Why is welfare spending continuing to rise?

You always hear that Social Security and Medicare are running out of money, but you never hear that welfare is running out of money.

Anonymous

OK. I am willing to admit that the last recession was a bad one. However, the recession with “stagflation” in the early 80s was pretty crippling, as well. We are now many years into the current “recovery.” The National Bureau of Economic Research determines the beginning and end of a recession. The independent group declared that the recession began in December 2007, lasted 18 months (making this recession the longest downturn since World War II), and ended in June 2009. The actual statement by the Business Cycle Dating Committee, National Bureau of Economic Research was as follows:

CAMBRIDGE September 20, 2010 – The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research met yesterday by conference call. At its meeting, the committee determined that… business activity in the U.S. economy in June 2009… marks the end of the recession that began in December 2007 and the beginning of an expansion. The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months.

One can appreciate from the above that the “longest recession,” the so-called “Great Recession,” was in reality only 2 months longer than the 1981 – 1982 recession that devolved into “stagflation.” President Reagan fought his recession with tax cuts and smaller government. President Obama fought his recession with increased taxes and the largest federal stimulus package in the history of the world. The “Stimulus” (and it deserves the capital “S”) is usually calculated at $821 billion. However, the money was all borrowed, so that the real cost to taxpayers is somewhere between $1 and $1.7 trillion. That enormous figure, of course, does not include other massive federal deficits or the $5 trillion tossed in by the Federal Reserve. Following Reagan’s approach the United States entered the largest and longest economic expansion in the history of the world. Following the Obama approach we have the feeblest recovery since World War II.

OK, the blah, blah, blahs from the liberal left are already boiling at the above analysis, but it is hard to argue – biggest expansion ever versus worst expansion ever, only two months difference in length, stagflation. The progressive/statist /altruist economists have had to dance quite a jig to explain these facts away – but they do try ever so hard.

But, again, I digress. Let us return to the focus of today’s post. If the recession ended 43 months ago, why is welfare spending still on the rise? Not only is welfare spending continuing to rise, but also it is at an all-time high!

[Source: Obama’s End Run on Welfare Reform, Part Two: Dismantling Workfare, by Robert Rector, senior research fellow in domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation, and Ending Work for Welfare: An Overview, by Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield, research associate in Heritage’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society]

Welfare spending has hit a stunning, all-time high. A new Congressional Research Service report confirms what research… at The Heritage Foundation has shown: The government’s means-tested welfare programs now cost taxpayers roughly $1 trillion a year. (This figure does not include either Social Security or Medicare – RF) Unlike general government programs, mean-tested welfare programs provide assistance exclusively to poor and low-income individuals. The federal government runs over 80 means-tested programs providing cash, food, housing, medical care and social services to around 100 million Americans (my friends that is roughly 1 of every 3 Americans – RF).

Combined federal and state expenditures on these programs come to roughly $9,000 per recipient per year. The size and cost of these programs largely are hidden from public view because government decision makers and the mainstream media invariably discuss welfare one program at a time. By analyzing each of the 80-plus programs in isolation, they conceal the overall size of the welfare state. The Congressional Research Service report is a rare departure from this piecemeal approach.

Discussing the welfare state one program at a time is misleading because most recipients will receive aid from several programs at once. Converted into cash, total welfare spending would equal five times the amount needed to eliminate all poverty in the U.S. (My friends, consider that statement for a moment –RF)…

This isn’t a temporary increase because of the recession. According to Obama’s budget plans it would continue to grow in the next decade, reaching $1.56 trillion by 2022…

When President Johnson launched the War on Poverty it was not his intention to beget the “welfare state.” Johnson’s original aim sought to make the poor self-sufficient, not dependent on government. But after $19 trillion in means-tested welfare spending, our nation is further than ever from that original goal.

Roy Filly