Social Welfare and Poverty

The goal of social welfare programs both in the United States and globally is to reduce the rate of poverty. However, this has been widely argued and debated, particularly in the United States, whether or not welfare programs actually achieve this goal.

According to the Luxembourg Income Study, in 2000, 2.3% of the United States'  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was used for social welfare expenditures. 26.4% of the poverty was reduced.http://www.lisdatacenter.org/wps/liswps/188.pdf

Opponents of Welfare

Those who oppose welfare take up the argument that the social welfare programs in fact do not lower the poverty rate at all and creates a disincentive for people to work. According to Charles Murray in his book, Losing Ground, welfare actually increases poverty.