The Growth of Welfare As We Don't Know it

More than a decade ago, Bill Clinton pledged to end"welfare as we know it." Perhaps he did. But like Iraqi insurgency the welfare state has proven resilient, adaptable, and has continued to grow.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the following:

The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.

The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago....

[Bush administration official Wade] Horn noted that employment among poor single mothers is up and child poverty rates are down since the welfare changes in 1996, though the numbers have worsened since the start of the decade....

"The true goal of welfare to work programs should be self-sufficiency

. Hat Tip Nick Gillespie at Hit and Run.