Anton Sherwood wrote:
> Not too far off, given that most US military effort in the past century
> has been for the benefit of foreigners.
Military intervention is not what most people mean by "foreign aid."
> As for health/pensions/welfare,
> when is a transfer entitlement not a transfer entitlement?
Again, by "welfare" most people mean payments to the needy. One good
survey actually asks people what they would count as "welfare." The
results:
Table 14: Americans' Views About Which Government Programs
Are Welfare Programs
Views of American Adults (from a list of 9 programs)
% saying each of the following is a welfare program
Food stamps 93%
AFDC, or Aid to Families With
Dependent Children 85%
Public housing 85%
WIC, or the Women, Infants, and
Children program 72%
The school lunch program 62%
Medicaid 60%
SSI, or Supplemental Security Income 43%
Medicare 30%
Social Security 15%
Source: Kaiser/Harvard Program on the Public and Health/Social Policy
Survey, January 1995
Table 15: What Public Views As Welfare*
(from a list of 9 programs)
Programs Billions of dollars as of FY 1993
Medicaid $76
Food Stamps $25
AFDC (Family Support) $16
Child Nutrition Programs/WIC $ 7
Public Housing Assistance $20
Total Federal Spending
on These Programs $144
Total Federal Outlays $1,408
Public's Definition of Welfare
as % of Total Federal Outlays 10.2%
Source: Congressional Budget Office, 1994 and House Committee on Ways
and Means, 1993
*Based on the majority of responses provided in the Kaiser/Harvard
Program on the Public and Health/Social Policy Survey, January 1995 and
correlated to the federal budget FY 1993. Most survey respondents did
not identify Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the federal cash
assistance program for the aged, blind, and disabled, as welfare. SSI
spending for FY 1993 was $21 billion.
For more info, go to:
http://www.kff.org/content/archive/1001/welftbl.html
--
Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"He wrote a letter, but did not post it because he felt that no one
would have understood what he wanted to say, and besides it was not
necessary that anyone but himself should understand it."
Leo Tolstoy, *The Cossacks*
