White People Make Up 42% of the Poor, But Take in Whopping
69% of Government Benefits
If you pay any attention to right wing media, then you know that folks on the right are obsessed with unraveling the safety net, mostly
because they believe that the safety net benefits mostly black and brown people:- All of the candidates delighted in calling President Obama the food stamp president during the 2012 campaign.
- Also during the campaign, Rick Santorum said “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money.”
- Newt Gingrich famously added, “I will tell black people to demand paychecks instead of food stamps.”
As we edge closer to Obama making some ‘grand bargain’ to cut Social Security and Medicare, it is important to remember that the vast majority of people who receive government benefits are white. In fact, whites receive a disproportionate amount of benefits.
The Economix blog at the New York Times reported the following in February of last year:
Another finding of the study is that the distribution of benefits no longer aligns with the demography of poverty. African-Americans, who make up 22 percent of the poor, receive 14 percent of government benefits, close to their 12 percent population share.Read that again. It says blacks comprise 22 percent of the poor, but blacks only take in 14 percent of government benefits. Conversely, whites make up 42 percent of the poor , but take in a disproportionate 69 percent of government benefits.
White non-Hispanics, who make up 42 percent of the poor, receive 69 percent of government benefits – again, much closer to their 64 percent population share.
If Republicans cut these programs, as part of the sequester or any other backdoor maneuver, their issue will be with their own base, not blacks. Although, I’m not yet convinced that some white right wingers wouldn’t starve themselves if it meant robbing a black or brown person of a spoonful of broth.
We have spent trillions on "the war on poverty" and the poverty rate has still climbed. Time to cut off the government leeches regardless of skin color.
ReplyDeleteActually the poverty rate has fallen since 1959. Of course the wolves in sheep's clothes (conservatives) wait until a recession almost as deep as the great depression to holler "it ain't workin". Well poverty in the US has been at least stabilized. But gotta what is poverty in America? What is it based on? It is based on an arbitrary income number arrived at by bureaucrats who make a very comfortable living.
ReplyDelete"Following the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive 14, the Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty. If a family's total income is less than the family's threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered in poverty. The official poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated for inflation using Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). The official poverty definition uses money income before taxes and does not include capital gains or noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps)."
This little ‘statistic’ has been making the rounds of the liberal blogosphere for a while now and with each progressive that touches it, the comments get more ridiculous.
ReplyDelete“White People Make Up 42% of the Poor, But Take in Whopping 69% of Government Benefits”
Not all whites are poor(if that were true it would absolutely kill the 'white privilege' mantra) and not all ‘benefits’ are means tested. The absurdity of the statement alone shows how little liberals think of the people they try to convince by presenting such apple and orange comparisons.
Whites by virtue of both population and income have contributed considerably more to Social Security than the black population and it would stand to reason that they would draw out more in retirement. Given that certain liberals like to tie the abysmal labor participation rate to retirement might I add that of all those retirees, more whites than blacks, are retiring and are therefore collecting a larger part of social security and by extension a larger portion of government... benefits.
Likewise Medicare, a premiums based, program will be used, by virtue of population, more by whites than by blacks. Keeping in mind that participation in one is of these ‘benefits’ is financed by government sticking a gun up the nose of every worker whether they like it or not and neither is, to any degree, means tested ‘poor’ is not part of the discussion.
One has to ask... what created the situation that drove middle class workers to need this foodstamps in the first place?
A subject all on its own but suffice to say, government had its hand in bad loans practices (much like its current effect on student loans), bad derivatives insurance, bad banking practices, rate manipulation, faux asset appreciation, less than free trade agreements and when it all went to hell in a hand basket, the federal government protected the bad actors that it originally enabled, and held asset prices up in the face of high unemployment and falling wages. Had the government actually enforce the laws that were on the book almost none of the ‘financial crisis’ would have happened. Had the government kept its nose out of free enterprise much of the dislocation would have self corrected and many jobs that left for cheaper labor and regulatory environment would have stayed.
Foodstamps like Social Security disability is poorly administered. Funny thing all of those newly disabled.. perhaps our OSHA regulations and consumer product regulations etc, etc, just aren’t strong enough or perhaps it is just the nature of people to take the path of least resistance.. and progressives know it.
One final thought:
Blacks, like gays, unions, women, workers, Hispanics.. etc... etc... etc... are victims created by liberals. Were it not for the ability to convince these groups that they are victims in need of government (and by default democratic) care the Democratic Party would blow away like shrivelled, dead tumbleweed. So to say that it is whites that keep bringing up blacks is simply a bait and switch tactic used by liberals to nail martyrdom into the minds of these collective victims.... and voters. Comments noted by Santorum and Gingrich are testament to the fact that both want blacks, continually held down by progressive programs, to see real opportunity and not a government handout. While not said in these statements, people who understand the detrimental effects of these programs, include all Americans, including whites, in their desire to see strong, self-sufficient citizens.
This is another disingenuous comment that has made its way here on a couple of occasions. “Actually the poverty rate has fallen since 1959”. Else where it has been stated thusly: “poverty was at 25% in 1959 and that it is now at 15%”
ReplyDeleteOf course the assumption here is that ‘Great Society’ programs elevated poverty but sadly the facts written in the charts show something quite different. It is true that in 1959 newly instituted poverty indicators put the poverty rate at about 25%. While no clear data is available prior to 1959 it is estimated that the poverty rate in the early 1950% was at 40%. What is clear is that poverty fell from 1959 steadily through the 1960s to a low in 1973 of less than 9%; Better than 3/4ths of that time would have been unaffected by Great Society programs. Great society legislation wasn’t even introduced until 1964 and any real implementation didn’t occur until the late 1960’s. So the question is... After 50 years and trillions of tax dollars spent, why has the poverty rate gone from 9% to it level of 15% today?
Democrats have revived slavery..................
DeleteRepublicans have given new meaning to the words "sit and spin"...
ReplyDelete