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Tax and Spending Issues

April 16, 2012

How America Spends Nearly $1 Trillion a Year Fighting Poverty -- and Fails

Forty-eight years after President Johnson declared war on poverty, the number of poor people in the United States remains stubbornly high. Various administrations have increased the number of programs helping those with incomes below the poverty line, but no such institution has had much success, says Michael Tanner, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute.
This trend is particularly surprising because of the rapid increase in spending and the number of programs that has occurred over the time period in question. Since Johnson's time, dollars allocated to fighting poverty at both the federal and state level have increased rapidly, but to no avail.

• Total welfare spending in constant 2011 dollars (including state and local funds) has risen from $256 billion in 1965 to $908 billion today.
• Measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), total welfare spending nearly tripled from 2.19 percent of GDP to 6 percent.
• In 2011, there were 126 antipoverty programs administered by seven different cabinet agencies and six independent agencies.

Measured in per capita terms, the dollar figures make it clear that in terms of fighting poverty, the government is clearly doing something wrong.
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