I knew this was true, but it still shocks me..

cashmcall

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Michael Tanner’s recent report for the Cato Institute on the American welfare system.

Tanner is a recognized expert on our welfare system, having written two books on the subject during the 1990’s, when people were actually making an effort to restructure the welfare state. In fact, his work helped form the philosophical basis for the landmark welfare reform enacted in 1996. Since then, Tanner has been studying other areas of public policy, but he recently returned to look at the current welfare structure. Tanner told me that even he was shocked at what he found.

To be fair, Mr. Tanner admits that some of the recent increases in welfare expenditures are due to the recession. But he also observes that the escalation in welfare spending has been far greater during the current recession than the previous ones. Furthermore, people have hung on to their welfare participation for a much longer period of time. That being said, our Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, was recently on Meet the Press and blamed the cause of the deficit on guess who -- the Bush Administration. Not according to Tanner’s study.

There are currently 126 separate federal anti-poverty (welfare) programs. That stupefying figure includes 33 separate housing programs run by four cabinet departments, 21 programs providing food or food assistance in three cabinet departments and one federal agency, eight health care programs in five different agencies within Health and Human Services, and, to top it off, 27 cash or general assistance programs spread throughout seven cabinet departments and six agencies. Tanner concluded that for at least the past 10 years, we’ve had more than 100 federal anti-poverty programs!

If you’re not already confused, let me fix that: the players change so often that ultimately you need a scorecard. In 2011, four obscure programs – Vista, Even Start, the Senior Companion Program (which used to be called grandchildren), and the Foster Grandparent Program – were eliminated. But of course, new ones were created. We now have the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities Fund, the Emergency Homeowners Loan Program, and the Choice Neighborhood Planning Grants. (I probably qualify for this one because I’ve got some pretty choice neighbors.)

How much are we spending on all this? Well, pull up your socks. Tanner calculates that the federal government lays out $44,544 for a “poor” family of three, and that state and local governments throw in another $20,610 (some of which, I assume, comes from federal block grants). This means that a family of three can, in theory, get $67,154 from the government in housing, health care, food, and cash assistance. So here’s the big question: why bother working?

Then there’s the other big question: with all these handouts, why hasn’t poverty been eliminated? A family of three is considered below the poverty line when their income is less than $18,530, so how can anyone still be living in poverty in America when we’re paying out benefits equivalent to almost four times that amount? Certainly, a lot of the money goes to overhead. With 33 federal housing programs – not to mention the ones at the state and local level – there’s an army of middle-class government employees getting their pockets lined. Unfortunately, because of the complexity of the budget process (or lack of budget since the Senate has not passed one in three years), Tanner can’t quite nail down that overhead figure. But he does comment in his report on the people who profit from these programs, writing: “Anti-poverty programs are usually more concerned with protecting the prerogatives of the bureaucracy than with actually fighting poverty.”

What are we getting for our $668 billion a year? It’s certainly not a reduction in poverty. Combine the federal largesse with the $284 billion spent by state and local governments and we are handing out almost $1 trillion a year. Since the beginning of the Great Society in 1965, we’ve increased our combined anti-poverty spending threefold as a percentage of GDP, yet the overall poverty rate has stayed constant with only a modest dip during the mid-1990’s as a result of the welfare reform bill.

Because of the bizarre maze of federal and state programs, it’s nearly impossible to analyze due to the diffusion of the efforts through the multitude of programs. When Mitt Romney talks about reorganizing government, he should emphasize this chaotic situation as an example of how to streamline government and save billions. Massive elimination and consolidation of these programs would not only conserve precious tax dollars, but better serve the recipients of these programs. The tangled mass of programs – along with the lack of co-coordinated oversight – leads only to confusion and fraud, neither of which helps anyone (except the criminals.)
This report demonstrates (yet again) the inefficient disaster of our federal government. Mr. Tanner should be hired to advise the Romney campaign, because we all know that Mr. Obama will never effectively spearhead any change to this morass. And change we need or we will drown.

SOURCE
 
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Yes it is alarming, but not surprising when our nation has allowed liberalism to run amuck for decades. The War on Poverty may be the single biggest failure by any government in all of history. $15 TRILLION has been confiscated and transferred and yet, the libs including BO wants more. CRAZY!!!

Go on welfare an get $67k in annual income. What a great deal!

Sick and disgusting.
 
Yes it is alarming, but not surprising when our nation has allowed liberalism to run amuck for decades. The War on Poverty may be the single biggest failure by any government in all of history. $15 TRILLION has been confiscated and transferred and yet, the libs including BO wants more. CRAZY!!!

