The $700 billion financial industry bailout now being debated is in addition to the $200 million for Fannie and Freddie, which some people have said will actually cost $100 million more, for a total of $1 trillion. How much is $1 trillion? According to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, federal expenditures on family assistance programs (ie. "welfare"; Aid to Families With Dependent Children AFDC and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families TANF) during the period from 1958 to 2005 totaled $568 million dollars. Now lots of those dollars counted for more than today's shrinking dollars, as a result of inflation, but the inflation-adjusted federal expenditure on "welfare" over nearly 50 years is apparently about $1.1 trillion. And while it is possible we may get half of the $1 trillion bailout back eventually, bear in mind that the peak year for spending on "welfare" was less that $30 million. Think of how people on welfare dominated the political debate for 25 or more years. Who would have thought my children would suffer a decline in their future prospects to pay for this.
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