You have some interesting numbers there @honeybee. I am guessing most of the welfare payments are not getting to those below the poverty line. You included medical care in your numbers which I am guessing is probably quite large as well.
So anyway, does giving poor people money help them. From my experience on Steemit, it just seems to create a dependency and expectations for more money. That experience is based on small amounts of money but the same is likely to be true with higher amounts of money.
A friend of mine gave me an example where workers in a poor country were given higher pay or a payout of some sort. Instead of treating this as an incentive to work harder they just quit their jobs. It appears there is absence of long-term thinking.
Educating people below the poverty line is more likely to be beneficial in the long-run rather just giving them money. When I say education, I mean real education that can be applied to life rather some type of doctrine or dogma that some schools dish out.
'The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see' - Alexandra Trenfor
Your last paragraph is a very important point and relates to so many areas. Always follow the path of who benefits from anything. Government always need a war on something as the war itself is far more beneficial to them than the outcome that it is likely to produce.
Hey @honeybee, seems like you have a real soft spot for the US. I am guessing you have spent quite a bit of time there.