Part 3 (2/2)

SEVEN.

A SAFETY NET, NOT A HAMMOCK.

Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.

It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy.

It is in violation of the traditions of America.

-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

1935 State of the Union

In 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson declared ”War on Poverty.” Guess what? Poverty won. Big time.

Since Johnson launched his mythical quest for a government-run utopia, welfare spending has skyrocketed 13 times the amount spent in 1964 (in inflation adjusted dollars). Back then, welfare spending accounted for 1.2 percent of GDP. Today, it's almost 6 percent.1 That means taxpayers have paid-are you ready for this?-a jaw-dropping $16 trillion on public-a.s.sistance programs.2 That's a totally outrageous sum-until you realize what Obama wants to spend over the next decade.

In 2011, Obama jacked welfare spending up 42 percent over 2008 levels. This huge increase means America is paying $953 billion a year on welfare.3 America is flat broke. We cannot afford to spend $10 trillion over the next decade on dependency-inducing welfare schemes that have created an undercla.s.s, demoralized it, and drained taxpayers who are paying for programs that not only make poverty worse but that are notoriously rife with fraud and abuse.

You want an example? In 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that welfare recipients in California were using their welfare cards to get cash from ATMs at strip clubs. Taxpayers should not be paying for some guy's lap dance!4 And over in Virginia, taxpayers were outraged when it was revealed that their tax dollars were going to subsidize welfare recipients living in luxury apartments, complete with ”resort-style swimming pools with fountains and heated spas, billiard rooms, granite counter tops, indoor basketball courts, and stainless steel appliances.” ”These are resort-style amenities that the majority of the taxpayers that are subsidizing it don't have in their own [homes],” said supervisor Pat Herrity. ”Luxury has no place in subsidized housing.”5 Look, I believe deeply that America must maintain a st.u.r.dy safety net. We have an obligation to take care of those who can't take care of themselves, whether due to age or illness. Our country has a big heart. And it's a point of national pride that we take care of our own. It's one of the things that makes us so great. And certainly our people need a lot more help given that President Obama has been such a total disaster. Today, under this administration, more people than ever in America's history-a staggering 46.2 million-live under the federal poverty line. Many of these individuals are out of work. They need temporary a.s.sistance as they search for the few jobs that remain in the Obama economy. We should help these folks and their kids, no question about it. But it is counterproductive and cruel to allow America's safety net to morph into a hammock. It is simply immoral for the government to encourage able-bodied Americans to think that a life on welfare, of being supported by taxpayers, is an acceptable lifestyle.

Our Founding Fathers understood that self-reliance is the axis on which freedom spins. The American work ethic is what led generations of Americans to create our once prosperous nation. The idea that working hard was a spiritual act of doing one's work ”as unto the Lord” spurred us to give our very best day in and day out. And because we believed that work was a virtue, we produced ma.s.sive wealth, plentiful jobs, and a self-sufficient society.

That's what I find so morally offensive about welfare dependency: it robs people of the chance to improve. Work gives every day a sense of purpose. A job well done provides a sense of pride and accomplishment. I love to work. In fact, I like working so much that I seldom take vacations. Because I work so hard, I've been privileged to create jobs for tens of thousands of people. And on my hit show The Apprentice, I get to work with people from all walks of life. I'm known for my famous line, ”You're fired!” But the truth is, I don't like firing people. Sometimes you have to do it, but it's never fun or easy. One of my favorite parts of business is seeing how work transforms people into better, more confident, more competent individuals. It's inspiring and beautiful to watch.

America became a powerhouse because of our deep belief in the virtue of self-reliance. As Thomas Jefferson said, ”I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” Government wasn't created to take care of us. Generations of Americans believed they should be responsible for themselves. When hard times. .h.i.t, churches and neighbors pitched in and pulled together to help. But in the end, the Founders believed that government should only do those few things individuals couldn't do for themselves. We are rapidly losing that self-reliant spirit that made America great.

Proper Perspective on Poverty

Real economic pain exists in America. No doubt about that. And we need pro-growth, pro-jobs policies. But it's also important for us not to lose sight of the bigger picture. Obama tries to justify his ma.s.sive spending programs in part based on the idea that they're needed to eradicate poverty in America, but as Dinesh D'Souza, author of the bestselling book What's So Great about America, points out, America is one of the few places in the world where a ”poor” person can still be obese.6 ”Poor” is a relative term. By global standards, poor people in America are rich. And even by American standards, poor people today are better off than average people were in our parents' lifetimes. According to a Heritage Foundation study, ”Today, poor boys at ages 18 and 19 are actually taller and heavier than boys of similar age in the general U.S. population in the late 1950s. They are one inch taller and some 10 pounds heavier than GIs of similar age during World War II.”7 Poor people in America have comforts most of the world's poor have never seen, as the Heritage Foundation reports: * 80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. In 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

* 92 percent of poor households have a microwave.

* Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks.

* Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite TV.

* Two-thirds have at least one DVD player, and 70 percent have a VCR.

* Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers.

* More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.

* 43 percent have Internet access.

* One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV.

* One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo.8 Does this mean that poor Americans aren't in need of help, most especially a job? No, of course not. But it does mean that Americans should never lose sight of the fact that we are incredibly blessed to live in a nation where 97 percent of those considered poor own a color television and have the electricity to power it.9

Childhood Poverty Is a Tragedy

The innocent bystanders of American poverty are kids. Yet two-thirds of childhood poverty in America is absolutely preventable if individuals did just one thing: get married before they have children. As someone once put it, ”Marriage is the greatest 'anti-poverty' program G.o.d ever created.”

An out-of-wedlock child is six times more likely to live in poverty than a child born in a two-parent home. The reason for this is painfully obvious: two paychecks are twice as much as one. This isn't brain surgery. Two people working full-time at Walmart puts a family above the federal poverty line (defined as a family of four earning less than $22,314, not including in-kind benefits). The key thing is for the father to stick around, which is what marriage is meant to ensure. Both parents don't necessarily have to hold down a job. One paycheck from a gainfully employed dad, with mom at home taking care of the kids, is better than a single mother living off welfare.

The explosion of out-of-wedlock births in America is staggering. This is a total departure from American history-one that is reshaping our country, and not for the better. Back when LBJ began engineering his ”Great Society” and declaring his ”War on Poverty,” only 7 percent of kids were born out of wedlock. Today, 40 percent of all births in America are to unwed mothers. Government is now the ”father” in far too many homes. But here's the thing: kids don't just need a wallet-they need a dad who will teach boys how to be responsible men and show daughters what it means to be respected and protected.

Out-of-wedlock birth rates are not only one of the greatest generators of poverty but of inequality in America. Twenty-nine percent of white children are born to a single mother (a figure that's far too high), but 72 percent of black children are born out of wedlock. Beyond the economic consequences, we know that kids without a dad are also exponentially more likely to abuse drugs, drop out of school, commit crime, and be incarcerated.10 Kids who grow up in homes where a magic check appears each month from the government believe there's nothing wrong with sitting at home doing nothing while taxpayers bust their humps working to fund them. For an entire generation, government welfare programs are eradicating the virtues of responsibility, hard work, and self-reliance that built America.

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