This year marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the War on Poverty. Since President Johnson proclaimed his unconditional war on poverty, taxpayers have spent roughly $22 trillion dollars, which, adjusted for inflation, is three times the cost of all military wars since the American Revolution!
- Last year, the government spent $943 billion providing cash, food, housing, and medical care to poor and low-income Americans.
- More than 100 million people, or one-third of the population, receive some type of welfare at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient.
- Yet, as of 2013, 14.5 percent of Americans were poor, the same rate of poverty as in 1967
