Have We Won the War On Poverty? After one of the nation’s favorite Presidents ,John Kennedy, was assassinated Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson took over. After winning re-election in 1964 he started ramping up the war machine in Southeast Asia by pumping in more troops while back on the domestic front he declared a “war on poverty” when almost one out of five Americans lived below the poverty line. It was the same then as it is now; to solve the problem all companies have to do is pay a living wage to their employees; they did not do it then and do not do it to this very day. $15 Trillion Has Been Spent The poverty level now stands at 15% the highest rate in ten years after local, state, and federal governments have spent a staggering $15 trillion 48 years later. Spending $15 trillion on poverty programs to get the numbers down 4% from 19% to 15% sounds like an unreasonable amount of money to throw at a problem that policy makers today are calling an absolute failure. 41% Increase in Funding Since Obama Took Office The war on poverty gave away $193 billion in 2008 under the Bush Administration while the Obama regime will hand out $668 billion in federal funds while local and state government funding will top $284 billion. Add the two together and you have $952 billion taxpayer dollars being spent on a problem that is not being solved! In comparison $685 billion is spent on defense each year and that t funding is being drawn down as our troops leave two separate wars. Why Work? A family of three on the dole receives $61,820 dollars from local, state, and federal governments if they signed up for all the entitlement programs. Every poor person now latches onto $20,610 dollars from government entitlements per year. The poverty line established by the feds says that if you’re below $18,530 you are in poverty. In theory, then, the poverty here in America should have been wiped out a long time ago if applicants are getting the $20,610 dollars that is being reported. Feds have 126 Poverty Programs That Are Overlapping The feds by themselves are funding 126 different welfare programs providing food stamps, health care, housing, cash, and other benefits that often overlap to recipients that may or may not be qualified because there is little oversight. The Numbers Are 4 cabinet departments separate from each other run 33 programs for housing; 3 separate federal agencies provide 21 programs with certain types of food or food buying assistance; there are a total of 8 different healthcare departments that are controlled by 5 separate agencies inside the ‘Department of Health and Human Services’ alone that have duplicating services.
Largest is Medicare Medicare cost the taxpayers more than $228 billion annually that helps 49 million Americans with health care issues. Food stamps help feed 41 million poor each year while sucking up $72 billion of the working class money spent on taxes. Pell Grants from the fed draw down $41 billion for students attending colleges & universities; plus there are scores of minor programs that all add to the cost of federal, state, and local governments everywhere. 106 Million Citizens & Aliens 106 million out of 312 million citizens and aliens of these United States are given benefits of some type or another on a yearly basis from one or more of these federal, state or local governments to the tune of $15 trillion dollars over the last 48 years. Have We Won the War On Poverty? My question to you to noodle is have we won the war on poverty? Are there no homeless people left to help? Are there less people without a home or a job today than in the past? Are the poor better off today than 48 years ago? What has our $15 trillion dollars bought? GAO Since all these figures came from the Government Accounting Office (GAO) it would be fair to say they are potentially accurate. It seems that all we have really done is make recipients more comfortable in their own poverty zone and have not given them the real tools to help them climb out. It is clear for all to see that we are not getting our money’s worth nor are any people getting a real hand up. All we are really doing is providing high paying government jobs to build programs that are rife with corruption, duplication, and no accountability or oversight. The Way Out The way to get out of poverty of course is to make sure you finish school so you can get a higher education. If you cannot get the funds for this enlist in the military and after you serve they will give you an education for college. Stay off drugs, keep away from the bad influences in society and if you live in a bad neighborhood simply move out. Abstain from sex because it is almost guaranteed if you are a single parent you are going to fail and become hooked into the nanny state. The Nanny State Government both large and small has always tried to treat a problem instead of cure it. Treating poverty has always lead to more money being spent on more programs, more government jobs for treatment, and a never ending cycle of people being sucked into the nanny state. Try to help yourself without the need of big brother and your achievements will be much more enduring because you know you have done it alone. There is solace in that.