Federal Safety Net Big Dollars. FederalSafetyNet.com

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Cecil Edwards
5 years ago
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1 Federal Safety Net Big Dollars

2 Federal Expenditures FY 2012 In Billions Defense 902 Social Security 779 Medicare 485 Welfare Programs 357 Medicaid 269 Unemployment 109 Interest on Debt 225 All other 510 3,796

3 Federal Welfare Programs FY 2012 Expenditures - Billions Negative Income Tax $ 72 SNAP 80 Housing Assistance 47 SSI 48 Pell Grants 39 TANF 17 Child Nutrition 19 Head Start 9 Job Training 7 WIC 8 Child Care 6 Lifeline 2 LIHEAP 3 $ 357

4 Census Bureau Poverty Thresholds Annual Income One person household $11,484 Two person household $14,657 Three person household $17,916 Four person household $23,021 Five person household $27,251 Six person household $30,847

5 Census Bureau 2012 Poverty Reports Number of people in poverty 12.6 Million Individuals 9.8 Million Families 15% Income gap to get out of poverty Individuals averaged $6,542 Families averaged $9,785

6 Safety Net Review Cost to move all Americans out of Poverty - $178 Billion Spent $357 Billion on support for lowincome Americans Where did all the extra go? Who got it?

7 Extra People above poverty line Examples SNAP 130% of poverty threshold WIC - 185% of poverty threshold Rental Assistance 50% of median income in a local area (50% of median income totaled $24,723 for the U.S. as a whole). Conclusion We are inconsistent in the definition of who is in need.

8 Extra People Moved Above Threshold Benefits from programs rarely used in income tests for qualification No maximum number of programs a person can participate in No maximum benefit or cap Very little information on cumulative use of programs Conclusion We are inconsistent with the support we give to the poor.

9 Extra Administrative Costs USDA SNAP, Child Nutrition, WIC Social Security Administration SSI IRS Negative Income Tax HUD - Housing Assistance U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - TANF, Head Start, Child Care and LIHEAP Department of Education - Pell Grants Department of Labor Job Training Federal Communications Commission - Lifeline

10 First Goal Educate the Public Federal Safety Net must be viewed in whole (All programs combined) Ineffective Expensive Unfair

11 Ineffective System traps the poor doesn t empower them Doesn t Make Work Pay Penalizes Marriage Doesn t encourage increased responsibility Doesn t have time limits or goals Hand Out Vs Hand Up

12 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Poverty Level and Welfare Spending Per Person in Poverty $16,000 $14,000 $12,000 $10,000 $8,000 $6,000 $4,000 $2,000 $0 Total Federal Welfare spending including Medicaid Percentage of population in poverty

13 Expensive Combined program costs are high Combined benefits are not calibrated to poverty levels No cap on combined benefits 13 programs run in 8 agencies

14 Unfair Programs have no consistency in qualification System is very bureaucratic and hard to use

15 Second Goal Support Welfare Reform Step 1 Admit we have a problem Step 2 Address the whole system Step 3 Define Reform which would include simplification, focus and cost savings (Suggested plan is on the Website) Step 4 Adopt meaningful change with an act of Congress signed by the President

16 Conclusion We know the Federal Safety Net needs fixing We can save billions and help the poor. We need a citizen led effort to affect change Help us spread the word and participate in our grassroots effort!

Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States

Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States Thomas Piketty (PSE) Emmanuel Saez (UC Berkeley) Gabriel Zucman (UC Berkeley) November 2016 There is a large disconnect today