Why does poverty persist in a nation where total social welfare spending is many times the amount needed to eliminate poverty?

Why does poverty persist in a nation where total social welfare spending is many times the amount needed to eliminate poverty? The answer is that the poor are not the principal beneficiaries of social welfare spending. Most of it, including the largest programs—Social Security and Medicare—goes to the nonpoor. Only about one-sixth of federal social welfare spending is “means-tested” (see Figure 5–1), that is, distributed to recipients based on their low-income or poverty status. The middle class, not the poor, is the major beneficiary of the nation’s social welfare spending.