Charles Martin writes in Pajamas Media, The End of Poverty in America:

In any case, though, this seems to be a solution in search of a problem, because there is no poverty in America, and I can prove it. According to a Cato Institute study published last year, the combined expenditures for federal and state governments directed to means-tested public assistance — “welfare” — is approximately $1 trillion (yes, with a “T”) a year.

There are approximately 48 million people in the U.S. with incomes at the poverty level or below.

The application of advanced mathematics — long division, and I did it in my head thank you very much — tells us that’s about $21,000 per person per year. Obviously, that’s $84,000 for a family of four.

That’s got a problem, though. According to the 2013 Federal Poverty Guidelines, the poverty level for a family of four is $23,950. The total of $84,000 is roughly 380 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

Obviously, there’s no poverty left in America.

Unless, of course, that money isn’t actually being spent on the poor people at all. I wonder where it goes?

HKO

The real beneficiary of poverty programs are the bureaucrats employed to administrate it. If giving money to people would eliminate poverty, then it should have been eliminated . The social costs of these programs has become a bigger burden than the original problem, and has made the original problem worse. As Paul Ryan suggested we have turned the safety net into a hammock. At what point are these program ever held accountable for results?

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