Why Are There Still "Poor?"

Economist Professor Walter E. Williams enumerates: " In 2005, total federal, state and local government expenditures on 85 welfare programs were $620 billion. That’s larger than national defense ($495 billion) or public education ($472 billion). The 2005 official poverty count was 37 million persons. That means welfare expenditures per poor person were $16,750, or $67,000 for a poor family of four. Those figures understate poverty expenditures because poor people are recipients of non-welfare programs such as Social Security, Medicare, private charity and uncompensated medical care. The question that naturally arises is if we’re spending enough to lift everyone out of poverty, why is there still poverty?" That's a question neither Democrats, nor Republicans can answer. Democrats, because they've spent TRILLIONS to "fight poverty" with NO results. Republicans because Democrats have blocked their every attempt to alleviate poverty (Walter E. Williams)