Entitlements & Welfare
Poverty

      In 1935, President Roosevelt signed the first social welfare program into law, the Social Security Act.   Since then, our government has spent over $40 trillion on welfare and entitlement programs that have done more harm to our society than it helped.   After WW I and WW II, there were precipitous increases in poverty due to the influx of immigrants and the abandonment of soldiers returning home from war.   The term Hobo was given to soldiers trying to make their way home after WW I.   Upon arrival at a port of entry in the U.S., they were given $1.35 by the military and then told to find their own way Homeward Bound.
      After WW II the overall poverty level in the U.S. was decreasing at a rate of about 1% per year.   The poverty rate in Black communities was improving faster than other races because of their strong values of faith and family.   By the time President Johnson declared his “War on Poverty” in 1964, the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) was 19%.   Even with the numerous welfare programs enacted by Johnson, the overall poverty level had only dropped to 12% by 1970.   However, the poverty level in predominantly Black communities started rapidly increasing.
      In the best economic times, the Federal Poverty Level only drops to about 11% and increases to about 13% in hard times.   Even in the worst recession the poverty level of married couples, including Black families, has never gone above 8.5%.   2018 was the first time the Federal Poverty Level dropped below 11% which makes you wonder what was done differently.   The FPL dropped to 10.5% and remained there until the pandemic hit the U.S. in 2020.   Today the FPL is 12% with 38 million citizens living at or below the poverty level.   That number does not include the 30+ million illegal migrants who cost you more than $450 billion each year.

Social Security Going Bankrupt

      The Federal Social Security Administration (SSA) is a pyramid scheme that was doomed since its inception.   Social Security Income (SSI) is comprised of two trust funds, including Old-Age and Survivor’s Insurance and Disability Insurance.   1 out of 5, nearly 68 million Americans collect SSI payments of which more than 47 million are over the age of 65.   The average yearly SSI payout is $21,925 which equates to a $1.5 trillion yearly liability on the federal government.   The combined Old-age Survivor’s and Disability Insurance (OASDI) has been in deficit spending since 2015 adding hundreds of billions to the federal debt each year.   Due to deficit spending and unfunded liabilities, OASDI is forecast to be insolvent by 2030.   Baby Boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day, adding more than 3.6 million retirees each year.   This rate will continue until 2029 adding billions more each year to the federal debt, further compromising SSA’s sustainability.

Welfare

      The federal government maintains 83 different welfare programs.   Include every state program and that number jumps to more than 600.   Currently, 135 million Americans receive some form of welfare subsistence including 24 million children.   In 2023, federal welfare and entitlement programs cost taxpayers $4.61 trillion.   This same year the states paid out nearly $1 trillion for their welfare programs.   Since 2015, spending on state welfare programs has become the single highest expense with the states spending more on welfare than they do for public education.
      Welfare is an enormous bureaucracy that is inefficient and overly expensive to maintain.   In 2023, $1.2 trillion was required just to maintain the federal welfare system.   The states fare much worse with $800 billion paying for operational expenses and state employees maintaining their bureaucracy making less than $200 billion available for family subsistence.
      If you have ever been required to take on welfare, you know it is a nightmare.   It destroys your soul and makes you feel like everyone sees you as being less than them.   When people treat you that way you begin to believe them and may seek retribution or turn to comfort through alcohol or drugs.   The government is no better with its endless bureaucracy, long lines, maddening paperwork, drug testing, and the humiliation of proving need while constantly being told what you can and cannot do with welfare subsistence.
      America’s welfare programs required recipients to persist in their impoverished status in order to maintain their benefits.   If a citizen obtaining support from current welfare programs attempts to improve their quality of life, they are quickly removed from their safety net.   This structure results in multiple generations of families and ever-increasing numbers of single parents completely dependent on welfare, stuck in a substandard government-subsidized way of life.   In the 1960s, less than 1 out of 5 families were single-parent households; thanks to government dependence on welfare, that number has more than tripled to 3 out of 4.   This is how politicians have destroyed communities all across the U.S. by making people dependent on government instead of our American values of faith, family, and freedom.
Read about America’s Healthcare Crisis.
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