As long as welfare is taxpayer funded but government controlled, the seeds of poverty will be left freely to sprout new generations of poor. Some commentators have called this a compassion tax credit. These organizations will vie for taxpayer support by offering superior services to persons who now depend on government for assistance. The result is the creation of a cycle of welfare dependency. A few facts show why the welfare system is broken.
Poverty affects women and children more than other groups.
These statistics stand out against a backdrop of a vastly expanded U.S. welfare system. In 1990, 11.5 million people received AFDC benefits. In other words, government welfare spending is highly inefficient. In this light, the existing entitlement is a Faustian bargain for recipients. Taxpayers and recipients alike would be better off under a system that eliminates the government middleman and creates instead a system under which taxpayers and recipients can arrange directly, with minimum intervention by third parties, the conditions under which taxpayer support will be provided.