These Cato ‘welfare package’ papers have been circulating for a long time and are misleading. Their calculations wind up being for a maximum amount of benefits

These Cato ‘welfare package’ papers have been circulating for a long time and are misleading. Their calculations wind up being for a maximum amount of benefits someone could receive if their life circumstances happened to fit a multitude of criteria. In reality someone falling on hard times would only qualify for a small fraction of those amounts. Here are two articles that dig into how the Cato numbers are technically possible but not useful for having a real dialogue about the benefits people wind up receiving in real life: http://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2015/feb/01/rhode-island-center-freedom-and-prosperity/do-common-welfare-programs-pay-equivalent-2083-hou/ http://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2015/feb/0... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2014/12/05/grothman-single-parents-welfare/?utm_term=.17fbb746f4bf https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2014/12/...