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Spending on welfare programs is a tiny share of our budget. Add up everything -- state and federal -- and it's about 600bn from the data I've seen -- and before

Spending on welfare programs is a tiny share of our budget. Add up everything -- state and federal -- and it's about 600bn from the data I've seen -- and before the recession it was half that. Your comment about the 12.5% you save from social security should tell you what you need to know: In order to provide a "basic income" for JUST SENIORS we have to have a 12.5% tax. Now, nominally it's less, because social security taxes cap out at like $110k/yr so there are a lot of income dollars in the US above that amount that aren't paying Fica. Regardless, it's still a tax somewhere near 10% to provide about $15k/year to mostly just seniors. Disability and survivior benefits only make up 20% of social security. I obviously looked up some facts here to test my assumptions -- everything is just on the social security website and usgovernmentspending.com

Retric 13y ago
We give a lot more money than just 600bn to low income people though the tax code. (aka 10% income tax vs 39.6% income tax) Still 600bn / what amounts to ~275 million people = ~2,200$/person or 22% of a 10k basic income. Not to mention stipends for collage students etc. ~23.5% of the population under 18 get 1/2 prisoners get nothing or close to it. Also people can get close to 40,000$ from social security not just 10k. PS: Only 65.5% of Social security goes to retired workers. Well over 63 million people get paid from social security but less than 40 million of them get traditional retirement benefits. http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/ http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/