Go on welfare an get $67k in annual income. What a great deal!

Sick and disgusting.


well to be fair, its not a failure in respect to it's real intent, quite the opposite.
it has been a dagger in the heart of our great nation.
 
Gretta Van Susteren has been on a campaign of government waste. It's like no one is in charge and the inmates are running the asylum. I've been watching her show, and I can't believe how many crooks are running government. One guy in the NOAA has built a home and bought a yacht by turning in expense reports for expensive trips that he never took. He also got kick-backs for approving other people's expense reports, who were doing the same thing.
 
Gretta Van Susteren has been on a campaign of government waste. It's like no one is in charge and the inmates are running the asylum. I've been watching her show, and I can't believe how many crooks are running government. One guy in the NOAA has built a home and bought a yacht by turning in expense reports for expensive trips that he never took. He also got kick-backs for approving other people's expense reports, who were doing the same thing.


you knew they had to be spending all that money on SOMEthing. they just used to be discrete.
 
you knew they had to be spending all that money on SOMEthing. they just used to be discrete.

What ever happened to integrity? They are so brazen too, to think they are never going to get caught. I don't get it.
 
What ever happened to integrity? They are so brazen too, to think they are never going to get caught. I don't get it.

Yes you do. It is one of the many nasty consequences of a ever powerful out-of-control statist government. As the old saying goes...power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If the people do not rise up against this tyranny, we will soon be serfs.

This is a fairly good description of where we Americans are right now...
A New Doomsday Clock
How Many Minutes Are We From Total Tyranny?


by Roger Toutant



The Doomsday Clock, maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, is meant to indicate how close the world's chieftains are in bringing the experience of bright, white flashes and enveloping mushroom clouds to a neighborhood near you.
Even though the Bulletin's clock has merit, I propose that we adopt a new clock that foretells a different kind of doomsday: a time when we live under Total Government, which means Total Tyranny. History teaches us that the closer we get to Total Tyranny, the closer we get to the breakdown of society, pervasive poverty, slavery and war (including nuclear war).
My version of the clock is divided into twelve five-minute slices, and the hands sweep towards midnight as follows:
1. Private property ownership: Presently, the state claims ownership and control over all private property through its self-appointed powers of taxation, eminent domain and regulation. Private property ownership is now only an illusion, a historical artifact. (+5 minutes; Clock at 11:05 p.m.)
2. Personal privacy: The state is now employing an ever-increasing, omnipotent, spy apparatus to single-out threats to its power. However, there are still pockets of privacy and it is possible to escape the information dragnet. (+4 minutes; Clock at 11:09p.m.)
3. Freedom of movement: Increasingly, citizens are randomly stopped in their travels on public and/or private property because every person is now considered to be a potential enemy of the state. Efforts are underway to make it illegal for some people to leave the country, though such restrictions are not yet the law. (+4 minutes; Clock at 11:13 p.m.)
4. Freedom of the family: Children are now considered to be the property of the state and can be legally kidnapped. Parents are increasingly arrested for failing to meet arbitrary government criteria on the raising of children including how they are fed and disciplined. However, most parents still have the freedom to legally home-school their children.(+4 minutes; Clock at 11:17p.m.)
5. Morality of the justice system: Everyone knows that the judicial system is bought and paid-for by the ruling elite. Rarely are laws overturned or opposed even though the laws may be corrupt and immoral. Occasionally, justice is dispensed based upon moral principles, but it is becoming increasingly rare. (+4 minutes; Clock at 11:21 p.m.)
6. The rule of law: The smokescreen of public law is used as a means to allow the state to get away with crimes for which private individuals would be arrested. State bureaucrats and police are rarely, if ever, charged with criminal acts and they literally can get away with murder. Today the rule of law is essentially dead. (+5 minutes; Clock at 11:26 p.m.)
7. Victimless crime: Most laws on the books today make criminals out of non-criminals. No longer is harm required to constitute crime. Also, laws are so complex that it's no longer possible to know if a law is being broken. Anyone can be a criminal without knowing it. The arbitrary will of the bureaucratic class now reigns supreme. (+5 minutes; Clock at 11:31 p.m.)
8. Economic freedom: Citizens are presently taxed at a total rate that far exceeds that of medieval serfs. The state mandates the use of its monopoly currency which it continually devalues to fund its pet projects and to enrich its politically-connected friends. The government is on the path of tracking every bit of money that changes private hands, though cash exchanges and barter can still go unnoticed. (+4 minutes; Clock at 11:35 p.m.)
9. Sate control over business: The decisions made by businessmen are entirely within the purview of government bureaucrats. Every enterprise is highly regulated and hampered by red tape. Free market competition has taken a back seat to government-corporate fascism. Being politically connected is required to get ahead and corporate welfare is pervasive. The state has taken over major segments of private industry, including health care. Small private enterprises can still succeed, but it is becoming more difficult. (+4 minutes; Clock at 11:39 p.m.)
10. The police and society: The local police are becoming increasingly politicized and militarized. Military outposts that once operated overseas now operate in your local shopping center parking lot. Drones buzz overhead. Torture with Taser guns is now viewed as acceptable police enforcement. Thankfully, most police encounters don't end with torture or death at this time. (+4 minutes; Clock at 11:43 p.m.)
11. Perpetual war: The state is in a perpetual state of war engaging in a multitude of invented battles that cannot be won. They have no definite end. The enemies are contrived on an as-needed basis. We are now the Oceania of Orwell's 1984. (+5 minutes; Clock at 11:48 p.m.)
12. War on the citizen: Anyone who opposes the will of the state is said to be a traitor. Indefinite time in jail in the absence of supporting evidence and a public trial can be a reality for any individual. Citizens can be imprisoned or murdered at the whim of a bureaucrat or political leader, though today the murdering is limited. (+4 minutes; Clock at 11:52 p.m.)
According to my clock, then, we have eight minutes before the hands strike midnight. Would your version of the Doomsday Clock of Tyranny look much different? The good news is that it's still possible to turn-back the clock once the average voter realizes how dark things have become. At least now we have a clock against which we can measure our progress.
 
