By Paul Buchheit | AlterNet. August 3, 2014

Any thinking person should be able to recognize the hardships of poor families.

Three-quarters of conservative Americans say poor people have it easy.
The degree of ignorance about poverty is stunning, even for people far removed from the realities of an average American lifestyle. Both oilman Charles Koch and Nicole Miller CEO Bud Konheim have suggested that we should compare ourselves to poor people in China and India, and then just shut up and be happy. TheCato Institute informs Americans that “The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work.” And entrepreneur Marc Andreessen explains, rather incomprehensibly, that “Technology innovation disproportionately helps the poor more than it helps the rich, as the poor spend more of their income on products.”

1. We Spend Relatively Little on Poverty Programs

The Economic Policy Institute stated, “The United States stands out as the country with the highest poverty rate and one of the lowest levels of social expenditure.” It’s a national disgrace that we allow just a few people to take more of the country’s wealth than the millions of productive people who can’t find living-wage jobs.
Just two men made more investment income in 2013 than the entire year’s welfare budget (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), commonly referred to as ‘welfare’).
Just 400 individuals made more investment income in 2013 than the entire safety net (SNAP, WIC (Women, Infants, Children), Child Nutrition, Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Security Income, TANF, and Housing).
And the richest 1% made more from their investments in 2013 than the totalempathyeducates – 3 Facts that Poverty-Deniers Don’t Want to Hear: