[Texasforever]

The way I judge is how well government spending on welfare type programs is doing --- when there are enough well paying jobs then there should be some vast cutting of the many welfare programs

Fitz welfare spending is the lowest it has been since the LBJ Great society years. That is a fact. We are both from Texas and you should know this. Not only are welfare case loads down, Texas welfare benefits are less than any large state in the union.

[FITZ]

Government social spending is well over half the federal budget --- and it's quite a lot higher than it was in the 60's. I guess I shouldn't say "welfare" because that can mean just one specific program --- I usually mean all the welfare programs when I use that word --- TANF, WIC, food stamps, Medicaid, CHIP, SSDI, government housing, NAFTA-TAA, TAA and all the rest.