How Many Minutes Are We From Total Tyranny?

I think we are close. Even if Obama is voted out, there will be others like him and those who put him there,to take their place next time around, who are even worse. They succeeded once, and they will do it again, because they have the infrastruture in place. The only way I see for this country to turn this around, is we have to wake people up, and make these liberal institutions pariahs. We need to start with how our kids are being educated. If we don't get serious about that, then you can kiss the Republic good-by.
 
How Many Minutes Are We From Total Tyranny?

I think we are close. Even if Obama is voted out, there will be others like him and those who put him there,to take their place next time around, who are even worse. They succeeded once, and they will do it again, because they have the infrastruture in place. The only way I see for this country to turn this around, is we have to wake people up, and make these liberal institutions pariahs. We need to start with how our kids are being educated. If we don't get serious about that, then you can kiss the Republic good-by.


which is why I'm glad to see Romney attacking this by calling for vouchers and targeting teacher unions.
bout time. as evidensed in Wisc of all places, America is fed up with unions in general and govt ones in particular.
 
which is why I'm glad to see Romney attacking this by calling for vouchers and targeting teacher unions.
bout time. as evidensed in Wisc of all places, America is fed up with unions in general and govt ones in particular.

True to a point. Maybe with Obama they played their cards too soon, and his presidency has shaken some people up, but Joe public will go back to sleep and not put the changes we need in place quick enough. They went under the radar before and they will do it again if they have to.

I just wished we had more patriot politicans who weren't so cowardly. I'll wager that half the GOP is clueless about what has happened to this country.
 
True to a point. Maybe with Obama they played their cards too soon, and his presidency has shaken some people up, but Joe public will go back to sleep and not put the changes we need in place quick enough. They went under the radar before and they will do it again if they have to.

I just wished we had more patriot politicans who weren't so cowardly. I'll wager that half the GOP is clueless about what has happened to this country.

well sadly that is the trend historically. my hope is that the bear having had its slumber interrupted this badly, will grow additional vigilance to force the issue.
 
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From the OP:

What are we getting for our $668 billion a year? It’s certainly not a reduction in poverty. Combine the federal largesse with the $284 billion spent by state and local governments and we are handing out almost $1 trillion a year. Since the beginning of the Great Society in 1965, we’ve increased our combined anti-poverty spending threefold as a percentage of GDP, yet the overall poverty rate has stayed constant with only a modest dip during the mid-1990’s as a result of the welfare reform bill.

I'm not sure just what is included in that trillion dollars, but it is obvious to anyone who has been paying attention that government largesse, whether it's federal, state, or local is not the way to help people out of poverty.

So, what's the solution?

Do we just end all government handouts? How do we get our representatives to pass such a proposal? Do we gradually phase them out? Again, how do we get our representatives to pass it? Do we blame the current president for a problem that goes back nearly fifty years, and then expect his successor to solve it himself?

I don't care who we elect, that person is not going to be able to solve this problem. I plan to vote for Romney, but don't plan to see the welfare state end because of it.

This is a complex problem and won't be solved by a simplistic solution.
 
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