Bfgrn
Gold Member
- Apr 4, 2009
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Republican Lies about Welfare
"lazy people looking for handouts are ruining the country", "lazy people are taking my tax dollars", "welfare makes people dependent", "welfare queens have more children in order to get more money", "the poor refuse to work because they will be supported by the rich", "Obama wants to take from the 'haves' and give to the 'have nots'", "Obama supporters want a handout", "Obama wants everyone dependent on the Government". If they aren't worded exactly like this, they are simply different variations of these types of statements.
As it turns out, according to the TANF statistics on welfare recipients, these statements - all of them - are, quite simply, false. That's right, every single one of them isn't supported by anything not produced by the Heritage Foundation. As often as these myths get thrown around, you'd think they'd have been proven to the degree that the Pythagorean Thereom has. But, a rather peculiar thing occurs each time one of these welfare gems is carelessly floated into a discussion; it never seems to be accompanied by any supporting evidence. It's generally lobbed into the discussion without explanation as if everyone knows it to be true. Well, let's take a look at the numbers:
In the fiscal year of 2009, there were an average of a little over 4 million people on welfare in any given month. With a population of over 320 million people total, 4 million's a pretty miniscule number to act as if a large portion of someone's tax dollars are going to 'some lazy person on welfare' link. Not to mention, About 75% of all 'lazy' recipients were children (link pg. 86).
That last fact provides a nice segue for another welfare myth: that people have more children in order to get more assistance - welfare queens, as they are generally referred to. Well, the average number of recipient children in a welfare family -1.8 (link pg. 86) is actually less than the national average for number of children in a family - 1.86 (link pg. 1). In fact, one in two recipient families only had one child and only one in ten recipient families had more than three children (link pg. 86). How could that possibly be if welfare recipients have more kids in order to receive more assistance? Quite simply, it couldn't.
Oh, and in regard to that 'welfare creates dependency' diatribe? The average stay for a family on welfare was 35 months, with only 6.6% of families exceeding the limit for benefit assistance (link pg. 8). According to the 1996 House Ways and Means COmmittee, half of families on assistance exited assistance in less than 24 months link. Not to mention, the average assistance - cash and noncash combined - was $370 a month (link pg. 12). Dependence? On $370 a month?
In terms of tax dollars, USgovernmentspending.com lists 2009 expenses budgeted for Family and Children programs at $80.1 billion, which was around 2% of the federal budget link.
"lazy people looking for handouts are ruining the country", "lazy people are taking my tax dollars", "welfare makes people dependent", "welfare queens have more children in order to get more money", "the poor refuse to work because they will be supported by the rich", "Obama wants to take from the 'haves' and give to the 'have nots'", "Obama supporters want a handout", "Obama wants everyone dependent on the Government". If they aren't worded exactly like this, they are simply different variations of these types of statements.
As it turns out, according to the TANF statistics on welfare recipients, these statements - all of them - are, quite simply, false. That's right, every single one of them isn't supported by anything not produced by the Heritage Foundation. As often as these myths get thrown around, you'd think they'd have been proven to the degree that the Pythagorean Thereom has. But, a rather peculiar thing occurs each time one of these welfare gems is carelessly floated into a discussion; it never seems to be accompanied by any supporting evidence. It's generally lobbed into the discussion without explanation as if everyone knows it to be true. Well, let's take a look at the numbers:
In the fiscal year of 2009, there were an average of a little over 4 million people on welfare in any given month. With a population of over 320 million people total, 4 million's a pretty miniscule number to act as if a large portion of someone's tax dollars are going to 'some lazy person on welfare' link. Not to mention, About 75% of all 'lazy' recipients were children (link pg. 86).
That last fact provides a nice segue for another welfare myth: that people have more children in order to get more assistance - welfare queens, as they are generally referred to. Well, the average number of recipient children in a welfare family -1.8 (link pg. 86) is actually less than the national average for number of children in a family - 1.86 (link pg. 1). In fact, one in two recipient families only had one child and only one in ten recipient families had more than three children (link pg. 86). How could that possibly be if welfare recipients have more kids in order to receive more assistance? Quite simply, it couldn't.
Oh, and in regard to that 'welfare creates dependency' diatribe? The average stay for a family on welfare was 35 months, with only 6.6% of families exceeding the limit for benefit assistance (link pg. 8). According to the 1996 House Ways and Means COmmittee, half of families on assistance exited assistance in less than 24 months link. Not to mention, the average assistance - cash and noncash combined - was $370 a month (link pg. 12). Dependence? On $370 a month?
In terms of tax dollars, USgovernmentspending.com lists 2009 expenses budgeted for Family and Children programs at $80.1 billion, which was around 2% of the federal budget link.
