-Caveat Lector-
Myth
"To the average man on the street, to say someone is poor implies that he
is malnourished, poorly clothed, and lives in filthy, dilapaditated, and
overcrowded housing. In reality there is little material poverty in the
U.S. in the sense generally understood by the public."
1 Heritage Foundation
"I didn't agree to take a vow of poverty."
2 William Bennett, declining to take a job as national
chariman of the Republican party at a salary of $125,000 per year.
Reality
In 1995, the poverty line for a single person was $7,470; for a family of
3, $12,590; for a family of 4, $15,150. 3
When asked by a Gallup poll in 1989 what amount of income they would use
as a poverty line for a family of 4 in their community, the average
person's response waws 24% higher than the official poverty line in that
year. 4
Myth
"The poor in this country are the biggest piglets at the mother pig and
her nipples...They're the ones who get all the benefits in this country.
They're the ones that are always pandered to." Rush Limbaugh, radio
talk show host 5
Reality
The affluent get more from the government than the poor.
In 1992, the government spent $464 billion on entitlements that people
receive regardless of their income level, such as Social Security,
Medicare, veterans' pensions and retirement, and unemployment insurance.
That's about ten times more than was spent on AFDC and Food Stamps in the
same year. 6
In 1994, 29% of families with income of $150,000 or more received
government benefits averaging more than $16,000 through programs such as
Social Security. Families with incomes of less than $10,000, in contrast,
received benefits averaging less than $8,000." 7
Aid to Dependent Corporations
Myth
"Corporate welfare is anti-business as well as anti-taxpayer."
Cato Institute 8
Reality
Despite criticism, corporate welfare has resisted reform, enjoying
enormous support from special interest groups and powerful businesses.
The federal government doles out $85 billion yearly in direct subsidy
programs to private business, a sum that amounts to about a third of the
annual federal budget deficit. 9
The total cost of bailing out failed savings and loan associations over a
period of 10 years has been estimated at least $200 billion. 10
In 1992, susbsidies to agriculture amounted to $29 billion, more than was
spent on AFDC. 11
Corporations are getting more and more tax breaks.
The Office of OMB estimates the cost of tax breaks to corporations and
wealthy individuals in $440 billion, more than SEVENTEEN times combined
state and federal spending on AFDC. 12
Today, federal taxes paid by corporations average only about 24% of
profits, compared with about 45% in the 1950s. 13
As a result, corporations now account for a smaller share of tax revenues,
leaving individual taxpayers to make up the difference. In 1995,
corporate taxes amounted to only 10% of total federal tax revenue compared
with 23% in 1960. 14
Myth
"The poorest people in America are better off than the mainstream families
of Europe." Rush Limbaugh 15
Reality
The main reason for lower poverty rates in Europe is simple: Their tax and
transfer programs work better than ours.
The US devotes a smaller percentage of its GDP to social expenditures than
France, Sweden, the UK, or Germany. 16
They also provide much more support for parents than the US does, in the
form of family allowances, publicly subsidized child care, and paid family
leaves from work. 17
---
1 Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address, 1-25-98
2 Republican Study Committee, Running from Reality: How Liberals Can't
the Failure of the Welfare State, 5-19-94, p. 1.
3 Federal Register 60, no. 27, 2-9-1995, p. 7772.
4 Christopher Jencks, Rethinking Social Policy, NY, Harper, 1992.
p.209.
5 R. Limbaugh, The Way Things.., NY: Pocket Books, 1993, p.41.
6 Statistical Abstract of the US 1994, p. 372.
7 David Hage, America's Other Welfare State, USNewsWorld Report,
4-10-95,
p. 34.
8 Stephen Moore, How to Slash Welfare Corporate Welfare, NYTimes,
4-5-95,
A25.
9 "Go After Corporate Welfare," NYTimes, 1-17-95, p. A18.
10 Folbhre and the CPE, New Field Guide to the Am Econ., p. 9
11 Center for Responsive Politics, Washington 1994.
12 Chuck Collins, "Aid to Dependent Corporations: Exposing Federal
Handouts to the Wealthy," Dollars and Sense, May-June 1995, p. 15.
13 Folbre and the CPE, p.5.12.
14 Budget of the US Government, Historical Tables 1995 pp 23-24.
15 Qtd. in Steve Rendall, et. al., The Way Things Aren't:.." NY: The
New Press, 1995, p. 22.
16 Mishel and Bernstein, The State of Working America, Armonk: SHarpe,
1994.
17 Gary Burtless, "Public Spending on the Poor: Historical Trends and
Economic Limits," Danziger, Sandefur, and Weinberg, p. 82.
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be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
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