The Welfare Reality
Last week I confessed that I was one of the unwashed, parasitic bottom feeders forced to humble myself at the feet of the great god of state and accept welfare. I received both cash assistance, if memory serves it was about 500.00 a month and food stamps, worth about 750.00 per month. In total, I got a handout of roughly 1250.00 off the public gravy train-total luxury there.
Confessing that I had no options other than welfare was almost as humiliating as applying for and collecting it. It also got me wondering about welfare and how much it cost the American taxpayer. The numbers were shocking.
Total # of Americans on Welfare: 67,891,000
SNAP (Food Stamps): 41,170,000
Unemployment Insurance: 10,200,000
Housing Assistance: 7,676,000
General Assistance: 4,537,000
Temp Assistance for Families (TANF): 4,306,000
Total Amount Spent on Welfare: 158,200,000,000
US Population % on Welfare: 21.2%
This does not include the 70.5 million enrolled in medicaid. (Statistics taken from statisticbrain.com- http://bit.ly/2vPQPdU). Clearly I am not the only deplorable drain on public funds.
In fact we should all be ashamed of ourselves for living off the efforts and sweat of others. Clearly all of us are lazy deadbeats. I mean it’s not like we have all tried to find jobs. Personally I didn’t send out hundreds of resumes every single week looking for a job or even an interview invitation that never came.
In researching this I was beginning to make myself sick, then I decided to go a little deeper. No matter what, 158 Billion dollars to spend on welfare is a huge amount and a financial drain on the economy. But when compared to the amount we spend on corporate welfare, my views changed.
If we are to believe the critics of welfare we should be able to support ourselves without help from others. How many business leaders look down on welfare recipients as leeches? Yet these same business leaders are all to ready the accept the cash flow and support from corporate welfare. Below are just a few of the state supported numbers for corporations.
Corporate Welfare: 100,000,000,000 (Billion)
Taxpayer (us) Funded Benefits: 80,000,000,000 (Billion)
Tax Breaks and Relocation Incentives: 100,000,000,000 (Billion)
Average Cost to Family: 2,436 dollars per year
280 billion dollars per year in corporate welfare. This is not money to help small and struggling businesses or launch startups. This is money, in the tune of hundreds of millions and billions to help established, cash rich corporations. Those companies that have benefited most from a capitalist society.
Below are the top companies in both 2015 and 2016 that have received corporate welfare along with the amount they received. Remember this the next time Nike is asking you to shell out a few hundred bucks for sneakers or a gas company is jacking up the cost of gas.
Sagamore Development (2016): 660 Million
Continental Tire (2016): 929 Million
Walt Disney (2016): 267 Million
Lockheed Martin (2016): 220 Million
Nike (2015): 2.03 Billion
Royal Dutch Shell (2015): 2.04 Billion
Alcoa (2015): 5.64 Billion
Boeing (2015): 13.18 Billion
(2016 Data: http://bit.ly/2wITJ0j, 2015 Data: http://bit.ly/2wJjail)
The numbers are shocking. Clearly we unwashed masses are not really the problem. It is the large corporations that feed off of state and federal politicians desperate to not be blamed for an economic downturn or loss of jobs.
We the taxpayers pay a total of over 250 Billion dollars annually to welfare projects. Clearly there is a problem that needs to be addressed. 1 trillion dollars in welfare funding every presidential election cycle adds up.
As someone who has experienced the dehumanizing process of applying for welfare I know the pain and frustration. Sitting in a depressing government building, looking around seeing everyone else who’s struggled and been broken by the system, talking to a caseworker who treats you like you are lower than a street dog, I can tell you it sucks. Although there are some that have no issue with that experience if it means free money, most want to work, most want to provide for themselves, not be limited by the restrictions of welfare. The majority of people who have to accept welfare are doing so because there are no other choices.
Corporations force welfare! They hold cities and states hostage. They threaten us with jobs as a ransom. They have deep reserves of cash, they don’t need the welfare but they can get it because it’s available.
it ‘s time for a change. We need politicians to have the hard conversations, we need politicians strong enough to stand up for what is right rather than kowtowing to corporate powers.
If the American government freed up that money and used it responsibly we could transform the economy and not fear the actions of corporations at the same time.
Since nothing can be done immediately, the process should be phased in over a 3–5 year plan.
Step one-Immediately reduce, by 75% the amount paid in corporate welfare. Take that savings and initiate skill and job training programs for my fellow recipients. Make full attendance a requirement for receiving welfare. Train them (us) in the business skills we need to launch our own businesses.
Step two-Create government sponsored accelerators, incubators and coworking spaces. It is not enough to have skill training. These people need a place to work, basic work equipment like desks, internet and phone service. Create a structure where the company has to repay a portion of its revenues to a fund that is used to reinvest in the next wave of welfare-startups.
Step three-Provide seed money similar to SBA loans to help these businesses gain traction, market, purchase raw material and hire employees.
Corporations should be cut off as quickly as possible. People should not be able to receive welfare for longer than a set amount of time and prove they are working towards getting off it by creating their own businesses.
The multi-billion dollar enterprise does not need the welfare. They take it only because it is available and they can. Cut them off, use the funds to help the people in need take control of their lives. And if someone is not willing to follow the process, ask why?
Welfare forces people to trade their pride, confidence and willingness to work and provide for the restrictive net of government aid. Our politicians should never celebrate the number of people signed up for welfare but rather the numbers that were finally able to get off it and provide for themselves.
And those corporations that receive corporate welfare, they spit in the face of the free market and competition. They cost us the taxpayers far more than the family trying desperately to survive on a pittance.
We we really want to redistribute wealth and create opportunities for all. Getting people off of welfare is a great first step. But we have to provide a path for these people to be able to take control of their lives, create new businesses and jobs, not go from government dependence to corporate dependence.
