antipoverty programs. that s about the same size as the u.s. national debt. while the poverty rate in the 1960s was around 15%, it remains stubbornly there to this day. so if these programs have not helped people that are in need, who has benefited? large corporations and this town, boom town, have profited enormously from the expansion of these programs. since 2008, federal government spending on food stamps has doubled. that s your taxpayer dollars. as the rolls increased, the profits in some of of america s largest corporations have increased as well. sean: we continue with peter schweitzer and steve. $15 trillion. now we have more poverty than ever before. 50 million americans on food stamps. 14 million americans disabled. all on government handout.
so i asked the question las z hour, why do you think the president remains impervious to much of this news. some people said that it s because, you know, a lot of people are now in situations where they re receiving government handouts. oh, i m sure everybody that answers their question are all people getting a government handout. they all get up and watch fox and friends in the morning, the handout crowd. they do, absolutely, reverend al. there they are again, the 47%. you know, these are the same people that didn t expect the president to win. these are the same people that on election night, they had something wrong with the data from ohio. the american people are smarter than the folks at fox. they know that the president has a very, very tough economy and that now we re climbing. we re not where we want to be, but they perceived the improvement in the economy and they perceived that he convinced them, both in terms of his solutions as well as he showed
they re using it to fund their college educations, if you want to talk about, you know, why don t we go ahead and start complaining that too many people are driving on federal highways, that way we can make it feel like 99% of americans are on federal assistance. the fact of the matter is, it s something like 25% of americans are on, you know, your classic sort of welfare, your hot lunches, your food stamps and just 7% of americans are getting, you know, what you call a real government handout. those are the numbers, if you want to fret over those, yes, those are up. and with regard to social security, it s relevant. and the scary numbers don t mean anything. now, gary b. it does mean something, you are fretting, i bet. a couple of points, one, there are too many people driving on the highways, i m sorry. (laughter) and number two, stephan has had a good point. i m not worried, you quoted two out of five number. that number, that percentage of people getting government
plus in addition with regards to hispanic voters amnesty for illegals, so-called dream act was a huge plus for that voting group. i campaigned for governor romney and was for him and disappointed when he didn t win. i m going to take issue with the perception that people who are poor want to be. and people getting government benefits want to stay there. in my experience as a person who didn t start out on the high end of the economic spectrum on the other end as a pastor for 12 years then as a governor who worked 10 1/2 years and saw more than half the people get off of welfare rolls on to a payroll, people in this country, deep down want to work. they want dignity, responsibility. the idea that people are just delighted to be on a government handout, indicates you must not know too many of the people that i have known. sometimes people give up and they don t think there s any
voters, free health care was a big plus. but in addition with regards to hispanic voters, the amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called dream act. i was campaigned for governor romney and disappointed he didn t win. and i m going to take issue with the thought that people who are poor want to be. and people getting government benefits want to stay there. as a speaks person who didn t start out on the high economic spectrum, on the other end, as a pastor for ten years and a governor and saw more than half the people get off of welfare rolls and on to a payroll, i can tell you that people in this country deep down want to work. they want dignity. they want responsibility, the idea that people are just delighted as they can be to be on a government handout indicates you must not know too many of the people i ve nonthrough my lifetime. now, sometimes people give up and doesn t think there s any