The United States spends an enormous amount of money on interest, the world’s largest military and programs for seniors. Does that mean there hasn’t been enough money in the federal budget for safety-net programs to help the poor?
Not at all. In fact, spending on means-tested welfare programs has surged. The refusal of too many politicians in both parties to make difficult trade-offs, instead choosing to say yes to almost everything, has put the country on its current path toward looming fiscal crises in the 2030s.
There is still no definitive inventory of all federal programs, despite having been required by law since 2011. A Government Accountability Office report in 2015 estimated there were more than 80 federal programs intended to help people with low incomes.
Safety net spending has surged. Where's the money going?
". . .In fiscal 2025, the federal government spent $1.256 trillion on the largest general programs to help low-income people. That was over $300 billion more than was spent on defense.
This is also a significant underestimate of total government spending for low-income Americans.
- It does not include Medicare or Social Security benefits for low-income seniors; programs solely for low-income members of specific groups, such as veterans and Native Americans; or any state and local spending.
Using the Census Bureau’s official poverty count, that anti-poverty spending comes out to $35,000 in annual expenditures for every person in poverty, or $181,000 per family in poverty.
Economist Milton Friedman, after doing a similar calculation for a 1978 lecture, argued that if that money were actually making it to people in poverty, they’d be among the rich"
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