If you think there are lots of people in poverty, then you aren’t paying attention to the size of our welfare state. The following graphic, from a new paper by Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield, shows how a single mother of two earning the minimum wage fares under current means-tested programs:
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About 10 years ago, I emailed about 10 congressmen and said that they should eliminate all federal welfare spending, including HUD and TANF. I said that, currently, some federal tax money is sent, from states with low poverty rates, to Washington, DC. There, the money is redistributed and sent, in welfare benefits, to states with high poverty rates. I said that it would be fairer, if they end federal welfare and cut federal tax rates, since the federal government would need less money. Then, some state legislatures would change their tax rates so that they could increase welfare spending. None of those congressmen responded.
We don’t need welfare, we need educated, skilled workers who can show up for work, do their work safely and well. Able and willing to learn new skills and and advance to higher paying jobs and skills. Prosperity comes from manufacturing, not government. Government is too large, too Nuerocentric, way too wasteful of money and resources. Private enterprise doesn’t waste money like public agencies do. We need a fresh start with government, smaller, more effective, more efficient. The road we’re on is going to lead to ruin. Far too many humans today have far too little education, or marketable skills. Welfare is basically keeping people impoverished permanently.