So, has the Trillions Spent on the War on Poverty worked? - Granite Grok

So, has the Trillions Spent on the War on Poverty worked?

failed war on poverty

From economist Dan Mitchell, a chart showing the poverty rate since 1950.  It shows that before Federal Government insertion of itself radically into Society, Society was solving the poverty problem on its own.  Since then, the percentage in poverty has not really changed much.  You can also see (as Dan points out) that during the Presidencies of Reagan and Clinton, poverty rates started to decline once again.

Is it that Govt intervention stopped getting rid of poverty?  I am not able to say that, but I can state that with the spending of Trillions of dollars since LBJ began his Great Society, there has been precious little change of the plight of the poor – or has there been?  In fact, back in 2009 I posted this:

…“One in seven in total federal and state dollars now goes to welfare. But this is a completely unknown story,” Rector said. “This is not being reported. No one knows Obama is spending $10 trillion on welfare.”

Welfare spending has taken its toll on the federal debt. Since the beginning of the “war on poverty,” $15.9 trillion has been spent on welfare programs. The total cost of every war in American history, starting with the American Revolution, is $6.4 trillion when adjusted for inflation.

And this:

By 2012…Under the Obama plan, 70 percent of American families as a group — those earning less than $109,460 — will receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes, Hodge said.

A year ago, I posted the results of a study by the Heritage Foundation based on government information on looking at poverty not from an income basis but by a consumption basis (charts of what the rich owned by percentage vs what the poor owned by percentage after the jump).  However, the Obama administration is not interested in this as they have now changed the rules (two years ago) by redefining what poverty is not based on an absolute number for poverty for purchase power but based on the “disparate outcome” theory – doesn’t matter how much you earn (or given), if you are in the bottom of the bell curve, even if your income tripled, you’d still be poor.  Can’t fix something that is always a moving target, can we?  And the Obama Administration just “waived” the work requirements of the current 1996 Welfare Reform bill.

If you are in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire,  NH Listens and the United Way are going to have a session of Lakes Region Listens on Tuesday July 31st from 3:30pm to 7pm at the Laconia Middle School.  They are going to talk about what needs to be done to reduce poverty in Belknap County by 2020.  Registration here.

What the rich owns:

What the poor owns:

 

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