WELFARE MYTHS & REALITY

Here are six welfare myths that your drunk, stupid, or race-baiting friends might like to use. Short responses are in italics ...

1. We spend over a trillion dollars a year on welfare ... Yeah, sure, if you want to categorize virtually form of government spending as welfare (I debunked this one here back in March). 

2. We are living in a welfare state created by President Obama and his socialist policies ... The percentage of Americans on welfare has actually gone down since the mid-1990s (while Wall Street and the S&P are breaking records). 

3. Illegal immigrants come to this country to qualify for welfare ... No undocumented immigrant can qualify for welfare benefits. Ever. 

4. Welfare recipients don't look for work (or don't want to work) ... The vast majority of those receiving Medicaid, SNAP, and other kinds of financial assistance already have a job. 

5. People receiving benefits become dependent on them, reducing their incentive to work ... Survey after survey debunk this myth, as does #4 above. 

6. Women receiving benefits have more and more children to receive more money ... The reality is the average family receiving assistance has 2.8 kids, with the real number being 2 kids (only 1 in 10 families has more than 3 kids).

If you want more information for those who use these six welfare myths click here, here, here, here, and here. For the record, here's a couple of points on the $17.6 billion we spend on food stamps.

Then we have the reality behind welfare in America ...

Specifically, if you want to turn the tables on the topic you can start with these three points that help us understand the dynamics behind crony capitalism and corporate welfare in America ...

1. TAX GIFTS: Over one trillion dollars in tax expenditures are granted by Congress to corporate America and the rich (who still like to think they're "go it alone" rugged individualists).
2. FAVORABLE LEGISLATION: America's biggest banks would likely go bust without taxpayer bailouts and other legislative gifts.
3. MARKET INTERVENTIONS: Bailouts, the Greenspan Put, favorable legislation, and other market interventions have effectively made America's market players wards of the state, on so many levels. 

And, for the heck of it, you might want to remind your friends how we redistribute wealth in America, from the richer Blue states to the poorer Red states. Here's a partial explanation of how the wealth transfer happened.

- Mark