federal government has done a terrible job dealing with poverty. The time has come to get Washington out of the racket of income redistribution.

 

[Ricter]

I knew the definition of poverty has changed, turns out it "officially" changed in the '60s. Other interesting stuff here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_poverty

By the way, if the social safety is creating poverty, as some are claiming, then it should be the case that countries with more generous safety nets are creating more poverty than we are.

 

[futurecurrents]

Quote from Mav88:

yes. over $2T on seniors alone, another 300-700B for medicaid, SCHIP, food stamps, unemployment, etc. depending on year, federal pensions probably near 200B mark, ...THEN we can start to discuss the state and local employees pensions and how they are crushing places like CA.

Total this nation owes over $70T in unfunded mandates yet to come. Yessir, I know who has who by the balls

\

Both you and Yanni don't seem to understand the question. Try again. The social safety net..... percentage of the budget. Welfare, food stamps, SSI, and unemployment insurance, aid to abused and neglected children etc,. SS and medicaide/care should not be included as they are mandatory. We're interested in the war on poverty that you guys rail against.