The Birth Of, And Truth About, The Newest Right Wing Lie

To contact us Click HERE

Ken O’Brien
If you are one of the followers of the widelydiscredited Fox “News” Network, you’ve probably heard the latest distortion offact.
For those who don’t follow this particularpropaganda outlet, the latest exercise in myth making goeslike this:
 “Welfare spending per day per household inpoverty is $168, which is higher than the $137 median income per day. Whenbroken down per hour, welfare spending per hour per household in poverty is$30.60, which is higher than the $25.03 median income per hour.”



During the Five segment, Fox aired a graphicclaiming federal expenditures for welfare totaled $1.03 trillion, while it was$731 billion for Social Security, and $700 billion for defense.

During the segment, co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle citedthe study's findings as proof that the country has become the "UnitedStates of Dependency." She went on to say that the Obama administration"never met a dependent that they didn't like or didn't want to votefrom," adding that "this isn't like helping Americans to strengthenthemselves and build their families and to be able to provide, it's creating aweakness and dependency."
Writing for AlterNet,Joshua Holland exposes the genesis of this latest canard as well as thefundamental mathematical absurdity underlying it.
Thefirst problem with this claim is mathematical rather than ideological. Thestory is that we spend $168 per day for each family in poverty. But theeligibility cut-offs for most of the 80 or so programs identified by SenateRepublicans are higher than the poverty line; in many cases, significantlyhigher.Giventhat there are around 600 different eligibility requirements for theseprograms, most determined by the states, it's difficult to calculate an averagewithout a staff. But in Colorado, which I chose because it tends to beideologically middle-of-the-road, the average eligibility cut-off for the 10means-tested federal benefits listed here is $18,075, or 62 percent above thefederal poverty line.Themyth can be expressed mathematically like this: Total Spending On“Welfare”/Families in poverty = $168 per day. But these services benefit manymore people than those struggling under the poverty line – one may as welldivide those costs by the total number of rabbits or blue cars in the U.S.Thereality, expressed mathematically, is: Total Spending On “Welfare”/Those whoreceive benefits = $24.77 per day. That's a lot less than $168.
Other problems with this latest “the takers arerobbing the makers” meme are:·        ManyOf These Programs Aren't “'Welfare'·        Some of These Programs Aren'tMeans-Tested and Some Benefits Go to People Who Aren't Poor 
The story is not merely a fundamental distortion offact. It is a typical exercise in word choice meant to energize the biases ofFox’s and the right’s base.
Fifty years of political science tells us thatAmericans hold a very favorable view of most programs that help the poor,especially educational and job training programs which, in theory at least,help them lift themselves out of poverty. But there is one exception: Americansdon't like “welfare.”
In his classic book, WhyAmericans Hate Welfare, sociologist Martin Gilens found thatsignificant majorities of Americans told pollsters that they wanted to increasepublic spending to fight poverty at the same time that majorities said theywere opposed to welfare. Gilens concluded that this disconnect was driven by awidespread belief that “most welfare recipients don't really need it,” and byracial animus – “perceptions that welfare recipients are undeserving and blacksare lazy.”
A great deal of conservative economic views areshaped by myths. Think about the fact-free narrative that slashing tax ratesfor the wealthy will result in more revenues coming into thegovernment's coffers, the common claim that half of the country pays no taxes, or the idea that increasing domestic oil production canlower global oil prices enough to bring down the price of a gallon of gas hereat home.
So it will be with the idea that the federalgovernment spends a trillion on “welfare.”
In the end we have another gap between what is“true” in the conservative media bubble and the objective facts. In the realworld, we spend about $25 per day on the needy. But, according to Fox News, thefigure is $168.