What percentage of the US budget goes to eradicating poverty?

Question

Doesn't really have to be percent, and doesn't really even have to be the US. I just want to know, generally, how much does a country spend to stop poverty?

Answer 1

It depends on what you consider an effort to stop poverty...  Take a look at the Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget:

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy01/g...

This is the 2001 edition (the Bush administration stopped producing the Citizen's guide), so the share of defense spending has risen somewhat since then, but you can get the idea even from those numbers.  

The largest U.S. government program is Social Security (in 2001, it accounted for 23% of all federal government spending).  Medicare accounts for 12%, Medicaid, 7%.  Other "means-tested entitlements" weigh 6%.

One way to read those numbers is that the U.S. government does try to do something about the old-age destitution.  One area where the U.S. efforts fall short, however, is poverty among children (which account for about a quarter of all poor).

Answer 2

I believe the statistic is somewhere around 80 or 90%, but I find this very unlikely considering most funds that are being paid out don't go to the poverty stricken, they go to psych doctors and social workers who keep people in need running in circles and chasing their tail, which in the end results in everyone except the needy receiving financial support. When I was on medicaid I was treated 6 times for the same rash because the doctors I was allowed to see refused to put me on different meds, until one day I broke out in hives due to an allergic reaction to the medication they were prescribing. At last they decided I needed to see a specialist, 2 days later my medicaid was cut, so now I am forced to live with the rash until I either get it reinstated or pay for it out of my $900 check every month, which is impossible. The point is that it isn't the poverty stricken that are causing the cost to be so high, it is these social workers, psych doctors and medical doctors that abuse it that makes it so high. Cut out all these middle men and give the funding directly to the source, and I'll bet the cost would drop by at least 50% and poverty would decrease majorly. ;-)