“The median for earned income in the United States is about $50,000 per year. The amount spent per family on welfare exceeds $60,000 per year.”
Just did a quick search and those ARE actual numbers ($50,964 vs. $61,830).
BUT! I imagine that the folks below the poverty line are the ones receiving the benefits, so add in another $18,000 and you get $79,830!!
Of course the $61,830 is how much the government programs spend - not on how much they provide. Factor in the number of workers, poor performance of the average government employee, red tape, coffee breaks, holidays, “conventions”, seminars, etc., and the average poor family probably only sees $12,000 of it. (Guessing at 20%).
And the reason it won’t get any better is that neither the giver or the receiver has any concerns, as it is NOT THEIR MONEY.
Then, too, these numbers are averages ~ the reality for any particular employed person can be considerably different than the average for someone on welfare.
You might check out the value attributed to income by reason of residency in public housing ~
Getting a real job with real income, and the liberty to obtain housing suitible to your circumstances might well be a far better deal than being onwelfare and living in public housing.