> For reference, the US Poverty Line is $11,670 and the US currently spends an average of $20,610/year per individual below the poverty line to combat poverty.

> For reference, the US Poverty Line is $11,670 and the US currently spends an average of $20,610/year per individual below the poverty line to combat poverty. That seems -- on the face of it at least -- to be a remarkable statistic. The citation is: http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/PA694.pdf http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/PA694.pdf It notes that a large portion of poverty spending is Medicaid, which is completely unsurprising given the dire state of US health care for the less fortunate.