Dear Editor:
Since the "War on Poverty" began in the late '60s nearly $20 trillion has been spent on means-tested welfare.
The following statistics came from www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/pd/SNAPsummary.pdf
I adjusted the dollar figures to 2009 dollars so that inflation didn't skew the numbers.
The food stamp program got rolling in 1969. The first year cost per recipient was $484. By 1979, with an unemployment rate of 5.9 percent, the number of recipients ballooned to 7.85 percent of the population and the cost per recipient had increased to $1,099. In 2006, with an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent before the recent recession started, the number of recipients had increased to 8.91 percent of the population while the cost per recipient continued its climb to $1,285. In 2015, 6 years after the end of the recession and with an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent, the number of recipients had shot up to 14.3 percent of the population and the cost per recipient had increased to $1,462. The current dollar increase during this 9 year period was 30 percent, any of you get a 30 percent salary increase during this time?
The program is a dismal failure unless the goal is to create a permanent underclass dependent on government. I am not advocating letting children starve but this program is an example of the miserable failure of government "charity" programs that require minimal, if any, accountability from the recipients. We have gotten more of the behavior we rewarded.
Medicaid was signed into law in 1965. In 1965 less than 10 percent of women giving birth were unmarried and Medicaid paid for none of the births. By 2014 over 40 percent of women giving birth were unmarried. In 2010 45 percent of all births were paid for by Medicaid (taxpayers). We have gotten more of the behavior we rewarded.
Even in this day of moral relativism people must be held accountable for their actions. If we allow government to continue down the path of forcing the responsible to suffer (pay ever higher taxes), while not holding the irresponsible accountable, there can be no hope for our nation.
I support charitable activities, but there is no charity involved when government threatens to imprison you if you refuse to let them redistribute your wages.