Poking Holes

You should know that statistics are not my thing.  I enjoy the Mark Twain, Benjamin Disraeli or whoever actually said it, quote about the pliability of numbers in making arguments: "lies, damned lies and statistics."  But every once in a while I like to do a little fact checking as it relates to things arguments that are made concerning things I care about.  Economic justice is something I care about more and more.  I often hear (I will make no effort to quantify or even identify the source, because I don't want to blame specific people or groups of people, but you will know who you are), that our nation is weighed down by a massive crush of people who are simply leeching off the system, living off the sweat and hard work of good, honest middle class folks.  You know, "the takers."
I began to wonder if this is actually true.  So I went looking for numbers, which is weird for me, I'll be honest.  I have no way of knowing what has been done to things by way of interpretation and manipulation by groups who have an agenda in one direction or other so the only thing I can really think of to do is go as close to the source as I can.  I wanted to pick my numbers carefully, because too much math makes me feel kinda funny, so I decided on public assistance, as quantified by the latest Census and people on disability as reported by the Social Security Administration  because they should know, they pay it.  Why these two?  Well first of all they seem to be the favorite whipping boys for the "why should my tax dollars pay for those lazy bums" crowd, so I wanted to see if the outrage is justified.  Second of all, I know at least one person personally who is reliant on both of these means of support, and I know, first hand, what their lives are like and something about what they have to do in order to get what they get from "the government teat."
Let's do welfare first, because that is far and away the most vilified and often accused of corruption. Just by the raw numbers there are 3,341,535 people receiving welfare (this encompasses both temporary assistance to needy families TANF, which is time limited as the name indicates and General Assistance, GA benefits).  That seems like a big number until you realize that there are 320 million people living in these United States and this accounts for 2.9% of total households in the US and just barely over 1% of the total population, far from being a millstone around the neck of our great nation.  I will also mention that receiving welfare is by no means a permanent solution to poverty, nor is it easy, nor will the amount you receive pay for a big screen TV or a cell phone if you are feeding a family.  The people I know who are on welfare are actually employed and work pretty darn hard, as food servers, retail employees and other such low paying, yet necessary functions (saving minimum wage argument for later date).  In fact, if you don't show some initiative and jump through certain hoops, your welfare gets pulled.  And don't even start with the whole drug argument, states that have mad drug testing a requirement for welfare recipients have turned up absolute bumpkiss.  One state tested thousands and came back with one positive, uno, one, which I'm sure was a real gotcha moment against that one person who just couldn't stay clean in order to collect that sweet sub-poverty level income for a limited period of time.
The actual abuse of the TANF, and GA systems as well as SNAP (food stamps), public housing and such seem to me to be greatly exaggerated and based almost entirely on anecdotal evidence, the actual numbers don't bear the weight.  Don't get me wrong, I deal with enough scammers and professional beggars in my line of work to know that some people have no shame and will scam anyone to get a 20 spot, but I don't think that the overall numbers justify the vitriol that gets pointed a the honestly poor and down on their luck folks that rely on public assistance to get by.
So let's talk disability, and you need to know right off the bat that the number is bigger here: 8,954,518 people on Social Security disability in 2014 (2.7% of the total population), but you also need to know that these people all paid their Social Security taxes up until the point they became disabled, many of them are ex-military, most of them would probably give up their fat disability check in order to live normal healthy lives.  Before you go assuming that people on disability are "takers," you really ought to walk a mile in their shoes.
I don't know if this captures all of the people that sometimes get lumped into the characterization of those who are not willing to work hard and take responsibility for their lives, but these two categories taken as entirely discreet segments of the population don't even make up 4% of the population.  Take into account that many of the people represented in the first category are children, and that there may be some overlap between the two groups and you are dealing with a segment of the population that is nowhere near the scourge on our nation that it is made out to be.
Want to be mad at something? How about the fact that the Fortune 500 companies received almost $63 Billion in subsidies and tax breaks (according to Forbes magazine, which isn't exactly a liberal rag). Companies that are all large and profitable are able to take advantage of our system and worm out of paying their fair share of the burden of improving our infrastructure, maintaining our defensive capabilities, and caring for those who are left out of the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  They can throw millions at politicians to make sure their little loopholes remain open and functioning.  Those millions must be worth it.
I think we are mad at the wrong people.
I think the rage and discontent of the middle class has been hijacked and misdirected.
It has been pointed at the people who eat the crumbs from the table instead of at the people who are taking the lion's share of the main course.
I'm no math whiz, but I think I have figured out that we're being hoodwinked.