• "Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued.... Woods has opened up an area of historical analysis that should invite further study."
    -Journal of American History

  • "During these times that challenge our freedoms there is no one more qualified to make U.S. history relevant to the fight against big government than Thomas Woods."
    -Barry Goldwater Jr.
    Former Member of Congress

  • "I strongly recommend Woods's work."
    -The Honorable Ron Paul,
    U.S. House of Representatives

  • "Written with great clarity and fluency, making the complex philosophical and theological concepts approachable."
    -Journal of American Studies

  • "A must-read."
    -Barron's

  • "An excellent reading source for anyone interested in financial markets, and much more so for anyone interested in learning about capitalism without all the misinterpretations being thrown about in the financial media."
    -Asia Times

  • "Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read."
    -Catholic Historical Review

  • "An engaging and important contribution to scholarship on the history of American Catholicism."
    -Journal of the Historical Society

  • "Woods and [co-author Kevin] Gutzman appeal to both left and right in this constitutionalist jeremiad…. The authors' exegeses of the Constitution and court decisions, heavy on original intent arguments, are lucid and telling."
    -Publishers Weekly

  • "A marvelous read. Every chapter taught me something new and unexpected."
    -Tom Bethell, senior editor,
    The American Spectator

  • "The hottest book today is Meltdown, by my friend Tom Woods."
    -Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst,
    FOX News Channel

  • "Should be required reading."
    -Economic Affairs (London)

  • "Woods, one of the best classical liberal [libertarian] scholars of his generation, has once more placed us in his debt with this lucid and tightly argued book."
    -David Gordon, The Mises Review

  • "Tom Woods is one of my dearest allies in the struggle against wrong-headed and dangerous economic policy."
    -Peter Schiff

$60,000 Per Poor Family

According to figures in a Congressional Research Service report on federal spending on poverty, there was $60,000 of such spending per poor family in 2011.

Unlearn the Propaganda!

  • Anonymous

    Yay, I make less than half of that per year, and about 25% of my miniscule income gets taxed, a portion of which subsidizes these people who live more than twice as well as I do. Makes me wonder why I even try.

  • http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

    A fair point, though I think North’s point is that surely $60,000 is not actually reaching these families.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, one cannot forget the bureaucracy. However, as somebody who lives in the ghetto of East Cleveland, I can attest to the fact that public housing is far more luxurious than my 300 sq. ft. efficiency hole in the wall, and that when I go to the grocery store, people are paying for a cart full of groceries with their food stamps, compared to my little basket (all that I can afford per week).

    Keep in mind, that in order to earn my measly $27,000 per year (less than $20,000 net), that I work in a very dangerous industry (demolition and asbestos abatement), one that is highly labor intensive, and one that ultimately lowers general health and quality of life in the long term. Trust me, I’ve been looking for something better, but that has not panned out.

    Whether this money is going to those on the dole or those within the bureaucracy (the same thing, IMO), the simple fact is that I am subsidizing others, even though I am poor. It just really gets me mad.

  • http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

    I did want to make that clarification, but as you say, even with the clarification, there is something perverse going on here. I see it myself quite a bit.

  • Anonymous

    No, I totally understand. You are certainly correct to make that clarification. However, let’s assume that roughly 50% of that figure is getting to those “families” (I don’t think that is too generous of an assumption), that would essentially mean that they are making just as much as me to do nothing, yet I am subsidizing them.

    It boggles the mind.

  • Citizen

    This report underscores the ugly truth of gross Government inefficiency.
    The poor only get 20% of every dollar spent, the other 80% is Government OVERHEAD expsense.

  • Citizen

    It also underscores that Government spends that money to “warehouse” large sectors of the poor in inner city slums. There is nothing for these poor souls to do, so they are kept ‘comfortably numb’ packed like sardines in cheap housing.

    It’s really scary how this is beginnig to appear like a government asylum program

  • RobertvdL

    And don’t forget the Obamaphone .

    http://youtu.be/tpAOwJvTOio

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steven-Grim/26519204 Steven Grim

    Think it’s time to give the check writing machine a try.

    Fire all the government employees in the welfare bureaucracy and replace them
    with a check writing machine that sends every American a check each month. Probably save money and we all get a check.