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[Darvi]

Rich enough to be the 1%'s lapdogs at least.

..too much of an ad hominem?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The conservative Justices are actually far less wealthy than the liberal ones. Thomas is actually the least wealthy of them.

[Nadaka]

I've recently heard a statistic being thrown about in ultra conservative circles that the welfare handout per poor household is now greater than the median income. This sounds UNBELIEVABLE, considering that I am familiar with welfare from my childhood and I know several people who are on or attempting to get welfare and failing. All I find is the same circle jerk of conservative media on the subject. Where can I find actual information on this?

[Helgoland]

Official statistics seem like your best bet, everything else probably is spinned to say the least. Though when in doubt I'd trust the liberal media rather than the seven circles of hell that is Fox News and associates.

[misko27]

I looked around, and it is diffcult getting info. It's either Conservtive websites ranting about it, or Government sites without what I'm looking for.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The median income is about 53,000 dollars, there's no way that welfare payouts match that.

[Nadaka]

The median income is about 53,000 dollars, there's no way that welfare payouts match that.

I know. But I can not find any refutation of the shit that is being spewed.

[darkrider2]

The median income is about 53,000 dollars, there's no way that welfare payouts match that.

I know. But I can not find any refutation of the shit that is being spewed.

Maybe its just too ridiculous to be worthy of refutation? Or (and I don't watch the news) it hasn't hit fox yet.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'd just multiply the number of people on welfare by the median income and see if it goes over the allotted government welfare budget, but I can't find any reliable statistics on the number of people on welfare. I'm seeing numbers claimed from one million to one hundred million, and everything in between.

The lowest number I've found comes out to 53 billion dollars the highest to 5.3 trillion dollars. Total welfare budget for 2013 is 422 billion dollars, though that encompasses family payments, workers compensation, unemployment, and housing assistance.

It isn't impossible if we take the lowest estimated number of welfare recipients, but I doubt it.

[Nadaka]

They may also be counting school funding and the guarantees of student loans as "welfare", as well as social security and medicaid.

[Frumple]

*scratches head* If... if there's still interest come monday I can hop over to the library and ask what folks around here are getting. Library's the ones handling most of the welfare processing for my town, insofar as general family stuff goes. Small town, which probably throws some stuff off, but... still. S'something. Can't recall Florida's primary website thingy at the mo', but it'd be pretty easy to get that and, like, check monthly stipends and crap.

Or call up mi madre, I guess. Works with adult education, probably be able to point me at info for that.

E: I can say that florida unemployment caps out at 275/week, at max, or 14-ish thousand a year.

Looking up some more stuff (Found TANF documentation, so far), most of what I'm running into is giving families comfortably less than the poverty line, nevermind median income. I'd be fairly comfortable at this point calling bullshit by the numbers, in Florida, at least.

[Helgoland]

They may also be counting school funding and the guarantees of student loans as "welfare", as well as social security and medicaid.

That's probably it: Mitt Romney probably is a welfare recipient as well if we define the term loosely enough. Lies, damned lies and statistics, as it was.

[Nadaka]

I found a debunking: http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/10/20/fox-news-echoes-gops-misleading-definition-of-w/190792

[misko27]

From statistics brain, I calculated that if what the said was true, the Budget would be more the 227 million. The amount actually spent on welfare is 131 million. Tut Tut tut.
 
((Note, Statistics do not include people or money related to food stamps or unemployment))
http://www.statisticbrain.com/welfare-statistics/

[Reelya]

Wow, to get their "$1 trillion for welfare" sound byte they had to count things like infrastructure spending as "welfare". That's really stretching the metaphor. And tax credits which the Republicans implemented were also counted as "welfare".

So tax breaks for lower-income working folks are welfare, but we're not allowed to call tax breaks for the rich as welfare?