Welfare growth in America has been dramatic over the past 50 years, New programs have steadily been added, and their scope has broadened.
Here is a graph of the welfare growth in America. The poverty rate over the years has been transposed over the welfare growth. It is not a pretty picture.
While welfare has grown dramatically over the past 60 years, the poverty rate has remained flat. No amount of spending has made much of an impact. In good times and bad, a stubborn 10% of the population is in poverty. Here is the data and information.
We all know the saying, “give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Welfare doesn’t teach; it just pays out benefits. So no wonder the poverty rate doesn’t change. To lower it, we need to start helping people earn financial independence. That is hard work. It’s much easier to hand out fish and leave it at that (and cash, housing, cellphones, etc.). It is much easier to grow welfare. It’s time for a new approach. It is time we truly helped people to help themselves.