As other posters have mentioned, one of the main reasons for the increased welfare expenditures is the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs. While some of this is due to automation, millions of jobs have been lost to other countries with low/no environmental or labor protections, in just this past decade.
The people who are complaining the most about welfare recipients (corporate/financial elite) are the very same people who have intentionally dismantled the job base in the U.S. And let’s not forget the billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies that most of these companies are getting, either directly or indirectly. Funny how they never complain about that.
“About $59 billion is spent on traditional social welfare programs. $92 billion is spent on corporate subsidies. So, the government spent 50% more on corporate welfare than it did on food stamps and housing assistance in 2006.”
BTW, that corporate welfare number does NOT include govt contracts with well-connected (or not) private companies, etc. You know, stuff like this from the “small govt/no deficit” crowd:
“WASHINGTON — Built to dominate the enemy in combat, the Army’s hulking Abrams tank is proving equally hard to beat in a budget battle.
Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams.
But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, “No thanks.”‘
