What happens to the family of four with an income of $26,401?
I may never know. I don't pay income taxes...well...technically those taxes are deducted from my paycheck but I get it all back at the end of the year.
I have always lived well below the "poverty line" tho i have not always been eligible for certain benefits. I was denied food stamps once, not because I made too much money...no. It was because I worked some over time for a couple of weeks because we had a few people quit.
Meanwhile, someone who does not work...does not plan to work...gets a roof over their head, food in their bellies, heat and air conditioning, free day care for their kid and a little extra spending money. Just because she wasn't married.
That was about 7 or 8 years ago and my butt still hurts from that rejection.
SOME of these people teach their kids how to get those same benefits.
Tell me how fair that is.
Yes leeches like that exist, and yes they are annoying little shits. That being said the entire welfare budget of the Federal Government is, depending on who you ask, 4 to 12%. The issue is we have two parties each of which are offering "more of the same" Democrats, and "Let them starve" Republicans. No one has the fucking guts to rip up things by the roots and do the harsh things to break the cycle of poverty
Things like require Norplant if you are on the dole. Have cafeterias that serve nutritional but unappetizing food with fertility suppressants that any US citizen can walk into instead of foodstamps. Any inmate sentenced two years or more for a violent crime sterilized. Massively increase education spending in economically depressed areas. Forbid states from using school children as free labor(i.e. the total opposite of Newt's make children work if they are poor) but do have it in place for adults on the dole to clean the streets and the project areas. Offer tuition grants for state college based on a kids performance in high school. Eliminate cash based welfare entirely and just have any US citizen a bus pass, can get food at the cafeteria, basic healthcare, a government cement apartment, a jumpsuit, and basic toiletries....but a really really good adult education and job placement system.
Create camps where you give up your rights as a citizen if you register as an addict and give you free drugs, food, and lodging, as long as you get sterilized and cannot leave, "get high and die" camps. Without hardcore junkies and welfare money, most of the drug dealers would be without a market. Legalize minor not terribly addictive drugs like Marijuana, acid, and Shrooms to eliminate another source of income to the black market that perpetuates the attitude of scofflawry and violence.
Cut defense spending to 3% of GDP. And create an increase in taxes for people who make money by moving money around(like say Bain Capital) and lawyers, but have large tax cut on corporate taxes for manufacturers of goods and exporters.
Basically have an economic policy that actually ignores the needs and wants of the top 5% and bottom 5% of Americans and instead focuses on the middle 90%.